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Success Stories

A Wake-Up Call Sparks Action in Arizona

Stephanie Sheaffer, Vail Unified School District, Arizona

Story posted April, 2008.  Results updated October 23, 2012.

Results:vailstudents1.jpg
• In 2012, Vail exceeded all state proficiency averages, across grades and subjects.

• Students in all grade levels are scoring at or above proficiency at rates of 90% and higher.

Administrators and staff at the Vail Unified School District recognized they had a problem back in 2003. Student scores on the new statewide AIMS test showed a downward trend as children in Vail schools moved up through the grades. For example, while third-graders were scoring in the 70-percent range on average in math, by middle school and high school proficiency rates dropped into the teens.

"It was a real wake-up call," said Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Debbie Hedgepeth. "Students weren't performing where we knew they could and should." ...

Using Electives to Get Struggling Students More Math

John Gregg, Walled Lake Consolidated Schools, Michigan

Story posted April, 2008

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Results:
• Participants math benchmark assessment scores improved by 17% from 2004 to 2005 and 9% from 2005-2006
• Math Essentials students on average outperformed grade-level students as a whole on the first two benchmark assessments of 2006-2007

The high schools in the Walled Lake Consolidated School District had a problem. Some students were scoring below proficiency on their 8th grade standardized tests. Fueled by the conviction that all students can learn, and that high school is not too late to turn students' lives around, the district tried many strategies to address this challenge: It pulled students out of their grade level courses, subjected them to a computer-based intervention, and stretched a semester's worth of content into a year of instruction. Yet student performance data from these intervention programs showed no effect or, in some cases, even negative effects on student achievement. ...

Creating a Learning Environment--Moving from Chaos to Achievement

Dayton's Bluff Achievement Plus Elementary School, Minnesota

Story posted February, 2008.  Results updated August 4, 2011.

daytonsbluff1web.jpgResults:
• In 2010 60% of students met or exceeded state math standards, and 70% did so for reading--about the state average despite serving a significantly higher proportion of students in poverty.

How could Dayton's Bluff Achievement Plus Elementary School, a school so troubled that children rode their bikes in the hallways, become a beacon of achievement and learning? The transformation took leadership, vision and a willingness to turn a chaotic place into a nurturing learning environment.

A K-6 urban school that draws almost 90% of its students from low-income families, Dayton's Bluff was by all accounts out of control. Overall discipline was inconsistent and the learning environment was in shambles. Nine out of 10 students could not read at grade level. Teacher morale was low and turnover high. It was labeled the worst school in the city. ...

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