New curriculum coordinator to focus on increasing student achievement

August 1, 2008 – When school resumes this fall, administrators, faculty and staff will have a new resource to help them increase student achievement this year—Karen Conroy.

Conroy was appointed as the Voorheesville Central School District’s K-8 curriculum coordinator during the July 14 Board of Education meeting. Her official duties will begin on September 1.

The board created the new administrative position last spring, citing a pressing need for faculty and administration to be informed, aware and fluent in the use of testing and other student information to make the best educational decisions for children.
 
“I am very excited about the opportunity to begin working in Voorheesville,” said Conroy. “Everyone I have met in the past few weeks has demonstrated a dedication to their students and offered a warm welcome to me.”

In her new position, Conroy will focus on obtaining information from testing and assessments to inform the direction of the K-8 curriculum and to train teachers in the latest instructional methods that support 21st-century learning and skills.

Conroy brings more than 15 years of educational experience to the district.

For the past nine years, she has been a remedial reading teacher for first-grade students at School #12 in the Enlarged City School District of Troy. Since 2006, she has also served as the district’s K-6 English language arts curriculum leader.

Before joining the Troy school district, Conroy was a middle school English language arts and reading teacher in the Schoharie Central School District and a high school English language arts teacher at the Elizabethtown-Lewis Central School District.

Conroy earned her bachelor’s degree in English literature from Siena College and her master’s degree in reading from the State University of New York at Albany. She also received her school administrator certification from the College of Saint Rose.