Celebrating Oregon schools reaching high standards

Central Elementary School, Albany

Central Elementary is a community landmark in Albany. The three-story brick building was built in 1915 and many of the town’s established residents fondly recall their days at the school, some way back when it was a junior high and high school. These community connections are an important source of support for the small school, and contribute to its outstanding levels of student achievement – 91% of students met state reading benchmarks in 2002.

Yet Jay Thompson, principal, gives most of the credit for his school’s performance to the initiative and expertise of a group of veteran teachers. These educators have taken the lead in developing and implementing a number of creative programs based on the idea that everyone can be a “teacher”:

• Peer teaching lets kids teach kids. Whether it’s a 5th grader listening to a 2nd grader read or a 4th grader helping a 1st grader with math, younger students learn from their older classmates. At the same time, kids gain a sense of the patience and communication skills that are needed to “teach”.
• Parents are Teachers, Too, a skill-based home reading program, involves parents in the learning process. This program supplements the regular classroom curriculum with a packet of reading skills and parent tips that students take home each week. Students work with their parents on everything from word recognition to story comprehension, and bring their packets back at the end of the week. The program has a 90 percent rate of participation and has received very positive responses from parents. Teachers continue to make it a priority, devoting time in weekly staff meetings and periodic staff development days to keeping it coordinated.
• Small group work focuses attention on individual needs. Central affirmed its commitment to literacy recently by hiring a part-time reading specialist. The added assistance during reading periods has meant that every primary student now receives some reading instruction in small groups.

Breaking larger classes into small groups is a strategy used at Central in many subjects, not just reading. In the fourth and fifth grades, students rotate from teacher to teacher in groups of 15 for instruction in five math strands. Thompson credits students’ dramatically improved scores in math to the staff’s curriculum alignment efforts and team teaching approach. Four years ago, less than 40 percent of students met the state math standard, far below the state average. In the past two years, over 80 percent of Central’s students met or exceeded the benchmark.

Thompson finds that smaller classes are particularly beneficial for at-risk students: “Whenever you can lower the number of kids in the class, you’re helping at-risk kids because relationships are important to them, not being left out is important to them. It’s easier to give them attention when you’ve got 14 in a group instead of 28.”

Central’s staff has also made it a priority to emphasize the district’s character education program, which encourages kids to feel good about themselves, their peers, and their school. The components of good character — kindness, respect, responsibility — are celebrated in hallway displays and monthly assemblies. Music is a part of each school assembly, and classes have contributed in many ways, including performing puppet shows, skits, and poetry readings.

Hard work, high standards and creativity are just a few of the things that make Central Elementary successful. We salute their achievements.

Click here to read about student success at other Oregon schools.