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Elementary
Success Stories
Working Towards a 100 Percent Graduation Rate
Story posted August 27, 2012
Results:
- The district graduation rate rose from 76% in 2004 to 93.5% (over 90% in all student racial and income groups) in 2011
- The school system now has about 110 community partners and a 100% Graduation Project committee that meets quarterly to discuss ways to engage additional community groups and encourage students to pursue their diplomas
Summary: School officials in Clarksville Montgomery County believe that, with the community’s help, 100 percent of their students will graduate from high school. ...
A Quilted Approach to Professional Development
Story posted July 24, 2012
Results:
- Over the past four years, nearly 400 Fulton County elementary, middle, and high school teachers have received between 50 and 160 hours of professional development that was funded by over $2.7 million dollars in grants
- State test scores rose an average of 14% in mathematics and 11% in science over this time
The Challenge
For the past several years, the state of Georgia’s funding for teacher professional development has been limited, but there has been flexibility allowed with those funds to assist districts in balancing their budgets. However, this has meant less direct money to provide needed professional development for math and science teachers. Fulton County is a geographically large urban district with a diverse population, and the professional development requirements to address the diversity of student backgrounds and needs are varied among teachers, schools, and regions.
The Solution ...
Every year the American School Board Journal (with the National School Boards Association and Sodexo) recognizes excellent school district leadership with the Magna Awards. The following district is a 2012 winner.
Story posted June 26, 2012
Results:
- Johnston County Schools’ dropout rate has steadily declined, from a high of 5.39 percent in 2006-07 to 3.19 percent in 2010-11 and the raw numbers dropped from 465 to 213.
- The district’s graduation rate increased over the same period from 72.8 percent to 78.7 percent in 2010-11.
- The program has brought together community groups
and support for at-risk students is rapidly gaining momentum.
DISTRICT DILEMMA
Johnston County is one of the fastest-growing school districts in North Carolina. The makeup of the student population is changing dramatically, reflecting an increase in students with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Students also come from diverse economic backgrounds: Eighteen percent of the county’s children live in poverty and 40 percent of students receive free or reduced-price lunches. Of the more than 32,000 students enrolled in Johnston County Schools, an estimated one third exhibit at-risk characteristics. Many students do not fit the “traditional” student mold and lack family support. The district’s dropout rate has exceeded the state average, and school leaders were concerned that the rapid growth of the district could accelerate the dropout problem.
SOLUTION
GRADUATE! provides personalized educational experiences to high school dropouts in a separate educational setting, allowing them to earn their diplomas. Supports include online and face-to-face courses, tutoring, mentoring, career and job coaching, housing, and mental health services. This initiative is ...
Using Strategy to Narrow the Gap
Every year the American School Board Journal (with the National School Boards Association and Sodexo) recognizes excellent school district leadership with the Magna Awards. The following district is a 2012 winner.
Story posted June 26, 2012
Results:
- 54% of eight-graders are enrolled in either algebra or geometry.
- 95% are passing algebra and 100% passed the Virginia state test in geometry.
- 97% of students attending one high poverty elementary school passed the state math test in April 2011 and in that same month, 83% of high school students earned passing scores on the state math test and 94% passed the state writing test.
DISTRICT DILEMMA
The Alexandria City School Board governs a multiethnic district of 12,500 students. Unlike the majority of city residents, who are predominately white and affluent, public school children in Alexandria are mostly of color (72 percent), economically disadvantaged (54 percent), and often in need of special education (11 percent)and English language instruction (23 percent).Although many of its students are outstanding and well prepared for college and careers when they graduate, the achievement of Latino and African American students has lagged far behind that of white students. The graduation rate at the city’s only high school, the historic T.C.Williams, earned it a “persistently lowest achieving” designation.
SOLUTION
Knowing that the achievement gap begins before children enter school, the board adopted a five year plan that featured the creation of high-quality preschools; a focus on special education; the adoption of a new curriculum that ...
Elk Grove Unified School District — “Be Energy Wise. Conserve.”
Story posted June 26, 2012.
NSPRA’s Gold Medallion Award is the highest award given by the Association in recognition of outstanding educational public relations programs. This is a profile highlighting a 2011 winner.
Results
- EGUSD has saved approximately $768,000 and is well on its way to exceeding their $1 million goal.
- A reduction of approximately 13,000,000 kWh in electricity consumption, which is equal to removing 1,800 cars off the road and planting well over 40,000 new trees each year.
Research
Over the past three years, California’s K-12 public schools have experienced devastating state budget cuts. For Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD), this has meant a cumulative $100 million in budget cuts. In 2011-12, EGUSD was facing an additional $40 million in reductions. During this budget crisis, the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD) informed EGUSD that it was the worst energy user out of the 13 districts in Sacramento County. ...
Story posted January 22, 2009. Story updated April 24, 2012.
Results:
• Proficiency rates score consistently around or above state averages in reading, ELA and math at all grade levels.
Although it opened only six years ago, Skyview Elementary School in scenic Lizella, Georgia, has already gained a reputation as an educational star. As a member of the National Basic Schools Network, which focuses on the four building blocks of community, curriculum, climate, and character, Skyview has a sound framework. But it is the passion, dedication, and wonderful vision of its dedicated former and present staff that has made this Title I school, where 50% of students qualify for free or reduced price lunch, soar to great heights in academics and character. ...
Story posted May 4, 2010. Results updated March 21, 2012.
