Main Street Elementary School of Arts & Leadership is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by implementing teaching strategies that reveal a positive impact on students' academic achievement. The annual school report card is designed to help demonstrate how our school is meeting this challenge. While the report card provides a snapshot of our school in numbers and charts, it cannot precisely convey pertinent characteristics such as curriculum offerings, teacher-student relationships, extra-curricular opportunities, learning climate, parental participation, community involvement and commitment and dedication of the teachers and staff. All of these characteristics have made Main Street Elementary a school in which our community can be truly proud. It is with this in mind that I will describe some of the programs and services that make MSE so great.
To equip our students with the knowledge and skills necessary to be a contributor in the world in which we live our school offers many opportunities for students. Those opportunities include: Franklin Covey’s Leader in Me program that focuses on the leadership and academic skills of all students; research based curriculums in reading, math, science, and social studies; course pacing guides; a defined instructional protocol; computer/keyboarding; gifted and talented program; English Language Learner services; social-emotional onsite counseling; behavior therapy; special education services; MTSS interventions and supports; student leadership positions/roles; enrichment clubs; recreation clubs; band; BETA club; mentor/mentee program; and 21st Century after school and summer program, to name a few. Additionally, extensive funding has been invested in technology to ensure that every classroom is equipped with a mobile interactive board.
Four years ago, Main Street Elementary implemented the Ready Curriculum, a rigorous instruction and practice program that fully prepares students to master SC Academic Standards. Ready was designed to give K–8 students of all levels that opportunity with accessible, engaging instruction. The Ready programs use a problem solving-based approach that strengthens students’ learning muscles and builds conceptual understanding through reasoning, practice, and productive discussion using real-world scenarios. With this program, teachers use a proven-effective, gradual-release model that ensured students received the modeled and guided instruction they needed to build confidence and mastery of the standards.
Another instructional strategy was the commitment to implementing and using small group instruction with fidelity. Slavin, Lake, and Groff (2010) found that programs that are designed to change daily instructional practices and implement differentiating instruction strategies are most effective. Their research also discovered that small group instruction and cooperative learning have a significant impact on student achievement. The school's master schedule has an intervention block built in for each grade level and content area. This dedicated time period allowed any student requiring pull out services to be scheduled during this time. With all students getting their services at the same time, the issue of the student “revolving door” was significantly decreased.
Each core subject at MSE has an assigned instructional coach, allowing for collaborative planning and discussion, particularly for struggling students. To promote both communication and collaboration, professional learning communities (PLC) continue to be the norm at Main Street. During PLCs, teachers work collaboratively with instructional coaches to examine the South Carolina State Standards and develop Common Formative Assessments (CFAs) to meet the needs of students.
Main Street Elementary uses a variety of data to drive instructional decisions in the classroom and MTSS interventions. Academic progress of students is monitored through a variety of assessments (formal and informal) as well as through the regular administration of both MAP and TE21 assessments. An action plan for instruction is developed in the fall based on data from the previous spring administration of MAP and high stakes testing (SCReady & SCPASS). This plan is revisited quarterly. Additionally, teachers use data to group students for small-group instruction and to assist in progress monitoring. Progress monitoring allows teachers to make recommendations to the Multi-Tiered Support Systems (MTSS) in order to provide more focused and immediate interventions for those students who are struggling academically, behaviorally or social/emotionally. Students are assessed with NWEA MAP, TE21, and DRA three times a year in the fall, winter, and spring.
For the past four years, Main Street Elementary has been a Leader in Me school. The Leader in Me program is a whole school transformation process. It teaches 21st century leadership and life skills to students and creates a culture of student empowerment based on the idea that every child can be a leader. The Leader in Me is aligned to many national and state academic standards. The process teaches students the skills needed for academic success in any setting. These skills include critical thinking, goal setting, listening and speaking, self-directed learning, presentation-making and the ability to work in groups. During the second year of implementation, the school added student leadership notebooks, individual student goals, and student led conferences. Student leadership roles included safety patrol, flag squad, morning show crew, school ambassadors, information runners, student baristas, assembly set-up/break down crew, and the student lighthouse team. The school is preparation mode to achieve Lighthouse School.
Main Street Elementary was awarded a 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) grant, a four-year, $183,700 per year federal grant awarded through the South Carolina Department of Education. The 21st CCLC supports the creation of community learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities during non-school hours for children, particularly students who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools. The program helps students meet state and local student standards in core academic subjects, such as reading and math; offers students a broad array of enrichment activities that can complement their regular academic programs; and offers literacy and other educational services to the families of participating children. The grant has allowed Main Street Elementary to contract with two artists in residents that provide STEM lessons and visual arts lessons respectively. The after school program has also afforded the school the benefit of establishing a fifth and sixth grade band.
Main Street Elementary implemented Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) as well as a multi-tiered system of supports for both academics and behavior in order to support the needs of all our students. As with every initiative, our goal is to create and maintain a safe and effective learning environment and ensure that all students have the social skills needed for success at school and beyond. Our school wide expectation for all is students is to: Be Ready, Be Responsible, Be a Leader
Main Street’s administrators, faculty, and staff are committed to inspiring world class learners by providing world class instruction. Take one walk through the halls of Main Street and you will find evidence of this commitment through dedicated teachers delivering effective lessons and eager students actively engaged in learning. Learning and teaching is our business and we are determined to be the best that we can.
Sharon N. Williams Latosha Bacote
Principal SIC Chairperson
