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The physical and social environment of our school exudes a “family-focused, student-centered” place of learning. We are a rural school where we are the hub of the community. Many of our students' parents went to school right here at Jefferson Elementary. We have teachers who are teaching the children and grandchildren of their former students and have connections with their families. Our success comes from being willing to step out of the box and build relationships with all of our students' families. This is done by hosting events where all of the community is invited to attend and actually greeted at the door with a friendly smile and warm handshake, or hug. Jefferson is home to many of our teachers as well and they are vested in this school.

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

Each year our school strives to involve parents in more valuable ways. Most recently, we began the year with a school-wide registration day in early August. This proved helpful in more ways than one. Students were able to meet their teacher, get a supply list, and have questions answered. Parents were put at ease with regard to the upcoming school year. Apart from this day, we also have an Open House at the beginning of the school year. Parents are involved with our school leadership team by serving on the School Improvement Council (SIC), School Advisory Council, and Parent Teacher Organization (PTO). Through our Title I funds, we employ a Parent Liaison to help facilitate all of the communication with parents.

Parents are our students’ biggest advocates, and as such, we are committed to having an open-door policy at our school. Both parents and grandparents are kept informed of awards days, book fairs, field trips, etc., so they may stay involved in their child’s education.

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

The most successful activity we have introduced to strengthen ties is our Literacy Initiative. Each school wide literacy activity involves the entire faculty, students, parents and community. We have had four major literacy activities this year.

In September, we had our “Grits for Grandparents” celebration.

In October, our PTO and Literacy Coach planned a literacy night called “Camp Read-A-Lot” that drew in over 300 parents and students. After a read aloud, students and parents rotated through three different literacy stations.

The literacy coach planned a “Trick or Read” in which volunteers from the community were guest readers. Students dressed as a character from a book, as did many of our volunteer readers.

In November, our school honored all of our local veterans and their families. It included a guest speaker from the community, a read aloud, students reading letters to veterans, students singing patriotic songs, and our local high school’s ROTC presenting the colors.

Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.

Our leadership team knows the importance of having complete buy-in from all stakeholders in order for our school’s vision to come to fruition. By focusing on building relationships, our school is able to have a trusting connection with our students’ families. We accomplish this by caring for each student as a “whole” child. Our ultimate vision is for each student to achieve success in an environment where they feel safe and know that they can take risks without fear of judgment. All school faculty and staff go above and beyond to express high expectations for all of our students.

By building this relationship of trust between the school and home, we have cultivated a sense of community and family in our school. Our school is the center of our small town and we strive to be vigilant and responsible with the limited resources we have available. As always, we do not let socioeconomic factors hinder us from achieving great things at Jefferson Elementary.

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

One goal we’re working toward is a comprehensive, vertically-aligned writing approach. Collaboration across the grade levels will ensure our students are being taught what they need at each grade to build the strong foundations on which more complex ideas can be layered.

Another goal is to create and maintain positive relationships with all stakeholders. We strive to make our school one of best by creating a family-oriented atmosphere where all children are loved and cared for as our own and everyone is treated with respect. As teachers, we realize that the “whole” child must be cared for before focusing on the educational aspect of his/her life. Similarly, the relationships among our teachers create a work environment where they are excited about coming to work. Teachers are given opportunities to be leaders in our school and provided leeway in making educational decisions for their students. Horizontal and vertical collaboration between teachers benefits all stakeholders.

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

The single most important factor in our success at Jefferson Elementary is our emphasis on individual student needs. We do this through our Response to Intervention (RTI) program. We meet twice a month in data meetings with all faculty and staff who play an integral part of the process of meeting the needs of all students. We know there is more than hard data (MAP scores, report cards, PASS scores, running records) for each child. There is always soft data (conversations with students, family issues, living accommodations) that deserves the same, if not more, of our attention.

We realize that meeting the needs of students revealed in the soft data must be addressed before we can ever tackle the needs we see with the hard data. For example, a spelling test is not important to a student when they are starving. Actually "knowing" the students and their families offers us the opportunity to build the trusting relationships necessary in order to be successful at Jefferson Elementary.

Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.

