Our school is helping all students develop the world class skills and life and career characteristics of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by supporting our students with World Class Knowledge, World Class Skills, and Life and Career Characteristics. We will continue to stress our school motto- "Building a Strong Foundation." Our vision is only accomplished when students, teachers, parents, and community members come together and strive for excellence. Life and career characteristics is another foundational support of a strong South Carolina Graduate. We teach and recognize a character trait each month, and students participate in celebrations at the end of each quarter. These monthly traits build integrity, self-direction, global perspective, perseverance, work ethic, and interpersonal skills. In addition, students participated in multiple service projects through our Student Counsel and National Junior Beta Club organizations. We are also proud of our partnership with parents and family members through the PTO and School Improvement Council. They have provided funding for classroom instructional needs and this partnership is another brick in the strong foundation for our students at Limestone-Central. Our overall school rating is average, with ratings of below average in academic achievement and preparing students for success; average rating in school quality; and a rating of good in student growth. Student achievement as a school is holding steady in comparison with previous years. The students scored Below Average (below the state) in student achievement, but have consistently shown growth in standardized test scores. The following percentages show the number of students scoring ready or exceeds in ELA (Grade 3- 31.7%; Grade 4- 40.3%; Grade 5- 39.7%) in 2016. The following percentages show the number of students scoring ready or exceeds in math (Grade 3- 41.3%; Grade 4- 37.1%; Grade 5- 36.5%) in 2016. Our students scoring in the exemplary category also increased in the areas of Social Studies and writing. We have a static trend in science where we have a low percentage in the exemplary category (Grade 4- 6.5%; Grade 5- 15.9%) and a very high, but stable percentage in the met category (Grade 4- 40.3%; Grade 5- 47.6%). We have a steady trend in Social Studies where we have a solid percentage in the exemplary category (Grade 4- 24.2%; Grade 5- 23.8%) and a very stable percentage in the met category (Grade 4- 56.5%; Grade 5- 38.1%). These numbers support our rating of Good in the student progress category on our school report card. We currently have a partnership with Limestone College and we have tutors from the college 2 times per week. These tutors work with our students to reinforce concepts taught and help bolster student scores. Our enrollment numbers of tutors and students in grades 3-5 the past three years (50 students/15 tutors in 2013; 75 students/25 tutors in 2015; 65 students/23 tutors in 2016). The teaching staff at Limestone Central is 100% highly qualified. Teachers use creativity, innovation, critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, information, media, technology, and how to learn to engage and entice students to dive deeper into the daily lessons they receive. The relationship between administration and the teachers has helped to improve motivation and student achievement. The teachers show an overwhelming amount of loyalty to administration and trust for support. Parent involvement has increased this year with strong support from volunteers, School Improvement Council (SIC), and our Parent Teacher Organization (PTO). Through conferences with teachers, parent involvement has helped the home/school relation be on the same page. Constant communication between teachers/school and the parents has helped to build a stronger bond and more support from and for parents. We have parent/family nights for our school where we showcase student work (through performance or hands-on demonstration). We use Title I funds to present parent education/school partnership strategies in sessions for our community. We have had reading nights (Fall for Reading) and family involvement/math nights (Family Fun and Fitness Night) that have been big successes in parent attendance and feedback. In survey data, 97.1% of the parents are satisfied with the overall achievement and communication at Limestone Central Elementary School. SIC and PTO have been important in steadily improving the school. We hope to get even more positive input from SIC about our current direction for improving instruction and achievement for the students at Limestone Central Elementary. PTO has also been crucial in helping students and teachers. PTO raised over $18,000 for the school this year and turned that money back into improvements for the students. They have helped with classroom supplies, books, and other material for the students.
Dr. Bryan K. Hullender, Principal Mr. Brandon Coggins, SIC Chair
