Gadsden Elementary School is helping all students Soar to Excellence by ensuring that students are immersed in meaningful activities that promote creativity, critical thinking/problem solving, collaboration, and communication.

This year's focus will continue to provide our students with a solid educational foundation. Our efforts will be to help our students develop the critical thinking skills necessary for all future learning. In mathematics, our students develop numeracy skills. Fluently constructing and deconstructing numbers builds students' conceptual knowledge of numbers. This will allow students to learn the concepts of multiplication, division, decimals, and fractions more efficiently and with a greater level of understanding. In Reading, our students are learning to use their critical thinking skills to question what they are reading. In this way, students will learn to understand what they are reading and make connections from the text to other texts, what is happening in the world, and what is happening in their lives. These connections will allow the students to figure out why the author makes their literary choices when writing. When students are thinking critically, they are engaged in meaningful learning.

Collaboration and communication skills will be developed through AVID, Advancement via Individual Determination. Our goal is to engage all our students in collaborative activities. These activities will allow students to develop their communication skills and learn from each other through sharing thoughts, ideas, and solutions to problems the classroom teachers pose. Students will learn just as much from each other as from their teachers. This collaboration will enhance our students' academic, social, and emotional development.     

Furthermore, teachers will continue utilizing Visible Learning concepts based on the work of John Hattie.  This concept has been proven to make students more active in their education. By setting clear Learning Intentions (what students are learning) and Success Criteria (how students will know they have learned it), our students can measure their progress toward mastering the standard. It is essential for our students to understand what success looks like clearly and to monitor their progress toward achieving it. Also, as a part of Visible Learning, teachers create a Learning Progression. This progression provides a clear instruction plan to ensure that students master every component of the South Carolina State Standards.  

Our mission is to grow scholars academically by providing a high-quality education in an environment where students feel valued, respected, challenged, and supported. At Gadsden Elementary School, we set high expectations for all our students.

Dr. Shevawn Rivers, Principal 

Kelley Sullivan, SIC Chair