A fundamental piece that drives our instruction is our Response to Intervention (RTI) program. Twice a month, the principal, literacy coach, interventionist, general education teachers, and resource teachers meet to evaluate whether targeted strategies are working for students. Data is brought to the table in the form of anecdotal notes, formative assessments, MAP scores, running records, Fountas & Pinnell tests, etc. Instructional decisions are based, not only on this information, but also on teacher observations and input. The advantage of RTI is that students may transition out when improving and successfully using the reading strategies taught and reinforced by all his/her teachers. Communication between teacher and interventionist is crucial for student success. Teachers are able to observe interventionists teaching small groups of children. Focusing on the whole child, not just standardized scores, has played the most important role in our students’ achievement at Jefferson.

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

JES uses Title I funds to employ a part-time interventionist and a parent liaison, provide professional development opportunities through the school’s full-time literacy coach and a certified teacher to teach small-group reading and math.

The part-time interventionist works with small groups of kindergarteners and first graders that are identified by their teacher as needing intervention

The full-time parent liaison works with parents and teachers to facilitate communication between home and school. She assists the literacy coach in planning and providing workshops for parents. She facilitates volunteers for the school and is the connection for home-school communication.

Our Title I money enables our literacy coach to plan, develop and present professional development for all teachers. Professional development is focused and specific to teachers' needs.

The certified teacher provides small-group instruction to fourth and fifth grade students in both ELA and math.

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

Our school has experienced much success in differentiating learning for our students. Using the same philosophy, we differentiate our professional development. We pride ourselves on meeting each teacher where they are in their professional learning. Grade-level data meetings are conducted twice a month which allow for small group teacher professional development and analysis of student data. This data drives future instruction for students by helping teachers identify strengths and weaknesses of students who need additional assistance such as RTI, Kindergarten Connections, or Student Intervention Resource Team (SIRT) identification.

The literacy coach guides professional development with the entire faculty. The literacy coach introduced teachers to their summer book study in May. Teachers read and responded to the literacy coach’s posts on an Outlook blog during the summer. Our year-long book study is correlated to our school goal of integrating writing across the curriculum.

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

As part of our RTI program, the principal, literacy coach, interventionist, teachers, and resource teachers evaluate whether targeted strategies are working for students. Data is reviewed in the form of anecdotal notes, formative assessments, MAP scores, running records, Fountas & Pinnell tests, etc. Instructional decisions are based, not only on this information, but also on teacher observations and input.

Our entire faculty knows the importance of studying student data in order to make sound instructional decisions. In our literacy coach’s office, we house all student data on large magnetic data walls, which are updated throughout the year. We have data walls for MAP Math and ELA. Students’ scores are sorted by RIT bands that are correlated with the Spring cut scores for not met, met, or exemplary. Classroom teachers in grades two through five also have a “portable” data wall they keep in their classrooms. We also have a flexible data wall for Fountas & Pinnell assessments.

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

Our school’s culture is based on the belief that we are all a part of the Jefferson Family. We are committed to providing varied opportunities for students to take ownership of their school and be involved in all aspects of their education.

The physical and social environment of our school exudes a “family-focused, student-centered” place of learning. We are a rural school where we are the hub of the community. Many of our students' parents went to school right here at Jefferson Elementary. We have teachers who are teaching the children and grandchildren of their former students and have connections with their families. Our success comes from being willing to step out of the box and build relationships with all of our students' families. This is done by hosting events where all of the community is invited to attend and actually greeted at the door with a friendly smile and warm handshake, or hug. Jefferson is home to many of our teachers as well and they are vested in this school.

• Category 1

  Selected in 2014

• Grades: pre k - 5
  School Setting: rural
  Town Population: 750
  Student Enrollment: 338
  Student Demographics:
  

  Black/African American: 24%
  White/Caucasian: 63%
  Hispanic: 5%
  Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
  Asian: 1%
  Native American: 0%
  Other: 7%
  

  Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:21
  % Reduced Lunch: 73%
  % ELL Learners: 2%
  Founded: 1994
• PRINCIPAL:
  Wendy Folsom
• CONTACT:
  809 West Elizabeth Street
  Jefferson, SC 29718
  843-658-3295
  wfolsom@chesterfieldschools.org