The 2019-20 school year was full of exciting opportunities, challenges, learning, and growth for the students and staff at College Park Middle. The year started with bang as students returned to school with excitement as to what the year could hold! In November our school was visited by a team of trained evaluators to determine if we would be redesignated as a National School to Watch for the third time! The feedback from our team was overwhelmingly in support of our redesignation for this prestigious honor! We are very proud of this designation!!
While our traditional school year came to an abrupt halt in March due to a global pandemic, teaching and learning in Berkeley County continued in an "elearning" framework. Teachers at College Park Middle were part of a total renovation from traditional learning to virtual learning in a matter of days! While this was certainly no easy task, our teachers worked long and tiring hours all to insure that our students would receive the highest quality instruction available. Our teachers did remarkable work. Our students learned the necessity of being flexible and adaptive in an ever changing world! Skills necessary for success in the 21 century were put on display throughout our elearning experience.
In keeping the South Carolina Profile of the Graduate as our framework, we worked diligently to provide deeper and more meaningful ways to structure our learning environment for our students. College Park Middle teachers and staff continued to provide rich and challenging learning opportunities as a 1:1 school. Chromebooks are now as much a staple of learning as paper and pencils once were. Prior to being issued to all students, Internet Safety training is completed to help make students aware of necessity to protect themselves from online dangers. Support provided by the Berkeley County School District and most specifically the Office of Technology continues to be integral in this dynamic time of shifting and learning with the assistance of Chromebooks. Our teachers and students continued to explore new avenues in our classrooms. Our Project Lead the Way classes, for example, explored new and deeper connections with STEM activities. Our students were able to participate in Cyber Patriot as well as robotics competitions. Our robotic teams continued to dominate competitions again this year. Once again they qualified to compete for the State Championship as well as National competitions as well. There they were given the opportunity to meet and network with a wide array of students and professionals as well. This project-based learning allowed students to apply their knowledge while creating real-life products. We are so proud of the students in our robotics program who have a shown real application of technology as related to creativity and innovation. Additionally these robotics teams used collaboration and teamwork during their practices and competitions.
College Park Middle took full advantage of being classified as a Title I school. This allowed our school to provide our students and teachers with an abundance of additional resources to enhance our learning environment. All teachers now have substantial classroom libraries that are directly related to the content they teach. Students have also received multiple books to take home and help establish their own personal libraries. A comprehensive program of reading incentives was developed as we worked to implement district and school Read to Succeed plans. Two school-wide reading initiatives were implemented. Students were able to participate in two "Adventure Awaits" reading events. The goal of this initiative continues to be to align student learning to their reading levels as measured by Reading Inventory (RI) scores and teacher observations. We are looking for ways to make our reading initiatives even bigger and better than before!
We continued to support our 1:1 implementation by providing tools aimed at bolstering access to communication and information. Rigorous standards in language arts and math was supported by the implementation of IXL. Student progress was measured using the Math Inventory and Reading Inventory multiple times during the school year.
Community outreach activities continue to be conducted in an attempt to make deeper and more meaningful connections with our families and community. Once again we partnered with our sister school, College Park Elementary. Community events were provided as a means to information to our community on multiple topics that ranged from technology safety, healthy life styles, and academic supports. Our culminating STEM event was a huge success.
Our school is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by continuously providing opportunities for creativity and innovation in all of our classrooms. Students are encouraged to find new ways to solve problems. Collaboration and teamwork is illustrated through projects that are designed specifically for this purpose. During these opportunities, students also demonstrate the life and career characteristics of self-direction, perseverance, work ethic, and interpersonal skills.
College Park Middle is thankful for a supportive and cooperative community. We look forward to finding additional opportunities that support and do more and more for our community. We look forward to the challenges and opportunities that the 2020-21 school year will present to us.
Ingrid Dukes, Principal
