Catawba Trail Elementary is helping all students develop World Class Skills of the South Carolina Graduate by providing meaningful, challenging, and engaging learning experiences as we prepare our students to lead and excel in their chosen pathway.
From the beginning of the school year, our focus was to create data literate learning communities. Through this concentrated effort to better use data, we have been able to develop our five-year Strategic Plan that will help us establish specific actions to improve student learning, increase professional development for faculty and staff and create a learning environment that values our students and employees.
Data from district and state assessments such as NWEA Measure of Academic Progress (MAP), EasyCBM, SC Ready, and SC PASS are used to strategically promote and enhance classroom instruction. Data-informed decision-making from a variety of assessment sources helps teachers adapt their instruction to increase student achievement. Our faculty and staff are reflective practitioners by the use of the in-depth analysis of data to meet the needs of our diverse population of students.
Our dedicated teachers engage in on-going professional development and always seek to learn new and effective strategies to use in the classroom to meet the needs of all students. Strategies and resources to support academic growth include Response to Intervention (RTI), Differentiated Instruction, QuEST, ALERT and one to one computing. Rigorous South Carolina State Standards coupled with the 21st-century learning skills of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication equip our students to be college and career ready.
We have ongoing opportunities throughout the year to engage families and the community in rich experiences at Catawba Trail Elementary. At the beginning of the year, Open House is scheduled for students, and parents to meet with teachers and community organizations including, Scout troops, karate, dance, and tumbling to share information with our families.
CTE has a strong commitment to our military families and their children. To extend existing military support systems the Department of Defense established the Military and Family Life Counseling (MFLC) program to help service members and their families cope with the typical reactions created by deployment and reintegration. We are fortunate to have an MFLC counselor on campus each week to serve our students. We have also established longstanding partnerships with Ft. Jackson. We were adopted by a Ft. Jackson Battalion in 2015. They visit our school to each lunch and have conversations with our students during the monthly Lunch and Learn. During the Month of the Military Child in April, the troops volunteer each year to organize an Operation Field Day for our entire school. Our military population and support have grown each year. We continue to learn more and offer more resources to our students and families each year.
Throughout the year, Catawba Trail’s Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) sponsors a variety of events to bring our families and community together. They host a Pizza Night, Skate Night, Father-Daughter Dance and Mother-Son Game Night. Additionally, CTE celebrates diversity by hosting activities such as grade level performances and a yearly African American History program. We honor our Veteran’s throughout the year and partake in several Service Learning campaigns such as the Walk for Life, Hoops for Hearts and the United Way.
At Catawba Trail Elementary we believe the school, family, and community must partner together to ensure our children have the educational foundation needed for academic success. We have invested parents who take the lead with our Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and our School Improvement Council (SIC). Our community partners continue to volunteer time, talents, and resources to our students on a daily basis through our TRAILMATES Mentoring program to include our adopted Ft. Jackson battalion, local businesses, area churches, nursing homes and more.
Catawba Trail Elementary School is proud of its growth and accomplishments after the completion of its eighth school year. Thank you for your continued support and dedication to our school.
Jennifer Gillespie, Principal
