Roosevelt Superintendent Tapped as an Education Expert by Market Scale

ROOSEVELT, NEW YORK (AUGUST 2023) — Roosevelt School District's Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Deborah Wortham, was recently tapped as an education expert and exemplary leader for an interview for the B2B media company Market Scale.

Dr. Wortham spoke with Penny Ciaburri, the founder of education consulting firm PLC Associates, in an article titled "Developing Collective Efficacy Among Your Team: Insights from Superintendent Dr. Deborah Wortham's Transformative Approach to Education." Dr. Wortham shared the strategies and insights applied to help the District improve and, among other achievements, have its five schools named in good standing by the New York State Department of Education.

"The Roosevelt family recognizes a passionate leader like Dr. Wortham," said Board of Education President Rose Gietschier. Dr. Wortham fosters an atmosphere of positive expectations. We have navigated a global pandemic, transformed our District, and successfully had all five schools recognized by the State as schools in good standing. We believe "The Best is Yet to Come!"

In 2020, at the start of Dr. Wortham's second tenure with the District, the Board of Education convened a team of about 100 staff, students, and community members to create a five-year strategic plan to improve students' performance. The strategic plan included four pillars to focus on in the classroom: critical thinking, problem-solving, technological literacy, and state/local assessment proficiency. In addition to setting forth these focus areas, teachers worked on explicit instruction driven by data to achieve student growth.

Furthermore, the District received notice last winter that Roosevelt Middle School and Roosevelt High School were removed from the State's needs-improvement list the previous year, meaning that all five Roosevelt schools are now in good standing. State assessment performance increased over the past two years, and graduation rates rose from 70% in 2018-2019 to 86% in 2021-2022.

This year's graduating class in the Roosevelt School District also earned $4.8 million in scholarships, a 23 percent increase from the $3.9 million earned last year. This was made possible thanks to the District's Scholars Academy, where 10 students graduated with 40 college credits; strategic steps to bolster students' access to scholarships, such as offering eight more college applications and scholarship classes in the 2022-2023 school year through the District's College and Career Center.

To watch Dr. Wortham's full interview and read the accompanying article, please visit: bit.ly/3OI2bqx.

To learn more about the Roosevelt Union Free School District, please visit the District's website at https://www.rooseveltufsd.org. Happenings in the District can also be followed on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RooseveltUFSD.