• Category 2

    Selected in 2013

  • Grades: pre k - 5
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 115,452
    Student Enrollment: 497
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 40%
    White/Caucasian: 42%
    Hispanic: 12%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 1%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 5%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:13
    % Reduced Lunch: 64.4%
    % ELL Learners: 6.5%
    Founded: 1921
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Adam Kurtz
  • CONTACT:
    757 N Chase Street
    Athens, GA 30601
    706-543-1081
    kurtza@clarke.k12.ga.us
Chase Street Elementary School
Athens, GA
We balance students’ need to receive targeted instruction with their need to learn from a variety of peers. We do this by using data to heterogeneously group students into homerooms. We then regularly review performance data of each student to ensure that we are targeting their demonstrated needs.
Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.
At Chase Street School, we strive for communication between school and families to be two-way, frequent, and meaningful in order to effectively support student achievement. In addition to regular two way communication, we host a variety of family events with the goals of building meaningful relationships and increasing student achievement. Once a month, parents are invited to network and share ideas at a parent coffee. Each grade level also has a breakfast once annually, at which families are encouraged to connect with one another, as well as with school staff. We invite our families to join us for several evening annual events such as Learning Explosion, Curriculum Night, Poetry Picnic, and most recently, our off-site Reading Tailgate. At each of these events, parents are given the opportunity to take part in hands-on learning with their child and are offered several ideas about how to support learning at home.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
An example of a successful event and its planning is our Reading Tailgate. For this event, the Chase Street School Leadership Team analyzed student data, and discovered that reading deficiencies were disproportionately concentrated in one neighborhood. This neighborhood is one of the farthest from the school, and the most difficult to reach. In response to the high percentage of CRCT failures in the area, and the challenges in connecting to these families, we decided to host a literacy event in the neighborhood. After coordinating with property management, we were able to plan a Reading Tailgate, at which families were given the opportunity to participate in several reading activities and take home numerous books and learning materials. The event was a success with impressive attendance and overwhelmingly positive feedback from our families and staff.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
Meaningful change is often slow but steady and lasting. The challenge is to work with all stakeholders and capitalize on the agreement between them. Although different groups come with different ways to approach the educational puzzle, all want students to learn academically, grow socially, and to be happy. By focusing on these commonalities we were able to listen to all voices and develop action steps that best fit our students’ needs.
We work toward true ownership by involving all stakeholders in the decision making process from the beginning. I try to involve teachers and parents in important decisions at Chase Street School. Allowing voices to be heard can create conflict as competing visions arise. This conflict is an important part of the process. It is through this process that we hear each other, learn from each other, and examine different perspectives. This ensures that the decision reached has been thoroughly considered and is the best decision for our students.
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
Working with students as individual learners has supported great gains. At Chase Street School, we believe that the most effective teaching begins where the students are, not in the front of a teacher’s edition or curriculum guide. Through on-going analysis, teachers gain a nuanced understanding of individuals’ students learning strengths and deficits, and can plan differentiated learning experiences accordingly. Teachers at Chase Street School differentiate their instruction in a number of ways. First, all differentiation initiates from teachers’ in-depth understandings of both the curriculum standards and engaging instructional strategies. The next step is to determine what adjustments are necessary to modify that instruction so that each learners’ needs are met. Teachers may differentiate their instruction via flexible grouping strategies, offering tiered performance tasks, and/or learning centers.
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
At Chase Street School, our professional development program is centered on the creation of authentic purposes for professional learning and school improvement. All teachers participate in learning teams throughout the year and meet regularly to plan for instruction. This includes collaborative lesson-planning, the examination of student work, and the monitoring of student progress. All of this professional learning work is fully aligned with our School Improvement Goals and Action Steps. We believe that the most effective professional learning experiences for teachers are those that are self-directed, and aimed at honing teaching practices to effectively meet diverse students’ needs, we encourage teachers to pilot improvement strategies. When this happens, the best strategies rise to the top with support and ownership from within the faculty. We currently use a Task Force format in which teacher leaders work with all grade levels and programs to improve each curricular area.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
All grade levels use the data team process to unpack standards and develop assessments that measure what students should know, understand, and do. This is used to pre-asses students and develop instructional strategies that capitalize on student strengths and help overcome weaknesses. This includes remediation and acceleration/enrichment when warranted. After instruction, a post-test is used to determine the effectiveness of instruction. Appropriate reteaching or interventions are used for students that still demonstrate difficulty. In this way data is used to identify and address students’ individual needs throughout the data team cycle. We balance students’ need to receive targeted instruction with their need to learn from a variety of peers. We do this by using data to heterogeneously group students into homerooms. We then regularly review performance data of each student to ensure that we are targeting their demonstrated needs.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
Chase Street Elementary is a community school. Students are from the neighborhoods near and around the school. Many of the teachers live near the school and have children of their own attending Chase Street School. This strong community, in which teachers are neighbors and friends, creates a supportive culture for both staff and students. Meaningful communication is ongoing as teachers work to support parents’ needs and goals for their children and parents support the work of the school.
Stats
  • Category 2

    Selected in 2013

  • Grades: pre k - 5
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 115,452
    Student Enrollment: 497
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 40%
    White/Caucasian: 42%
    Hispanic: 12%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 1%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 5%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:13
    % Reduced Lunch: 64.4%
    % ELL Learners: 6.5%
    Founded: 1921
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Adam Kurtz
  • CONTACT:
    757 N Chase Street
    Athens, GA 30601
    706-543-1081
    kurtza@clarke.k12.ga.us