Frierson Elementary is one of CCSD's rural schools. Frierson has approximately 150 students of mixed demographics, and a poverty level of 72.9%. We are proud to be District 9’s only Montessori School. The 2021-22 school year will be our fourth year transitioning into CCSD's 6th Montessori School, with an anticipated attendance of 185 students. Currently, we have 3 Primary Montessori Classrooms and 2 Lower Elementary Classrooms. Next year we will have 3 Lower Elementary Classrooms and 3 Primary Classrooms. Teachers in the 6 Montessori classrooms as well as our 2 Traditional instructors will benefit from continuous training in the Montessori Methodology. This training will be supported through funding from our Title 1 resources in addition to the commitment of our school district. Each year we will phase out one grade level as we grow. During the 21-22 school year grades four and five will be our only remaining traditional grades.
One impact of COVID-19 for the SY 2019-20 was that schools did not have the opportunity to assess students using the State Department of Education’s Standardized assessment. As a result, data is not available for tests that were not administered in Spring 2020; these tests include SC Ready and SC PASS. In our daily work our school continued to focus on helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by maintaining clear expectations and an understanding of where our student’s abilities were. We consistently evaluated the achievement and growth of the students at Edith L. Frierson. We used the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment specifically focusing on the Reading and Math subtests.
The readiness of our students prior to the Pandemic was a direct result of the success of our Montessori implementation. Prior to the Pandemic we noted gains in our Kindergarten through Second grade classes. Finally, for the upcoming year we anticipate greater success among this group of learners.
To help increase growth and achievement in both Reading and Math, we will continue to use research based instructional strategies that have been proven effective in elevating the learning experiences of students at Frierson. Teachers will continue to meet once a week for 70 minutes in Professional Learning Communities with both the instructional coach and Principal to review formative data and will use data protocols to establish next steps for students at all instructional levels. In math, teachers will continue to implement Bridges Core curriculum as well as Bridges Number Corner to students this academic school year and in future years. One goal we have is to work toward implementing Bridges intervention for tier 2 and tier 3 students during the 2021-2022 academic school year. In reading, teachers will continue to implement Open Court Phonics in traditional classrooms (fourth and fifth grade), Heggerty Phonics program in Primary Montessori, and the Waseca Phonics program in Primary and Lower Elementary Montessori Classrooms. Teachers in all grades (Montessori and Traditional) will continue their work following the CCSD instructional units for reading created by the Curriculum and Instruction office. Teachers in all grades (Montessori and Traditional) will also continue to work on the Lucy Calkins Units of Study using the Writing Workshop model for implementation.
As we continue to support growth in both Math and Reading we will use multiple settings throughout the day and use a daily 40 minute flex period for targeted intervention with identified students and personally paced instruction through an electronic platform for all students. We expect to see gains in both literacy, numeracy and science PASS scores.
Our continuous efforts to minimize the impact of COVID-19 disruptions and their impact on student learning during the 2020- 2021 school year allowed us to focus on student engagement coupled with accountability and support.This was a schoolwide effort supported by all staff members from families, maintenance, cafeteria services, instructional staff, office staff and administration.
School climate is an area that we are both incredibly proud of and recognize that there is always additional room to grow. Our SC state survey results from previous student, parent, and teacher surveys indicate that we have a safe physical and learning environment. With the additional expertise and training in the Montessori Peace curriculum we will have a greater school-wide expectation for teacher and student behavior and language with which to discuss those expectations. We intentionally model a positive, proactive, affirmative approach to student behavior and work to present many avenues for students to become invested in their learning and their learning environment.
When comparing our school performance in the area of teacher and administrator quality we are most proud of the implementation of our newest program, the Montessori Program, which has brought newly trained instructors to our school and will continue to be the foundation of our future success.
Finally, we thank our PTA and SIC members, community partners, Kiawah Cares, Kiawah Foundation, Berkeley Electric, and the Frierson families for your continued support and trust in knowing that we were going to do our very best to provide a great learning environment for all our children.
Dr. Deborah Davis-Cummings, Principal,
Mrs. Elizabeth Poole, SIC Chair
