The 2018-2019 school year at Ladson Elementary proved to be another successful year of learning. Our school continues to provide a safe, nurturing environment where students are academically challenged in grades 3K through 5th. We continue to place academics and student achievement as priorities and our school is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by providing varied and numerous opportunities for students to create and collaborate. Examples of our students employing these skills can be found throughout our school but particularly on our morning news show, recycling team, robotics team, “can”struction team, and chorus.  We have also continued our partnership with Engaging Creative Minds which we extended with the return of our fifth grade this year.  The program now serves students in grades 3 through 5 and exposes students to a variety of standards based, arts-based activities.   In the classroom teachers have continued to provide opportunities for students to work together to research and create projects while learning from each other.  Evidence of these efforts is reflected in our end-of-year data which showed that the percentage of students in the high-risk category of FastBridge earlyReading in first grade was reduced from 60% at the beginning of the year to 53% by the end of the year. In grades 3 through 5, the percentage of students meeting end-of-year growth targets on the Measures of Academic Progress test for reading were 44% for 3rd grade, 41% for 4th grade, and 45% for 5th grade.  Next year we will continue our focus on creativity and collaboration through the use of Kagan Cooperative Learning Structures in many of our classrooms.

At Ladson Elementary we recognize that parent and community involvement is integral to what we do. Therefore, we strive to engage our families and school community in the education as much as possible through an annual Meet the Teacher/Open House, PTA meetings, Family reading and math nights and wellness seminars. Parents are kept informed through school agendas, school-wide texts, and with media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Remind.  With the leadership and support of our Parent Advocate, parents are linked with community resources and volunteer opportunities within the school.

At Ladson we believe that it is our charge to develop every aspect of a student to compete in today’s society. We will continue to focus on providing a safe, challenging and caring learning environment while nurturing the skills necessary for our students to graduate college and career ready.

Janet Brown, Principal

Blaze Johnson, SIC Chair