Forestville Road Elementary Named National Title I Distinguished School
February 6, 2009 - Forestville Road Elementary has been named the state’s National Title I Distinguished School, an honor recognizing Title I schools that improve student achievement through innovative approaches.Principal Dianne Pridgen will receive an engraved plaque and a $7,500 monetary award and will be recognized in awards ceremonies at the National Title I Conference and North Carolina Association of Compensatory Education fall conference.
National Title I Distinguished Schools are recognized for working to improve citizenship, character, enjoyment of the arts and community spirit. They also know the importance of making the school a hospitable hub of the community. Many students served by Title I go on to be the first in their families to graduate from high school and college.
Forestville Road Elementary has 597 students including 43.6% economically disadvantaged, non-English speaking students and students receiving special education services in hearing-impaired, autistic, learning disabled, and speech delayed.
For three consecutive years, the school has achieved adequate yearly progress in 25 student subgroups with a five percent yearly gain in mathematics proficiency scores. The school has been recognized as a School of Progress for high student growth under the North Carolina ABCs accountability model.
Forestville Road Elementary teachers meet in professional learning communities, PLCs, to strengthen instruction and discuss the needs of individual students.
The key work of these teacher learning teams is to determine essential learning outcomes by developing, sharing and collectively analyzing common assessments and by asking questions about learning that improve teaching practices in every classroom. PLCs are the foundation of the school’s pyramid of intervention for accelerating student learning within the regular classroom.
Title I flexible funding has allowed the school to employ a well-rounded Core Intervention Team that provides targeted intervention in reading, math, and writing during the instructional day. The team actively supports classroom teachers by meeting with them individually, discussing student progress in PLCs, developing units of study based on NC Standard Course of Study, modeling lessons in the classroom and by conducting staff development on best teaching practices.
Title I funds have also provided Success Builders, after school tutoring, and Saturday Camps. The master schedule has been carefully crafted to incorporate time for intervention and uninterrupted blocks of time for reading and mathematics instruction.
The partnership between family, school, and community is valued and recognized as an essential ingredient in closing the achievement gap. The school has worked to enable families to develop focused family empowerment strategies. Outreach efforts have included conducting home visitations and multi-lingual parent-teacher conferences, as well as hosting parent education nights.
The school held winter and spring Carnivals of Learning offering a fun evening for parents and children to experience hands-on problem-solving activities, to enjoy a healthy meal, and to take home packets of practical learning activities and materials.
The key to success at Forestville Road Elementary has been a passionate belief that all children can succeed and that it is the educators’ responsibility to ensure that this happens.
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