As members of each school’s administrative staff took to the podium, one general idea came through: build on the successful programs and tactics already being employed.

During Monday night’s School Committee meeting, committee members shared various measures being taken to improve each of the town’s six schools. In all, 10 members offered their approaches to improving the educational advancement of local students.

“We are going to continue to build active, literacy-rich environments in our Pre-K and our kindergarten classrooms,” said Melissa McHenry, Cushman Elementary’s school administrator. “We want to put books in kids’ hands, so what do we have already in our classroom libraries for Pre-K? What do we have for our guided reading instruction?”

Joseph DeMello Elementary Principal Cathy Maccini echoed the idea of building upon a successful program already operating within the school.

“In November, we have a ‘Discover DeMello’ night,” said Mancini. “Parents self-select what [workshops] they would like to attend, so it’s a fun night. It begins with the [Parent Teacher Organization] sponsoring a pizza dinner then the children are led off and supervised by other staff members.”

She said that parents can relax knowing their children are being supervised while they attend various workshops. The parents are also given some time between workshops to network with one another.

Heidi Brooks, principal of George H. Potter Elementary School, gave her own idea of advancing her school while building on past methods.

“Thanks to the support of the district, we are now the proud owners of the entire Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark system for our students in kindergarten through grade five,” said Brooks.

The benchmark system helps instructors gauge how well their students’ literacy skills are developing.

“We are really looking forward to benchmarking our students. It’s something that our teachers who had access to those kits had used [in the past],” said Brooks.

Nearly each group of administrators touched upon the need to use Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), which is a strategy schools use to encourage positive behavior in its students. The aim is that, by emphasizing good behaviors, PBIS will create a better atmosphere in schools overall.

While all of Dartmouth’s schools have brought PBIS initiatives into their philosophies, Richard Porter of Potter School said it could be extended beyond the classroom.

“We also want to expand our PBIS initiative,” Porter said. “I think we’ve done a nice job in our PBIS philosophy in school but there’s a whole [form] of PBIS that can help families at home. So we’d like to see a component of that help families, to give them some strategies.”