West Lee Elementary School helped all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by providing all students with research-based instructional strategies that strengthened the teaching and learning process. The instructional process at West Lee Elementary School was vital to the academic success of our students. The faculty and staff at West Lee focused on collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity for continuous school improvement. We took advantage of job-embedded professional development and professional learning communities to provide teachers with the necessary tools to raise student achievement.
The talents, competence, and support from our teachers, students, and staff generated challenging, self-motivated, and student-centered learning environments. We collaboratively worked to make West Lee Elementary a scholarly school where students learned, developed, and prepared for the future. Professional Learning Communities allowed teachers to collaborate across grade levels during each session and to use data from assessments and student work samples to make informative instructional decisions and best teaching strategies to address skills not mastered during the learning period. The Gradual Release of Responsibility Model was a best practice utilized school-wide and across subject areas for effective delivery of differentiated instruction and collaboration between students and the teacher. Collaboration was essential for both adult learning and student learning this past school year. Students in grades 4K through fifth continued to show growth and achievement as measured by daily classroom assessments and district assessments such the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Test. In addition, WriteScore was purchased to assist with analyzing and scoring student writing. Our students are the heart of the school. They are talented, curious, well-equipped, and highly intelligent. Our goal for the future is to continue to meet the needs of our students through well-planned lessons focused on thematic units, student-centered learning, rigorous instruction, and high expectations.
The faculty and staff at West Lee strived to effectively communicate with students, parents, and community members. Communicating with stakeholders was an integral part of our duties and responsibilities as a school as we operated to ensure the needs of students were being meet each day. Parents were notified of monthly school events via our website, teacher webpage, our messenger system, or flyers. We are proud that West Lee offered many opportunities for parents to visit the school to engage in activities that allowed the home and the school to work together in the best interest of the child. Parent involvement and volunteerism played an important role in providing a positive experience for our students. The faculty and staff will continue to encourage family and community involvement.
Teaching students how to critically think about the content presented in each subject area was an essential component of the teaching and learning process at West Lee. Our goal was to promote academic success across content by engaging students in thought provoking questions aimed at deepening their understanding of the content. Our teachers used the Webb’s Depth of Knowledge Chart to ask students a balanced mix of questions which required thinking at different cognitive levels to complete a task. Teachers also used the chart to create a variety of questions for students to respond to in an essay, short response, or verbally. Justification of answers using evidence from the text helped students understand how to support their idea or claim on a particular topic. We are dedicated to fostering and advancing the emotional, social, and intellectual growth of all learners.
The creativity of our teachers allowed students to embark on various journeys outside of the school such as participating on field trips to experience what they had been learning in the classroom. The teachers and staff at West Lee are highly talented, skillful, and dedicated, lifelong learners. Our highest priority was to provide a safe and nurturing learning environment, increase student achievement, and provide support and interventions based on the most recent data from school and district assessments. We took pride in serving our students and educating the whole child.
