• Category 1

    Selected in 2019

  • Grades: pre k - 5
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 1
    Student Enrollment: 1
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 0%
    White/Caucasian: 90.5%
    Hispanic: 0%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 0%
    Native American: 2.1%
    Other: 7.4%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:16
    % Reduced Lunch: 49.5%
    % ELL Learners: 0%
    Founded: 1948
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Bradley Larrabee
  • CONTACT:
    7730 Pettingill St
    Iron River, WI 54847
    715-364-8465
    blarrabee@nw-tigers.org
Iron River Elementary School
Iron River, WI
Staff impact every student and parent they interact with.
Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.
The success of our school is also greatly attributed to our positive family and teacher relationships. Through these collaborative relationships our families are a major contributer to the growth and supports of our students. Communication is most often done on a daily basis and is focused on a collaborative and supportive relationship.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
Iron River Elementary School has exceptional community support. Every year our staff work endlessly to involve parents and community members in our classrooms, annual events, and celebrations. Because of this strong tradition of support, our communities commitment to our students continues. A focus this past school year was on increasing PTO membership. Through carefully planned communication and invitations our membership nearly tripled in a single year! Our PTO is engaged in monthly school celebrations and coordinates many of our in school and after school activities. Because of their involvement our students are able to receive additional supports and services.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
As an administrator my philosophy for school improvement is to be specific, structured, and timely. Within the world of education there are all too many changes, next best things, and initiatives. Most districts fail because they are trying to do too much without enough focus. To counter this, I provide our superintendent with an annual Action Plan. This document is a three to five year working template that outlines our current work, sets measurable timelines and identifies demonstrable skills or outcomes. Through this process our staff know the purpose, steps, timelines and outcomes of each of our initiatives.
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
Forecasting the future, Iron River Elementary School will continue to focus on growing our universal instruction. Starting this year we will be remapping our power standards by instructional unit. This years work will lead to identifying instructional practices and activities that align with each power standard. The ultimate goal will be for us to create or use curriculum based measures in conjunction with our core instruction. This focus is on aligning our instruction and assessment frameworks.
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
The success of Iron River Elementary School lies in the collaborative culture of our staff. Each team member of the school is held at the same value and respect as the others. From the custodial staff to the teachers, all staff play pivotal roles in our students lives. Similar to the Mayo Health Care Clinic Model, each of our staff have an impact on every student and parent they interact with. Knowing our impact, we strive to make every connection purposeful and lasting. This is the key to our success as a small rural school.
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.
Over the past five school years the School District of Maple has made a significant investment into its core curriculum and our instructional practices. During this time the staff at Iron River Elementary School have become immersed in growing their skills in providing high quality universal instruction to meet the needs of all students. This focus on foundational skills has been a key contributer to our schools growth.
Explain how ESEA federal funds are used to support your improvement efforts.
Iron River Elementary School is a School Wide Tile I school. Under this classification our school uses funds to support our Reading Teacher and a paraprofessional.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
Our use of student performance data takes multiple stages. Within our classrooms, our teachers are continuing to grow in understanding of formative and summative curriculum based assessments. We know that these measures are timely and tied directly to our daily instruction. In such these are becoming our primary measures of student growth. We use two nationally normed screeners as our secondary measures. All students complete these assessments in set windows to measure student growth and performance when compared to their peers. These are used in our monthly data meetings for discussions about how each student is growing and to identify students that are in need of more intensive supports from our Reading Specialist. Identified students are progress monitoring on a more frequent basis. Lastly, our use of state reporting data is used to triangulate our students growth. Through this report we are able to see if our internal and nationally normed assessments are valid and accurate.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
The staff at Iron River Elementary School are a tight knit community. The veteran staff are devoted to each and every student. Their devotion has been paired with hiring of new and energetic teachers that bring fresh ideas and passion into our classrooms.
Stats
  • Category 1

    Selected in 2019

  • Grades: pre k - 5
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 1
    Student Enrollment: 1
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 0%
    White/Caucasian: 90.5%
    Hispanic: 0%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 0%
    Native American: 2.1%
    Other: 7.4%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:16
    % Reduced Lunch: 49.5%
    % ELL Learners: 0%
    Founded: 1948
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Bradley Larrabee
  • CONTACT:
    7730 Pettingill St
    Iron River, WI 54847
    715-364-8465
    blarrabee@nw-tigers.org