In the 2018-2019 school year, Cayce Elementary School was in its second year as an elementary school in Lexington School District Two. The focus at Cayce Elementary is to utilize collaborative learning, parental involvement, and high-quality instruction to create a trusting environment which meets the social, emotional, and academic needs of our students.
Cayce Elementary School is comprised of a diverse student population. According to the 2018- 2019 enrollment data, Cayce served a total of 1,076 students from three-year-old developmentally delayed through 5th Grade students during the 2018-2019 school year. Cayce Elementary has a diverse population that includes 45% of students who identify as black or African American, 24% white, 19% Hispanic, 9% biracial and 2% Asian. Our overall student population with special services include 26% of the students who have IEPs and 12% who receive ESOL instruction.
Cayce Elementary School is helping all students develop the World Class Skills as well as the Life and Career Characteristics of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by providing a safe, caring, and academically challenging learning environment. We are committed to growing each student by providing them with a customized learning experience to meet each student's unique needs academic, social, and emotional. Through rigorous instruction and data-driven decisions, our teachers are committed to providing our students with the tools necessary to succeed in the 21st century.
At the end of the 2018-19 school year, our staff participated in professional development focused on becoming a Leader in Me School. This program based on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Stephen Covey and will help our students to develop skills which will prepare them to succeed through all of the next stages of their lives.
Another strategy implemented at Cayce to support World Class Skills and Life and Career Characteristics to become an ideal SC Graduate is through our Griffin Guides program. Time has been allocated for each student to be paired up with another student for Griffin Guides during early release cohort days. During Griffin Guide mornings, students from an upper Cayce Elementary classroom (Big Griffins) are paired up with students from a lower Cayce classroom (Little Griffins) to develop peer mentoring relationships and build bonds with another adult other than their assigned homeroom teacher. Every adult employed in the building is assigned a group of five Little Griffins that will be mentored by five Big Griffins. Since implementing Griffin Guides, teachers have taken the initiative to set up additional book buddies meeting with their paired classroom to continue congenial and supportive relationships between the two levels of the large building.
At Cayce, we also have various programs outside of the academic curriculum to focus on the development of the whole child. We partnered with United Way of the Midlands Reading Consortium, Cayce United Methodist Church, Holland Avenue Baptist Church, House of Raeford, Trinity Baptist Church, Golden State Foods, and Woodmen of the World to provide much-needed food, supplies, and mentoring for our students. The Cayce community has been supportive of helping the school gather resources to support our families beyond direct academic needs. We will continue to build a supportive school culture by trying to serve the whole child in order to support student learning. Additionally, we promoted healthy minds and bodies by having a co-ed Run Hard team each semester.
The Cayce Elementary Family is excited about the work ahead. Despite our challenges, we are committed to making innovative learning opportunities a reality, supporting teachers to empower all students to reach their potential as a South Carolina Graduate with World Class Knowledge, Skills, and Life and Career Characteristics.