• Category 3

    Selected in 2019

  • Grades: k - 6
    School Setting: suburban
    Town Population: 36,000
    Student Enrollment: 572
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 29%
    White/Caucasian: 48%
    Hispanic: 11%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 2%
    Native American: 1%
    Other: 9%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:15
    % Reduced Lunch: 100%
    % ELL Learners: 7%
    Founded: 1975
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Wesley Styles
  • CONTACT:
    1502 Dean Avenue
    Rome, GA 30161
    706-232-8310
    wstyles@rcs.rome.ga.us
East Central Elementary School
Rome, GA
East Central strives to grow and improve.
Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.
East Central Elementary has a very strong PTO. Additionally our district employees a parent mentor and as a school, we also host numerous family engagement events throughout the year. The PTO coupled with our school and district commitment to engaging our families makes East Central a school where families are always welcome. Some events we host throughout the year to promote family engagement include: a district-wide back to school kick-off, curriculum nights, STEAM night, family fun night, monthly PTO meetings, a father-son event, a mother-daughter event, transition to kindergarten event,
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
Over the past two years, East Central has committed itself to connecting children and
their families to community services that provide the support that some economically
disadvantaged students need.  With this initiative, we worked to “wrap” our children in
services that follow them from their classrooms to their homes and back again. 
The Wrap-Around Services Initiative has made a positive impact on student
achievement for all students and especially those students who are identified as
economically disadvantaged.  In addition, for the last two years, our CCRPI Score
increased and our student attendance rate increased. We firmly believe that our wrap-
around services had a direct impact on students’ academic performance, attendance,
and behavior.  In meeting the needs of food, clothing, and so much more, we eliminated
obstacles and created opportunities for our students to experience success.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
School change and improvement starts with creating a positive culture and climate. In order for teachers and students to be successful, district and school leaders have to create a culture of continual learning and improvement where mistakes are embraced as a part of improvement and teachers are empowered to make instructional decisions that fit within the district's instructional framework through effective team collaboration.
Additionally, tier 1 and tier 2 instructional practices MUST be examined and refined continually to ensure that we are consistently meeting the needs of our students.
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
As East Central strives to grow and improve, we want to continue to become better at deeper student-focused collaboration. By using collaboration as a vehicle for improvement we hope to accomplish two main areas of improvement. We hope to become more student-centered with our instructional practices. Additionally, we want to continue to raise the bar on rigor in terms of both high-quality instruction and assessment.
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
As with most great organizations and teams, there is nothing magical about being great. Creating a great school starts with doing the basics better than everyone else. Basics include great pedagogy and engagement of students, a culture of adult learning, high expectations, and acceptance of mistakes as a path toward growth and improved teaching.
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.
In 2012, East Central Elementary School was awarded a portion of the Striving Readers
Comprehensive Literacy (SRCL) Grant received by Rome City Schools to support our
system’s focus on improved literacy.  The Striving Readers Grant allowed East Central
to implement our Strengthening Literacy Initiative, an initiative to develop and ensure a
literacy-rich and rigorous environment for our students. The teachers, academic
coaches, and administration developed a literacy plan of research-based, evidence-
proven best practices aligned with the Georgia Standards of Excellence.  SRCL funds
provided for professional development, print and technology resources, assessments,
and classroom libraries. The literacy landscape at East Central has evolved in many ways as a result of our laser-focused literacy instruction.
Explain how ESEA federal funds are used to support your improvement efforts.
ESSA Title 1 funds are used to support a myriad of efforts as East Central. Funds are used for professional development, educational supplies, parent engagement, and technology to support student learning.
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
Our teachers are expected to work with our instructional coaches on a weekly basis during collaborative planning. From these planning work sessions, we are able to determine instructional weaknesses and teacher professional development needs. Our district has recently implemented flexible learning days. These are used to allow the students to complete their school work from home so that teachers can have more time for collaboration and professional development. The professional development is a combination of district driven PD and school driven PD. This allows schools autonomy to have professional development that is specific to our needs and also development that aligns with district philosophies and initiatives.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
East Central’s teachers, academic coaches, and administrators are continually
reviewing data and using the data to plan for differentiated classroom instruction for our
students. East Central began with a dive into the data and the construction of shared
datasheets for each teacher. With one consolidated spreadsheet, teachers were able
to enter, maintain, and reflect upon multiple pieces of data – DIBELS, Reading
Inventory Lexile level, Teachers College Running Records, past Georgia Milestones,
NWEA MAP, Benchmark Testing, and Unit Testing. With this disaggregated student
data, our academic coaches and teachers were able to make data-driven decisions that
directly impacted the achievement of all of our students and especially our special
populations. Our teachers, coaches, and administrators met monthly in data team
meetings to review student-specific data, especially those students receiving
interventions at tier 2, 3 and 4 service levels.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
East Central Elementary implemented PBIS in January of 2016. Throughout the
implementation process, we followed the guidance of our district, RESA, and GADOE
support staff.  We implemented PBIS through our PAWS Initiative by establishing
school-wide PAWS expectations: P - Positive Attitude, A - Act Responsibly, W - Work
Hard, and S - Show Respect.  Every day and in every setting, we taught our students to
put their best PAWS forward.  With this initiative, our school staff used a framework by
which we taught the PAWS expectations, rewarded appropriate behaviors, and
implemented interventions with both integrity and fidelity.  Our work with teaching
behavior expectations has improved student conduct and enhanced academic
outcomes for all students. The PAWS Initiative has made a positive impact on outcomes for all students over the past two years, particularly our subgroups. East Central earned a 5-Star School Climate.
Stats
  • Category 3

    Selected in 2019

  • Grades: k - 6
    School Setting: suburban
    Town Population: 36,000
    Student Enrollment: 572
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 29%
    White/Caucasian: 48%
    Hispanic: 11%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 2%
    Native American: 1%
    Other: 9%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:15
    % Reduced Lunch: 100%
    % ELL Learners: 7%
    Founded: 1975
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Wesley Styles
  • CONTACT:
    1502 Dean Avenue
    Rome, GA 30161
    706-232-8310
    wstyles@rcs.rome.ga.us