Charleston Progressive Academy (CPA) is helping all students develop the world class skills expected in the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. Our school’s mission, “Building Tomorrow’s Leaders,” supports active engagement as we implement Franklin Covey’s Leader in Me (LIM) initiative. LIM provides opportunities that encourage critical thinking, collaboration, and communication as it teaches the 7 Habits of Effective People in a student-friendly language. LIM is also directly aligned with the world class skills of the South Carolina Graduate. Habits 1-3 in LIM: be proactive, begin with the end in mind, and put first things first are the components of World Class Knowledge in the Profile of South Carolina Graduate. Habits 4 – 6: think win, win, seek first to understand and then to be understood, synergize, and sharpen the saw are components of the World Class Skills in the Profile. The 8th Habit, Find Your Voice, is also a component of the World Class Skills.
As we continue to address and support our learners socially and academically, we place a strong emphasis on instruction that supports the district goal of all fifth grade students reading on grade level by 2027. Measures to attain this goal include implementing and using the reading and math curriculums with fidelity, completing training of LETRs for teachers, providing intervention for Tier 2 students in reading and math, and offering after school math and science test prep tutorials for fourth grade students. We also utilize components of Leader in Me, such as leadership binders, data chats, accountability partners, and data walls. Each of these components encourage students to select strategies they will benefit from in the future to achieve their academic goals. Teachers guide and facilitate data chats with students to ensure the strategies students use are providing the results necessary to achieve their academic goals. These LIM components are just some of the strategies we use to monitor students’ progress on meeting the district’s 2027 reading goal.
Our focus this year continues to be academic growth. However, we remain mindful of the importance of building positive social emotional relationships with our students. We accomplish this in our homeroom classes through Morning Meetings. Morning Meetings give our students the opportunity to build community among their classmates. Another focus is to reduce our chronic absentee rate. We plan to use our family coaches to assist students and families who consistently appeared on the chronic absentee list. We will continue to employ these strategies to help us attain the goal of all fifth graders reading on grade level by 2027.
As the first school in Charleston County to become a LIM Lighthouse School, we will continue to offer various leadership opportunities that exemplify collaboration, critical thinking, and communication. This will ensure development of world class skills to increase the readiness for students at CPA. As educators, we know nothing is possible without the support of our parents and the community. We thank you for your continued support as we move into a school year focused on continuous growth in our academia while continuing to “Build Tomorrow’s Leaders!”
Wanda Wright-Sheats, Principal
Tamashia Flowers, School Improvement Council, Chairperson
