• Category 1

    Selected in 2012

  • Grades: pre k - 5
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 862
    Student Enrollment: 513
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 21%
    White/Caucasian: 28%
    Hispanic: 46%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 2%
    Native American: 2%
    Other: 1%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:15
    % Reduced Lunch: 85.1%
    % ELL Learners: 25.5%
    Founded: 1969
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Charlynne Hopkins
  • CONTACT:
    252 Clayton Ave
    Frankford, DE 19945
    302-732-3808
    charlynne.hopkins@irsd.k12.de.us
John M. Clayton Elementary School
Frankford, DE
Our faculty meetings are used for professional development. Not only do we have structured PD in the form of Book Talks, we also encourage individual staff members to share strategies and practices with the greater school community.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen the ties to your community.
We have a student mentoring program that matches more than one hundred adult mentors – drawn from surrounding communities – with upwards of 125 students. Students are referred to the program by parents or teachers; students work with their mentors on a literacy activity (matched to an individual area of need) during the weekly mentoring appointment. Many of our mentors “follow” their students to middle school and beyond.
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
Build on the successes of last year! Increase the percentages of students meeting the standard at even higher levels while working to align instruction to the Common Core State Standards.
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
As a school leader, I maintain exceptionally high expectations for students and staff. I communicate these expectations frequently and consistently. At the same time, I try to provide any supports needed to support our achievement goals and remove any barriers to success.
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement.
We have a team of teachers who push in to each grade level for Response to Intervention; we have the flexibility, time, and staff to regroup students across a grade level to address specific instructional needs.
Identify the professional development activities you use to improve the teaching portion of the teaching and learning process.
Our faculty meetings are used for professional development. Not only do we have structured PD in the form of Book Talks, we also encourage individual staff members to share strategies and practices with the greater school community.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
Each grade level team meets for ninety minutes each week as a Professional Learning Community. They analyze data as it pertains to topics such as student achievement (DIBELS, DCAS, curriculum based measures), attendance, and discipline. Using this data, teachers plan common instruction and assessments, address individual student learning, and communicate with other staff members and administration.
Stats
  • Category 1

    Selected in 2012

  • Grades: pre k - 5
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 862
    Student Enrollment: 513
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 21%
    White/Caucasian: 28%
    Hispanic: 46%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 2%
    Native American: 2%
    Other: 1%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:15
    % Reduced Lunch: 85.1%
    % ELL Learners: 25.5%
    Founded: 1969
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Charlynne Hopkins
  • CONTACT:
    252 Clayton Ave
    Frankford, DE 19945
    302-732-3808
    charlynne.hopkins@irsd.k12.de.us