Springfield Middle School is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by maintaining and achieving high academic standards, creating a school culture that supports and challenges our students, and by providing the foundational skills for student success. Small group instruction, common formative assessments, implementing effective PLCs and literacy have been a centerpiece of our staff development. The strategies within small group instruction helps to promote the four C’s. Our teachers are constantly searching for ways to help our students communicate, collaborate, think critically, and be creative. The related arts PLC began this year by collaborating on one “C” each year and agreeing on a common rubric they would use to score students and provide feedback. This year they chose “collaboration.” Students self-assessed themselves in each class and teachers provided feedback. The related arts PLC will add one or two more “C’s” this year and create common rubrics. These common rubrics will be shared with core teachers as well so that the staff is speaking the same language when assessing students on these skills.
Springfield Middle continues to follow the guidelines Making Middle Grades Work and the Schools to Watch criteria to assess how well all staff are implementing and supporting the daily needs of middle school students. Students are given a variety of opportunities throughout the day to receive extra help or enrichment opportunities and to use their gifts and talents through our Flex time and club time. The Band program this year received the highest honor in South Carolina by receiving the SCBDA Outstanding Performance Award for all of their accomplishments throughout the year. The athletic program, band program, and other school activities give our students and staff the opportunity to communicate, collaborate, think critically, and to be creative. There are also many service opportunities through our Beta Club, Student Council, and other organizations, which also promote the four C’s. This past year all students participated in a Day of Service. Students, staff and chaperones were bused to an organization in the area and spent three to four hours serving those organizations and learning about what those organizations provided for the community.
Springfield Middle School has begun a more targeted approach to addressing the emotional and social needs of the students. A team of teachers and administrators spent this school year being trained in a MTSS model used to meet the needs of all students in the areas of academics, emotional well-being, and social skills. Springfield staff already implements a targeted MTSS model for academics. However, the staff will now be trained and will implement this model to help students emotionally and socially as well. The staff’s goal is for students to be well-rounded individuals ready to face the society in which we hope they will contribute to. This goal requires students to be socially and emotionally ready as well as academically prepared. Springfield staff has embraced an “All Students” mentality with collective responsibility. Therefore, the whole staff has to be prepared to meet all of these needs for the students.
At Springfield Middle School the staff believes that in order to meet all the needs of our students, there must be input from parents and the community as well. During our School Improvement meetings, the members focused on feedback from parents from last year’s surveys to determine what needs to be done to help parents engage more with their child in all areas of their education. Parents want to hear more from teachers about their child’s achievements or areas in which their child can improve. Many parents expressed the desire to help but weren't sure exactly how to do so. To try and gather more information, Mrs. Matkovich held a “Coffee with the Principal” for parents to come out and have a relaxed conversation with a question and answer session. Taking some information from that event, the school began implementing parent meetings. It started off extremely small this school year. However, a committee will develop a calendar for monthly meetings with topics to be covered. The topic ideas will come from suggestions from parents. Holding these meetings will allow parents to join the school in a partnership as we help their child grow to their full potential. These meetings will also be held in Spanish to help reach our Hispanic population. Some of the topics for this population will be different due to the different needs they have as they first begin school in the United States.
In closing, we want our students to be prepared for their futures. College and career readiness are a collective effort of the K-12 years. We strive to prepare and encourage students to become well-rounded individuals ready to accept their roles in an ever-changing society. Our mission statement is “The mission of Springfield Middle School is to cultivate meaningful relationships, embrace diversity, and pursue academic excellence and equity for all students.”
Christy Matkovich, Principal
