• Category 1

    Selected in 2023

  • Grades: pre k - 5
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 11,196
    Student Enrollment: 312
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 91.9%
    White/Caucasian: 1.5%
    Hispanic: 3%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 3%
    Native American: 0.3%
    Other: 0.3%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:23
    % Reduced Lunch: 100%
    % ELL Learners: 24.2%
    Founded: 1955
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Kim Williams
  • CONTACT:
    385 Glendale Road
    Scottdale, GA 30079
    678-676-6003
    kim_c_williams@dekalbschoolsga.org
Robert Shaw Traditional Theme School
Scottdale, GA
We have created a culture of high community involvement.
1. Tell us about your school’s success.
Robert Shaw Traditional Theme School is a Title I school located in Scottdale, GA.

We proudly serve 312 students in Pre-K through grade five. Our school is composed of students from various schools across the DeKalb County School District.

Robert Shaw’s consistent academic success has earned our school the Title I Distinguished honor in 2017, 2019, and 2023 as one of the top 5% of Title I schools in Georgia. Robert Shaw was also recognized as a “Beating the Odds School” for six consecutive years from 2012-2017.

In 2015, 2016 and 2023, we were recognized as a Title I Reward School due to significant student growth over the course of two consecutive years. Most recently, Robert Shaw students exhibited growth in ELA and Math as evidenced by the following increases in students scoring as Developing, Proficient, and Distinguished learners on the Georgia Milestones EOG: ELA: 3.5% increase from 86.4% (2022) to 89.9% (2023) and Math: 8% increase from 81.3% (2022) to 89.3% (2023).
2. Talk about the greatest contributing factor(s) that promoted positive change in your school.
We achieved our success by implementing many initiatives. Collaboration and planning occur strategically and regularly at Robert Shaw. We conduct weekly grade level meetings and monthly Data Talks to ensure students are progressing towards their goals and consistently receiving targeted, differentiated, and rigorous instruction. We have implemented many instructional norms including cross-curricular instruction, strategic implementation of resources, extended learning time and after-school tutorial to provide remediation for identified students, and "Wizard Wednesdays" where students are compacted to receive data-driven and differentiated instruction in ELA and Math. Robert Shaw developed a culture of high expectations for all students and staff by setting goals for Lexile levels, GA Milestones proficiency, and Accelerated Reader performance that exceed the district and state goals. These initiatives have directly led to our students’ consistent high achievement over the years.
3. How has ESEA funding supported the school's success?
Robert Shaw’s initiatives of intentional collaboration and planning, instructional norms, strategic use of resources, and high expectations of students were all funded by the Title I Budget. In previous years, supplemental resources purchased included Chromebooks as well as instructional software in all content areas, such as iReady, iXL, Flocabulary, Reading A-Z, and Khan Academy. Other resources, professional learning meetings, instructional software, and supplemental resources allocated by the Title I Budget include: implementation of Number Talks and the CRA Sequence of instruction, resources and training to implement Newman's Prompt and Polya's Problem Solving, a Title I Math Night, leveled readers, Georgia Coach books, attending conferences to support ELA initiatives, and utilization of WriteScore lessons, resources, and common assessments.

Strategic and intentional usage of the resources provided by ESEA funding has been critical to our school's success.
4. What professional development activities were used to improve teaching and learning?
During pre-planning, our staff identified goals to support student achievement. We engaged in vertical planning, reviewed the previous academic year’s standardized test data, and revised learning goals. The faculty remained abreast of the latest trends in education through professional development. These courses included effectively utilizing instructional resources, deconstructing standards, modeling the three-part lesson, and redelivery of content/district initiatives by content area instructors. Specialists and Special Area teachers participated in these sessions to support the school’s cross-curricular objectives. The faculty met monthly to determine the effectiveness and progress of each learning goal.

Through these professional development opportunities for our teachers, students consistently exceed our learning goals and achieved significant achievement and growth in ELA and Math. Educators are well-trained in their content, curriculum, resources, and data analysis.
5. Talk about the cultural shift leading up to your school's success.
We experienced dramatic cultural shifts over the past several years, which required a skillful and dynamic response to ensure our continued success. We have a legacy of a pervasive academic culture at Robert Shaw. The COVID-19 pandemic caused us to pivot constantly as we responded to ever-changing difficulties faced by our families, quarantine and social distancing restrictions, and access to virtual learning. In response to the pandemic, we rapidly trained our staff and implemented technology to enable effective synchronous instruction. In response to these unprecedented times, we prioritized social-emotional learning for our scholars. Through intentional planning, strategic collaboration, and maintaining high expectations, we were able to achieve similar performance in both pre- and post-pandemic years. Since 2018, Robert Shaw consistently enabled 81% or more of our students to perform at or above grade level despite the cultural shifts that took place over those tumultuous years.
6. How has community involvement strengthened your success?
We have created a culture of high community involvement for years. Stakeholders are highly committed to working together to achieve the school’s improvement plan for success. We provide a plethora of collaborative opportunities including Parent Universities, PTA meetings, and the Principal’s Advisory Council. Stakeholders offer input on school initiatives, use of Title I funds, and support the school’s mission and vision. We continue to foster a culture of collaboration with our community with partnerships with various businesses, community organizations, and churches.

Our population is very diverse, as 24.2% of students are English Language Learners and at least 90% of parents speak English as a second language, most of whom speak Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromo, and Somalian. Our staff must be intentional and strategic in securing translators to meet the needs of our stakeholders. Despite these barriers, we consistently collaborate with stakeholders to ensure the success of our students.
Stats
  • Category 1

    Selected in 2023

  • Grades: pre k - 5
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 11,196
    Student Enrollment: 312
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 91.9%
    White/Caucasian: 1.5%
    Hispanic: 3%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 3%
    Native American: 0.3%
    Other: 0.3%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:23
    % Reduced Lunch: 100%
    % ELL Learners: 24.2%
    Founded: 1955
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Kim Williams
  • CONTACT:
    385 Glendale Road
    Scottdale, GA 30079
    678-676-6003
    kim_c_williams@dekalbschoolsga.org