A man in a suit stands with two students in costumes

Science Hill Independent Superintendent Matt Cook stands with Science Hill students at the district’s annual Constitution Day Parade in September. Photo courtesy Matt Cook.

The new superintendent of Science Hill Independent, Matt Cook, is focusing on building more professional learning communities to improve teaching in the district.

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are structured, collaborative teams of teachers, administrators and support staff who meet regularly to improve teaching practices and student outcomes.

Cook said one of the biggest areas of focus academically for the district is instructionally aligning its systems through collaborative discussions.

“We’re really working well together to start building professional learning communities to align curriculum, K-8,” he said. “I feel like that’s another unique opportunity that we have is to be able to get teachers together and plan together, and so our biggest rock right now is working through those professional learning communities and trying to meet the needs of each individual student.”

Cook said the communities meet every couple of weeks to look at standards and individual student map scores. They talk about what resources they can provide for students as well as increasing intervention time.

“We’re modifying the schedule right now as it goes; it’ll be easier to put that into practice next year once we get through this year, but we’re modifying it now to provide those intervention blocks where we can give high-tier instruction to high-risk students, but also to our gifted and talented students and really try to grow them based on what their data is telling us in the classroom,” he explained.

The district’s PLCs also analyze the progress of individual students and what their classroom assessments look like. Cook said teachers have been able to monitor those students’ improvement through each grade.

“The number one thing you want to do as superintendent is see your students and staff succeed, and so I want to be able to provide the resources for them to take our accountability and our scores to the next level,” he said. “We’ve already begun looking at last year’s data, and we feel like we have a real opportunity to grow.”

When he served as assistant superintendent of a larger district, Cook said he didn’t get to sit in on PLCs very often, but as a smaller district, he has more opportunities for closer collaboration.

“We’re a small district, so we may not have all the resources, but we have the ability to know what the individual kids need,” he said.

Cook spent much of his career in Pulaski County, beginning as an English teacher and girls’ soccer coach at Southwestern High School (Pulaski County); then later became an assistant principal of the high school. He also served as an assistant principal of Pulaski Elementary, principal of Oak Hill Elementary, then was assistant superintendent of Pulaski County for eight years.

Cook has a bachelor’s in English teaching from Eastern Kentucky University, a master’s in educational leadership from Union College and a superintendent certification from Eastern Kentucky University.

“I feel like we are a diamond in the rough at Science Hill because it gives the superintendent the ability to see kids every day; I get to work with them every day, I’m in classrooms every day, and as a superintendent in a bigger district, you don’t get that,” he said. “So, I feel like it’s the best of both worlds for me. I get to be a superintendent but also build those relationships with staff and kids and also be involved in instruction.”

Cook said the district is also working to revamp its portrait of a learner with new staff members, and he looks forward to improving instruction, creating better goals for teachers and providing support wherever needed.

Cook said he enjoys being a help to the teachers that are delivering instruction every day and visiting students in the classroom.

“At the end of the day, when you see the kids succeed and you see their success, that’s my main purpose and goal every day is to watch them achieve,” Cook said.