CAROLINA PARK ELEMENTARY is a school where TEACHERS choose to teach, FAMILIES want to send their children, and most importantly, STUDENTS love to attend each and every day.
Carolina Park is a school where TEACHERS choose to teach. Last spring the school’s leadership sent out a vision for what our school could become in an effort to recruit like-minded faculty members to open our new school. We are a unique faculty in that every member of our team chose to come to Carolina Park and, as a result, a true professional learning community has already come to fruition. We foster professional practices that include mutual respect, high expectations with support, a collaborative climate and choice-based professional development (PD). Intentional schedulings which allows for common planning, peer observations, teacher observations with reflective feedback and relevant professional development are all important components and established systems at Carolina Park. We believe in treating teachers as professionals and giving them the autonomy to deliver the content to their students, using best practices in instruction, in the way in which they feel will best meet the needs of their learners.
Carolina Park is a school where FAMILIES want to send their children. Our teachers are masters at meeting the high expectations of our stakeholders with quality instruction. Our instructional practices of authentic student work, highly engaging lessons and relevant real-world experiences have resulted in Carolina Park quickly becoming a model school and an educational environment that is desired by families for their children. We believe in frequent and open communication with our families which includes keeping them informed about community events, PTA and SIC opportunities, student performances, publishing celebrations, and opportunities in which they can be involved in the education of their children. We are proud of our new, clean, and safe environment which is an important aspect of the amazing culture that exists here at Carolina Park. All faculty members have received professional development in Responsive Classroom practices and the warm, caring, child-centered climate is noticeable the moment you enter our school. Families want their children to attend our school because we actively involve parents through our SIC and PTA in decision-making and problem-solving. We all share a common belief that all of our challenges must be solved by answering the question, “What is in the best interest of the children we share?”
Carolina Park is a school where STUDENTS love to attend each and every day. We have created an environment in which learning is a priority, students are challenged and fun is a constant. Our teachers provide lessons that are differentiated, arts-infused, hands-on and relevant, providing real-world context. We believe in educating the whole child. Student choice is apparent in all classrooms and a workshop model permeates reading, writing and math content areas as children create authentic work. Children have the opportunity to utilize technology through one-to-one devices providing content on a variety of levels as well as enabling students to explore areas in which they have a passion for learning. Opportunities like our Glow Hop, Color Run, talent show, arts festival, student musical, various clubs and athletic teams provide children with additional avenues to connect with classmates and shine outside of the classroom. Regie Routman once said the following about students who come from schools like ours, “These are students who think and solve problems, see themselves as readers and writers, and use reading and writing to live their lives more fully, in and out of school.” This quote describes our students well, and is why they love attending our school each and every day.
We pride ourselves on providing an education that aligns with the World Class Skills outlined in the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. CREATIVITY & INNOVATION permeates all that we do and impacts all three of the above-mentioned stakeholder groups. Our teachers are expected and encouraged to provide lessons in a creative way that address the needs of all student learners. Our families are tasked with working with our school’s leadership through SIC and PTA to creatively provide programs and opportunities for our students that will allow our school to remain current in best practices. Our students are provided opportunities to consistently complete authentic work samples where relevant learning and innovation can be achieved and then related to real-world situations.
CRITICAL THINKING & PROBLEM SOLVINGis another area in which our school’s philosophy and practices directly align with the World Class Skills outlined in the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. Our concentrated efforts in providing a rigorous curriculum that truly challenges children to critically think and problem solve have led to excellent assessment results as determined by the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP). As a school, we saw extremely high results in both Reading and Math assessments (spring 2018). Our overall school averages of 93rd percentile in reading and 92nd percentile in math provide validation of our ability to hold our students to rigorous expectations for high achievement. In addition to our high student achievement results, we are equally proud of our student growth measures in both content areas. The vast majority of our students (62% in reading and 72% in math) met or exceeded their individual growth goals from fall 2017 to spring 2018 as measured through these MAP assessments. We understand that it is essential to measure both achievement and growth and to then reflect on practices that can lead to increased success for the upcoming school year.
We have seen immediate success in our first year through hard work, a shared vision and a collaborative culture. Carolina Park Elementary has quickly become a school where teachers choose to teach, families want to send their children, and most importantly, students love to attend each and every day.
Michael Antonelli, Principal
Cheryl Zimmerman, SIC Chair