• Category 1

    Selected in 2016

  • Grades: pre k - 5
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 750
    Student Enrollment: 166
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 2%
    White/Caucasian: 95%
    Hispanic: 3%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 0%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 0%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:15
    % Reduced Lunch: 74.8%
    % ELL Learners: 1%
    Founded: 1922
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Cari Maneen
  • CONTACT:
    214 East Main Street
    Saluda, NC 28773
    828-749-5571
    cmaneen@polkschools.org
Saluda Elementary
Saluda, NC
The conscious and consistent effort to integrate the arts into the core curricula … helps students make deep, rich, standards-based connections, which translates to academic success for every student.
Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.
Collaboration with families and the community provides our students with enrichment through service learning, the sharing of hobbies, interests, and stories of their travels. Community partnerships provide support for a nature park on campus; encourage walking/biking to school; fund participation for all 5th graders in Muddy Sneakers science expeditions; and provide weekend food bags for students in need. Service learning projects conducted in the community provide students with real-world learning opportunities as well as a sense of pride in their community. Two informances each year give students the opportunity to inform the school community, through performances and displays, of their academic achievement. More than 80% of families attend. Businesses in the community display our students’ artwork, attend informances and student celebrations and provide support for our “Books Are Really Fun” program, which allows every student to choose 5 free books each year.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
Saluda School works in partnership with a group of community volunteers in the after school tutoring program for at-risk students titled. This program, “Community for Children" (C4C) was initiated from input from the community. The purpose is to afford children an advocate by building positive relationships with a caring adult. Identified students meet with their approved mentor at least once a week and work together on academic needs as well as ideas sparked by student interests. We have received positive responses from students enrolled in the C4C program. We are continuing the program this year and have increased the number of students enrolled and the number of C4C volunteers. The C4C volunteers spent a total of 194 hours working with 39 children from February to May. End-of-grade tests for students in grades 3-5 indicated that 70% of the students made growth. Seventy-three percent of at-risk students in grades K-2 who worked with a C4C member grew 73% on benchmark tests.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
Saluda faculty are enthusiastic about creating an environment where the education of the whole-child is the focus by connecting innovation through the arts and academics. We seek innovative ways to improve existing practices and programs and how we partner with our community. Over twenty community members volunteer to work with our students in the After School Academy with a goal to not only improve student achievement and growth, but to be a positive role model for a child in need. This year, our students are working toward service learning. Although in the initial phases, our philosophy is that students will have a deeper understanding of their community and empathy and respect for others. Our focus is to provide multiple avenues for students to learn and demonstrate their learning. Teachers at Saluda School are dedicated to finding an innovative approach to teach all of our learners so each is successful; this includes taking risks and a willingness to change.
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
Because Saluda is the only A+ school in the county and surrounding area, we invite schools wanting to learn more about the practice of arts-integration to visit our classrooms and meet with our staff. It is a school-wide belief that innovative thinking and creativity are essential skills students need and that the practice of arts-integration fosters these skills for children. Enrichment opportunities are provided for all PreK-5 students through the guest artist/performer component of the A+ Schools Program. All students in grades 3-5 receive weekly keyboarding and STEM classes. Participation in arts-integrated instruction has increased our students’ vocabulary, comprehension, and self-esteem. The conscious and consistent effort to integrate the arts into the core curricula continues to be successful in that it helps students make deep, rich, standards-based connections, which translates to academic success for every student.
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.
Saluda School is one of 53 schools in the NC A+ Schools Program. Teachers address the state standards through interdisciplinary thematic units, combined with arts integration and hands-on, experiential learning, including daily arts instruction by certified arts teachers. Integration of the arts into the curriculum allows students to be taught the way they learn best. The arts are viewed as critical to the learning process. Teachers adapt instructional methods to meet the needs of all students by implementing multiple intelligences and allowing students to demonstrate their learning through enriched assessments, allowing multiple pathways to learning. Visual arts, music, physical education/dance, technology and media teachers collaborate with classroom teachers to integrate the arts with all academic disciplines. Participation in the A+ Schools Program, collaborative planning, professional development and strong community partnerships contribute to the success of our students.
Explain how Title I funds are used to support your improvement efforts.
Teachers work together to review individual student progress and determine next steps for improvement and instruction. Based on this data, our Title 1 teacher works with small groups of children to improve reading skills. Every K-3 student is assessed 3 times per year in reading using mClass Reading 3D, which includes Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills and Text Reading and Comprehension. This assessment is the primary tool used to identify at-risk K-3 students for participation in the Title 1 reading program. Students in grades 4-5 receive Title 1 services based on the NC End-of-Grade Test for English Language Arts scores. The Title 1 teacher currently serves 25% of all K-5 students. Orton-Gillingham is utilized by teachers during our daily, school-wide, small leveled reading groups, and provides instructional support for students having difficulty with reading, spelling and writing.
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
Professional development, individually to address specific teacher needs and school-wide to benefit the entire school, promotes a culture of learning and is key to our success. Teachers take an active role in planning, participating and facilitating professional development. Learning communities, in the form of arts-integration collaboration, grade level and EC planning meetings, peer observations, “buddy” support and best-practice sharing sessions offer in-house, on-going professional learning to improve teacher practices. Each teacher completes a survey of professional development needs at the beginning of each school year. The survey is used to develop an individualized growth plan, with the ultimate goal to improve student learning. Professional development is aligned to our School Improvement goals and differentiated based on teacher and student need. Teachers also participate in district grade-level meetings to share and learn new techniques to improve student growth.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
Certified teachers spent one week of Orton-Gillingham training during the summer to learn tools to promote individual reading success using multi-sensory strategies, fluency, reading comprehension, and phonemic awareness. This training was implemented due to low overall student scores on the mClassReading 3D written comprehension component and low growth for our exceptional children’s population demonstrated on grades 3-5 state end-of-grade tests. Teachers continue to utilize the “new” strategies learned to prepare and implement daily lessons in the classrooms and during our school-wide guided reading groups. Students provide written responses to their reading in journals to gain an in-depth understanding of their reading. Last year, written comprehension scores improved on Reading 3D due to implementation of written response journals and the gap between regular education students and exceptional children decreased.
Stats
  • Category 1

    Selected in 2016

  • Grades: pre k - 5
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 750
    Student Enrollment: 166
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 2%
    White/Caucasian: 95%
    Hispanic: 3%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 0%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 0%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:15
    % Reduced Lunch: 74.8%
    % ELL Learners: 1%
    Founded: 1922
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Cari Maneen
  • CONTACT:
    214 East Main Street
    Saluda, NC 28773
    828-749-5571
    cmaneen@polkschools.org