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We are very rural farming communities. Our communities are made up of family farmers or local small business people whose families tend to stick around. We don't have too much job opportunity, and our students don't get exposed to many things from a bigger town or city. We have started to include curriculum that includes this exposure.

Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.

We conduct bi-annual Corsica-Stickney Improvement Council which is a gathering of administrators, parents, teachers, and community members. At the meetings, the Superintendent conducts the meeting and goes over happenings, the Title I director presents what is happening, and everyone in attendance has the opportunity to share their feelings on things they may have. We have our annual family Title I night held in the spring, and a Transition night in the fall and the spring. In both of these, students and their families are invited to attend. We hold an open house in the beginning of the school year where families come in with their students prior to the start of the school year.

Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.

We send out a monthly newsletter containing all school events, calendars, and activities that the kids have done. We schedule groups of students bi-monthly to attend the Senior Citizen Center, Good Samaritan Center, and Leisure living to perform or engage in activities with the residents. We hold Title I family nights twice yearly to have the families come into the school with their students. These nights usually have a theme, and we ask volunteers from the community who don't have students to also be involved.

Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.

I feel that all children have their own unique interests, talent levels, goals, dreams,and successes. As a school district, We have to recognize that each child is different from each other, and although each of them need skill in Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and the Arts, the students should have opportunities to pursue their paths of interest, to help them become more successful.

What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?

To work for a smaller gap between our lowest test scores and the highest test scores, by raising the lower end scores. And to see more students at proficient or above.

What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?

Having full time Title I teachers in each grade level who work on enrichment activities, and have the opportunity to work explicitly with students who are not involved in Special education programs, but need extra support to better their skills. Our title I teachers are an integral part of each classroom. We have title for both reading and math in each grade level in the elementary.

Explain how Title I funds are used to support your improvement efforts.

Title I allows our district to hire Highly Qualified Title I teachers that provide support in the classrooms and extra pull out sessions for students who need support. Title I also allows us to conduct summer school for students who may suffer from noticeable regression. We summer school to review the main concepts that need to be refreshed before starting school.

Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.

We are part of a cooperative that provides us several professional development days a year. They give us several options to choose from, but try to keep up-to-date as possible. We go through any new standards that have been adopted by the State of South Dakota, and partcipate in any training available.

Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.

Each year the teaching staff and administrators sit down with the testing data and go over where our students who are on the gap between moving up or down are as well as looking at what areas we are low in. This allows us to identify where we need to focus on our curricular needs, and identify the students that we focus on with our title I program.

Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.

We are very rural farming communities. Our communities are made up of family farmers or local small business people whose families tend to stick around. We don't have too much job opportunity, and our students don't get exposed to many things from a bigger town or city. We have started to include curriculum that includes this exposure, we have implemented things in the Jr. High and High school to help expose those students to job opportunities outside of rural South Dakota. It hasn't necessarily changed our culture, but it has improved it by informing our students and providing them with opportunities they may have otherwise not been aware of.

• Category 1

  Selected in 2015

• Grades: pre k - 12
  School Setting: rural
  Town Population: 900
  Student Enrollment: 230
  Student Demographics:
  

  Black/African American: 0.1%
  White/Caucasian: 98.5%
  Hispanic: 0.1%
  Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
  Asian: 0%
  Native American: 0.1%
  Other: 0%
  

  Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:15
  % Reduced Lunch: 30%
  % ELL Learners: 0%
  Founded: 2015
• PRINCIPAL:
  Ferra Kemp
• CONTACT:
  120 S. Napoleon Ave
  Corsica, SD 57328
  605-946-5475
  scott.muckey@k12.sd.us