THOMASVILLE, Ga. — Principals at Thomasville City Schools’ elementariness said they are working to increase their respective schools’ test scores — and said their schools are making progress in other areas.

Leaders of the city school system’s institutions in the elementary grades presented their 20-day updates at the recent board meeting, including the ways they intend to push student test scores higher.

Harper Elementary Principal Melvin Hugans said a new reading curriculum as part of the system’s Literacy for Learning, Living and Leading in Georgia, known as L4GA, is in place. The Journeys curriculum has an emphasis on coding, reading comprehension and phonics.

“It’s off to a great start,” Hugans told board members.

Harper also has started what it calls “Stop, Drop and Read,” to boost reading among its students. In “Stop, Drop and Read,”a specific amount of time is carved out of the schedule to allow children to read books.

“We want to expose them as much possible to reading grade level texts and hopefully increase their love of reading. That’s the overall goal,” Hugans said. “If you can increase their love of reading, you’ve got a chance to do some wonderful things.”

Hugans said the school had great improvement in its third and fifth grade math scores, and the school has gotten better with its math curriculum.

The school also has put in place the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program for its fifth-grade students. Hugans said he hopes to have military service members, representatives from local companies and also from colleges speak to the fifth-graders.

“The students have really enjoyed the AVID philosophy,” he said. “AVID really focuses on trying to bring a student of their shell and provide a bigger picture, so we want to provide a bigger picture of what’s available in Thomasville, local businesses, military and colleges.”

Scott Elementary Principal Brian Beaty said enrollment is up at his school. The pre-kindergarten program at Scott was filled up before school started, he said, and there was a waiting list.

“I think the secret is getting out that Scott has a lot of great things to offer,’ he said.

Scott started a program last year called STEAM Friday, where students do high-order thinking and integrate math and science.

“We’re trying to develop more rigor and student engagement,” he said. ‘I’m all about engagement kids and learning.”

The school is continuing with its arts integration, which Beaty praised.

“Our biggest initiative will continue to be arts integration and continuing to push rigor, that high order thinking that are kids are need,” he said. “That’s what they’re missing. Memorizing facts is not enough. They really need to be engaged and involved.”

Beaty also pointed out the teachers at Scott are and how the efforts of fourth-grade teachers to decorate the hallways led to other hallways getting a new look.

“Our teachers are really, really, really motivated,” he told board members. “I’ve never seen them this motivated. We have stuff going on in almost every hallway. They’re making hallways warm and inviting for everyone.”

Beaty said the school is spending more time on recognizing student achievement and the teachers.

“Teachers are the most important worker in our school district,” he said. “We have to keep them motivated to do their best because they are on the front lines every day.”

At Jerger, the school welcomed new security measures and a new playground.

“They are inconveniencing some parents,” Principal Lawanna Rayburn said of the security improvements. “But the parents are willing to be inconvenienced if it’s for the safety of the children. They children are just excited to be able to walk around and use the doors that have typically been locked.”

The new playground was scheduled to open last week with “849 children ready to play” on it, she said.

Rayburn said the school has great math scores and she wants the school to hit 100 on both reading and math tests.

She said she also has started what she calls “coffee conversations,” where parents can come by and talk. She added that teachers are setting half a day on teacher workdays, starting in October, to meet with parents.

“We do a very good job of meeting with parents of students who are struggling a little bit and those who are well above academically,” Rayburn said. “But the student right in the center with a good work ethic we don’t meet with as much. This is a time where I want to meet with those parents you otherwise wouldn’t meet with.”