Dr. David O'Shields is currently the director of human resources for Laurens County School District 56 and serves on the South Carolina Department of Education task force as a charter member of the Education Leaders Fellows Program. Previously, Dr. O’Shields was principal of Bell Street Middle School in Clinton, one of several schools in South Carolina implementing the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP). During his tenure, Bell Street's teacher attrition rate decreased significantly, from 25 percent in 1999 to six percent in 2003. In addition, the percentage of students scoring "basic" or above on the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test (PACT) increased significantly in both math and English/language arts. Dr. O'Shield's innovations include Communities Helping, Assisting, and Motivating Promising Students (CHAMPS), a two-week summer program for disadvantaged seventh through tenth graders that continues in eleventh and twelfth grades with an internship program, and Wildcat Wednesday Fundamentals (WWF), a weekly class designed to help students prepare for the PACT.
I am interested if other educators have read Phil Schelechty's "Working on the Work." I am interested in focusing teachers' efforts and attention on the quality of student work. Also, as principal of a Teacher Advancment Program (TAP)school, I would love to discuss the TAP rubric, the performance appraisal system, and market-driven compensation.
1980 University of South Carolina, B.A.
