Michael C. Riley Elementary and Early Childhood Center’s goal is to help all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by providing differentiated instruction and appropriate interventions to meet each child’s needs individually. Through the multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) approach, our highly trained and qualified staff successfully design engaging lessons and build a sense of community and shared purpose. To meet the needs of our Multilanguage Learners, we also employ seven MLP teachers who serve students in reading, writing, speaking, math, language development, and monitoring support. All classrooms focus on delivering effective daily instruction and a coherent, viable curriculum is driven by state standards and school data. 21st Century skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, collaboration, creativity, and innovation are part of our daily instruction.
Our core beliefs also include bringing out the leadership potential of each child through a learning through leadership model, The Leader in Me. Through examination and reflection, we have identified strategies and systems to build positive choices through the eight effective habits, roles, and participation models to demonstrate leadership, and accountability systems to measure and evaluate individual, classroom, grade level, and school-wide data points. An increase in satisfaction with our school was evident in the Measurable Results Assessment (MRA) survey that was administered in May 2024, with improvements in leadership, culture, and academics.
Michael C. Riley and ECC students continued to develop strong academic knowledge and the social and emotional skills needed to successfully acquire high levels of college and career preparedness beyond the elementary years. We experienced many accomplishments throughout the year. Thirteen additional students were identified as Academically Gifted and Talented. Eighteen students exited our Multilanguage Learner Program based on growth on the 2024 ACCESS testing results. This spring, one of our students received a perfect score in the last of three meets in the 2023-2024 WordMasters Challenge™, a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 125,000 students annually. In April 2024, we were notified of our reaccreditation status as a Cognia STEM Certified School.
Our students have many opportunities to experience educational leadership opportunities at our school. For example, we offer an aftercare program for grades Kindergarten through fifth, as well as afterschool clubs, such as our morning announcement production group. Daily morning meetings in classrooms focus on the eight habits, as well as character pillars to reinforce core values in all students. Students' literacy skills continue to thrive through a balanced literacy approach and the district’s 1:1 technology initiative. One-to-one technology devices for K-5 are provided to the students to engage in research and academic reinforcement. Other school-wide initiatives that cultivated leadership in our students include student-led conferences, class counseling lessons, an active Student Lighthouse Team, community service projects, and the offering of many clubs and extracurricular activities.
There are many ways students, families, and community members are involved at our school: MLP Family events three times a year, Latino Family Literacy Program, Curriculum events such as the Cardboard STEM challenge, community events such as the Happy Feet event co-collaborated with the Rotary Club of Bluffton, student-led conferences, ‘WIG’ celebration events, and parenting challenges to enforce the use of the Habits at home. Each Spring our school hosts an International Festival, Special Olympics, and National Arts Week. We welcome and appreciate the continued involvement and look forward to connecting with our families and stakeholders into the new year.
At Michael C. Riley Elementary and Early Childhood Center, we are proud to be a Title 1 school and sincerely commit to building on our growth next year. Together, we Love, Learn and Lead!
