• Category 1

    Selected in 2017

  • Grades: pre k - 5
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 257
    Student Enrollment: 256
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 3%
    White/Caucasian: 93%
    Hispanic: 0%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 1%
    Asian: 0%
    Native American: 3%
    Other: 0%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:13
    % Reduced Lunch: 35%
    % ELL Learners: 0%
    Founded: 1920
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Amanda Brimer
  • CONTACT:
    20753 Easton Rd.
    Easton, KS 66020
    913-651-5595
    abrimer@easton449.org
Pleasant Ridge Elementary School
Easton, KS
Every student! Every day!
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
Our school is proud to have several established community activities that we offer throughout the school year. We have a long standing tradition of hosting an annual Chili Supper each fall where students, families and community members come to enjoy games, raffles, a silent auction and dinner. We invite our local Sheriff's department to spend time with our students during “Hot Chocolate with a Hero” allowing the deputies to interact with all of our students in a very positive way. We host a community literacy event called “Books & Breakfast” an opportunity for community members to read with our PK-5 students enjoying both books and breakfast together.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
Our philosophy of school improvement revolves around the quality staff that we employ. We believe that with highly qualified teachers and a rigorous, research based curriculum we can provide students with the opportunities that they deserve to learn and be successful in our school community. We give our teachers the opportunity and freedom to try new things which has lead to some tremendous school improvement.
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
As we look into the future, as a building, we have two main goals for our students, staff and community. Our first goal is systematic community involvement. We want to move parents and community members from a place of simply enjoying school functions to becoming active participants in our students’ education. We will continue to focus on academic growth for all of our students with highly trained teachers through a rigorous, research-based curriculum; meeting our overarching philosophy of “Every student. Every day”.
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.
The initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement has been our commitment to provide every student with an intervention time. Our teachers believe we have an obligation to meet every student where they are not only students who are struggling but enrichment for students who are working at or above grade level. This daily intervention time supports our belief that we must meet “Every student. Every day.” where they are.
Explain how Title I funds are used to support your improvement efforts.
We use our Title I funds to provide a certified Title I teacher and assistant. Our Title I teachers work with each of our K-5 classrooms in both reading and math. They provide students support in a small group setting allowing them to provide individualized instruction thus meeting students specific learning needs.
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
We pride ourselves on providing individualized professional learning activities around teacher identified needs. We offer monthly professional development classes through a program we call “RAMS University”. Our staff members have an opportunity, through monthly surveys, to give input on areas of professional development that will benefit them and their students. We then design classes, taught by our own teacher experts, that are offered to our entire staff. These professional development opportunities center around student improvement, math, literacy, technology innovations and other trends in education.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
We use a variety of assessments to monitor our students’ progress. Learning groups are formed based on the data that we collect. Our learning groups are fluid and flexible allowing our staff to address changing needs of students throughout the school year. With this in place, we are able to ensure that each student receives classroom instruction at their current learning level as well as providing an additional time for individualized instruction for students that need additional support. We are always flexible in changing things as the needs of the student change.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
Our district theme is “Every Student. Every Day.” The teachers at Pleasant Ridge Elementary School take this very seriously and our school culture revolves around this student-centered approach. We believe that every student can be successful and we want our families & students to believe that as well. To support that belief we have a monthly growth mindset focus for our students and staff. Examples would be “Trying something new”, “Never giving up”, “Challenging my neurons”. Teachers nominate students from their classrooms who they feel have displayed the characteristics of the monthly focus. These students receive a Growth Mindset award and are recognized through school wide celebrations.
Stats
  • Category 1

    Selected in 2017

  • Grades: pre k - 5
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 257
    Student Enrollment: 256
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 3%
    White/Caucasian: 93%
    Hispanic: 0%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 1%
    Asian: 0%
    Native American: 3%
    Other: 0%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:13
    % Reduced Lunch: 35%
    % ELL Learners: 0%
    Founded: 1920
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Amanda Brimer
  • CONTACT:
    20753 Easton Rd.
    Easton, KS 66020
    913-651-5595
    abrimer@easton449.org