Results:
- Despite serving a student population where 79% are recieve free or reduced lunch - double the state's rate - the school outperforms the state and district in multiple measures
- In 2011, 93.2% of Sacajawea students scored at or above proficiency in reading, compared to 91.3% in the district and 92.7% in the state; in math, 90% did so, compared to 85.3% in the district and 88.4% in the state
- The school improved its own proficiency rates between 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 in both reading, 90.3% to 93.2%, and math, 87.8% to 90%
- Named one of only three Distinguished Schools in Idaho for 2009
Back in 2005, Idaho’s Sacajawea Elementary School was struggling. The school had had four principals in four years, had never made Adequate Yearly Progress and lacked direction. But that changed with the arrival of Greg Alexander.
Now in his fourth full year as principal, Alexander presides over an award-winning school. After making AYP the last two years and seeing tremendous growth in its Limited English Proficient students' reading scores in particular, Sacajawea was named one of only three Distinguished Schools in Idaho for 2009. What are the keys to its success? A focus on recruiting and retaining excellent teachers, a consistent discipline strategy, a strong reading program and a host of other efforts designed to meet students’ individual needs. Principal Alexander recently told us more.
Public School Insights: How would you describe Sacajawea Elementary?
Alexander: Sacajawea Elementary is located in Caldwell, Idaho, a suburb of the capital city of Boise, just a good 20 minutes away. I actually live in Boise and commute to this community. We have a neat facility. We are up on a hill, overlooking what is called the Treasure Valley. There is a story about a young boy sitting on the edge of a cliff off beyond our school, looking over the valley as the wagon trains came through. The sagebrush was so high that you could only see their canopies. And we look up at the Cascade Mountains. It is just a really beautiful campus.
On this beautiful campus we serve 500 students from pre-K through fifth grade. We are 60% Hispanic and 23% ELL, or LEP [Limited English Proficient], students. We are about 36% Caucasian students, and then just a few percentage of a variety of other students. We have 7% that have special education needs, and we are 90% free and ...
Story posted December 9, 2008. Results Updated January 22, 2012.
Results:
• In 2010, the school outperformed the state on reading assessments in every grade, with performance in the 3rd and 4th grades exceeding the state average by close to 20%.
• In 2010, the school also performed that well on math assessments, with 100% of 4th graders meeting or exceeding the state standards.
All children can learn. When a school staff truly embraces this core belief and openly demonstrates it to students, parents, and each other, dramatic improvements in academic performance can result.
Take, for example, Anne Fox Elementary School. Fox is a moderately low-income, demographically diverse school in the working-class suburb of Hanover Park, Illinois. The student population is 34 percent white, 30 percent Hispanic, 17 percent black, and 19 percent Asian/Pacific Islander. Students speak more than 35 different languages, and the school’s low-income and mobility rates are double the district average. Until recently, Fox School ranked dead last in academic achievement among the district’s 21 elementary schools and was known as a “problem spot.” ...
Story posted September 25, 2008. Results updated January 22, 2012.
RESULTS
• While serving a student population that is 97% free or reduced price lunch, the school outperformed the state in math in grades 4 through 8 in 2011.
• In English/Language Arts, the school outperformed the state in grades 4 through 7 in 2011.
• One highlight: 83% of 8th graders met or exceeded state standards in math, compared with just 60% statewide in 2011.
Osmond A. Church Elementary School, otherwise known as PS / MS 124, sits so close to John F. Kennedy Airport that some at the school refer to it as "Hanger 12." It is appropriate, then, that achievement scores have "taken off" in recent years and continue to soar within all subgroup populations.
How has this been accomplished, one might ask? It began in 1999 when the school applied to New York State for a Comprehensive School Reform Grant. The school community chose to embrace E.D. Hirsch's "Core Knowledge Program," which was developed on the basis of scientific research. ...
Strategic Staffing Helps a Title I School Succeed
Story posted November 19, 2009. Results updated December 7, 2011.
Results:
- Proficiency rates close to or exceeding 88% on 2011 state reading and math tests at every grade level, outperforming the state as a whole on each test.
- In 2011, grade 4 math and reading scores both exceeded state averages by 5% at 88% and 93% respectively.
- Since 2008, grade 3 math scores rose by 4% and exceeded state math scores in 2011 by the same amount.
Indian Springs Elementary is located along one of the many rural highways that crisscross northern Mobile County, in territory marked by signs of poverty and under-development. There’s no interesting history behind the name of the unincorporated community the school serves—Eight Mile is just the distance down U.S. 45 to the city.
The exterior of Indian Springs shows the wear and tear of a building that has housed students for many decades. The school comes alive only after you cross the threshold, where you find a physical space that is clearly well-loved by the faculty, staff and students.
Just inside the front doors, a small sitting area decorated with potted plants and flowers welcomes visitors. The walls are bright and the floors shine. Bulletin boards and student work cover every inch of the hallways. Teachers decorate the entrances to their classrooms with personal touches, like the kindergarten teacher whose door resembles a front porch with columns, shutters and an awning.
The school serves 451 students in grades pre K-5. It has a 50-50 ratio of white and African American students—87% of whom meet federal poverty guidelines. About 14 percent are classified as having special needs. The demographics offer few clues about the school’s academic performance. But in fact ...
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A VISION FOR GREAT SCHOOLS
On this website, educators, parents and policymakers from coast to coast are sharing what's already working in public schools--and sparking a national conversation about how to make it work for children in every school. Join the conversation!
