• Category 1

    Selected in 2019

  • Grades: pre k - pre k
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 0
    Student Enrollment: 406
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 1%
    White/Caucasian: 87%
    Hispanic: 7%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 1%
    Asian: 3%
    Native American: 1%
    Other: 0%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:27
    % Reduced Lunch: 54%
    % ELL Learners: 2%
    Founded: 1917
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Trevor Heaton
  • CONTACT:
    128 W 100 N
    Parowan, UT 84761
    435-477-3368
    trevor.heaton@ironmail.org
Parowan Elementary School
Parowan, UT
We need high expectations, a strong work ethic, and a charitable hearts.
Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.
We have a community council that decides where our School Landtrust money is spent. We have a strong PTO. We have weekly Wednesday assemblies where parents are invited and we do a variety of activities. We use our resources, technology, and personal conversations to provide parents information of the standards and the essential skills their students are working on. We do home visits in the summer to get to know our families and to build relationships. We also plan parent nights throughout the year.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
We at Parowan Elementary, along with our Parowan High School students, strive to be True RAMS. The Ram is the mascot of both schools. A True RAM is someone who shows Respect, Accountability, Makes a Difference, and Serves others at school, home, and in the community. Cool 2 Care cards are handed out throughout the schools and the community helps with lunches, incentives, and strong support. This along with our Trauma Informed Care and Reformative Justice initiatives when supporting behavior have strengthened relationships and culture throughout the community. We pride ourselves in coming together to celebrate successes and support each other during difficult times.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
My philosophy has changed many times throughout my career. It has been a magnificent journey. The most important piece of what we do as educators centers around our relationships with each other and with our students. I love welcoming students and staff in the morning and building relationships out on the playground during lunch recess. Teaching is challenging in so many ways physically, mentally, financially, and emotionally. We need each other for support and counsel. We need high expectations, a strong work ethic, and a charitable hearts. We must ignore the political clamor around us and focus more on the little ones around us. I love the people who care for our nations most valuable asset, its children.
We as a school need to always allow room for growth and continue to find the most current educational research and use this data to better meet the needs of our students. We need to continue to seek for appropriate professional development to support this research.
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
We will continue our standards based reporting. We will continue to create multiple assessments on guaranteed viable curriculum. We will use the data to ensure we are focusing on what the students need to learn. We will provide timely interventions when students need support, and then reassess to insure that they have learned the essential standards and skills.

We will continue our True RAMS positive system of supports and be Respectful, Accountable, Make a difference, and serve others. We will pass out our Cool to Care cards and recognize the positive things that are happening in our homes, school, and community. We will focus on reformative practices, trauma informed care, and building relationships with our students, faculty, and parents. We want to build a strong feeling of unity at our school.

What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
We love the fact that we are a community school. We have many activities that center around our community and the people that live here. We know and care about the people around us. I think that matters.
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.
We have a few that have made a difference. We have introduced a better approach to helping students who are struggling with behavior. We have pushed into classrooms instead of pulling students out. We have a restorative, calming room for students to go to when they need support. A strong part of this is also our True RAMS and Cool to Care activities that promote positive values and behavior.
We also have a strong collaborative culture and a new standards based reporting initiative incorporated district wide that has helped build common assessments and incorporate essential skills that were created by business, government, school, and community leaders. This standards based approach has also provided us a way to communicate learning to parents and focus on the most important curriculum and guarantee that these are learned. Most importantly the importance of building relationships with ALL students who we have the responsibility and opportunity to teach.
Explain how ESEA federal funds are used to support your improvement efforts.
We have used the ESEA federal fund primarily on our greatest resource, the loving members of our community who come and teach our children, provide support and interventions, and establish relationships with amazing students. We also have used some of the funds to provide necessary technology and resources so that we can support our staff in teaching the content in engaging ways.
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
Each of our staff has been trained on collaborative culture and professional learning communities. We have been receiving standards based reporting training along with training on common formative assessment and our data management software. We are being trained on Assessment Capable Learners and Teacher Clarity. We have received training on Trauma informed care, wellness, restorative justice, PBIS, and evidence based strategies. These all have been important and the challenge is how to simplify and manage time and instruction while doing what is most important. The daily time in the classroom with our students.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
We have a strong learning community and are divided into teams. We discuss data regularly in collaborative teacher and building level teams. We use the data to provide support and interventions to all students. We build relationships so that teachers and parents are involved together in the education of our students. We know and care for each of our children.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
We have an amazing culture throughout our school. It is a place where you want to be and invite all to come and be with you. We love being a part of it and try to be examples of showing kindness whenever possible. It is a culture of high expectations, loving our children, and togetherness. We understand and embrace the role of community school and the values and expectations that come with this role. We depend and support each other and embrace the joy and challenges that arise from living in our small rural environment.
Stats
  • Category 1

    Selected in 2019

  • Grades: pre k - pre k
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 0
    Student Enrollment: 406
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 1%
    White/Caucasian: 87%
    Hispanic: 7%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 1%
    Asian: 3%
    Native American: 1%
    Other: 0%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:27
    % Reduced Lunch: 54%
    % ELL Learners: 2%
    Founded: 1917
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Trevor Heaton
  • CONTACT:
    128 W 100 N
    Parowan, UT 84761
    435-477-3368
    trevor.heaton@ironmail.org