Biddle establishes building assessment coordinator position in HC

One month ago, former HC special education teacher Amanda Biddle changed positions to be the new HC building assessment coordinator. This is the first time building assessment coordinator is offered as a full time position in Fayette County. The duties of that position are usually given to a counselor to do on top of their other work. The building assessment coordinator position incorporates administrating state-wide tests here at HC, and further collecting data from those tests to figure out a way to help the students perform higher.

“It’s been pretty crazy,” Biddle said. “It happened after the school year started so the transition was very quick. I’m learning all sorts of the new things every day, so it’s been very busy with lots of learning but I’ve enjoyed it.”

Biddle had previously taught special education math for three years. She taught for a year at Leestown middle school before transitioning to HC in 2014.

“I absolutely loved the kids,” Biddle said, “and I loved figuring out news ways to teach all the kids math.”

One of her former students, HC Sophomore Scott Hersey, expressed excitement upon learning of Biddle’s position change.

“She was a great teacher,” Hersey said. “She seems to know what she’s doing, so I think it’ll be great for her.”

Biddle, who in 2015-2016 was one of the department chairs in special education, used to be in charge of requesting accommodations for state assessments such as the ACT. She took into much consideration what she would expect for this position, which caused her to want to apply.

“When the position became available I looked at the description,” Biddle said, “and began to think about what I would want that person to do to help our special education students, and to help students who perform lower on tests perform higher, as well as helping AP students do even better on their tests than what they’d be able to do normally.”

Despite her quick transition into the position, she has taken the position seriously. Biddle started MAP testing as soon as she was hired, then a quick transition into Coyote testing.

“I hope to work a lot with our MTSS team and our PBIS team,” Biddle said. “I will be working a lot with Mr. Miller and Mr. Thornton to figure out how we can use data from assessments to try and create a better school culture and culture of learning. I hope to get teachers more involved in looking at all these tests that students have to do and how it can actually benefit the students.”

She continues to show a hopeful mindset for the outcomes of her plans for this next school year.

“I’m really hoping to prove that it’s a necessary position and that it can have a positive impact on our school.”