Bylaws, Policies & Administrative Guidelines
Caston Elementary
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Improving Student Achievement: Caston Elementary Making Positive Strides Into The Future (Logansport Pharos~Tribune, 1/26/11)
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Caston Math Scores Improve (Rochester Sentinel, 12/22/10)
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For The Love of Bugs! - A Caston Alumnus Returns (Caston Elementary, 11/18/09)
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Debating The Issues: Caston Sixth-Grader Wins National Contest (Pharos~Tribune, 10/18/09)
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Caston Elementary School Meets AYP - Recognized As Commendable School (Cindy Douglass, 3/6/08)
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"Snapshot" Of Caston Elementary School (And Other Schools) With Benchmarks (DOE, 9/29/07)
- Full Day Kindergarten: A Viable Option For Caston Elementary School (Cindy Douglass, 6/26/07)
- New Year Will Bring Physical Changes to Caston Elementary School (12/10/06)
New Year Will Bring Physical Changes to Caston Elementary School (12/10/06)
(This
article provided by and republished with permission of Mrs. Cindy Douglass,
Principal, CES. A "face lift" of the Jr.-Sr.
High Office will also be taking place.)
Caston Elementary School will be welcoming in 2007 with some changes to
our building. The Elementary Office
will be getting a “face lift” and will look quite different as well as
provide for changing needs of a school office.
Over the holidays, some construction will be undertaken and the office
will receive all new cabinets, carpeting, painting, and furniture. This will be the first renovation of the elementary office
since the building was built in the 1960’s.
Some have asked why this is necessary — after all, the Office has been
well maintained and still appears to be very functional? It is hard to imagine that when our school was built, the
office area did not even need to accommodate an electric typewriter!
With the advent of new computer technology, we have significant needs for
electrical work, wiring, and accommodations for this technology.
Currently, we have a number of cords and wires that lay on the tile
flooring and are covered by tape or plastic wire molding.
This creates a tripping hazard for those who utilize the office daily.
It also creates concern for the expensive computer technology; as it can
easily be pulled off a desk or table by someone tripping over the cords.
Additionally, new doors were installed in the front office areas a few
years ago as a safety precaution. The
rationale for this was that visitors coming and going from the building would be
forced to enter the front office rather than immediately going into the hallway
where they could easily gain access to students.
Since this new door was installed, the traffic flow into the office has
shifted to the other side of the Office — the original arrangement of cabinets
does not accommodate this flow of traffic into the Office — the new
arrangement of cabinets is designed to do this.
Filing/storage space is another major concern for the Office.
Files for students have become much thicker than original files.
With laws pertaining to accountability, we are required to keep a lot
more paperwork on students. While
much of this can be, and has been, computerized, there is still significantly
more paperwork to keep on many of our students.
We have literally run out of space in our safe, so new files and storage
will be added to the outer office to help accommodate our ever-growing filing
needs.
An updated look for our school IS important.
The Office is the “front line” — the first place that most people
see when they enter our building. First
impressions are very important when people enter a building.
They often develop a sense or opinion based upon what they see around
them. We want people’s
first impression to be positive. We
want to convey the message that Caston is a progressive and up-to-date school
— ready to face the challenges of today’s society.
Hopefully our new Office will accomplish all of these needs and provide a
functional workspace for many years to come!
In addition to our Office installation, there will also be the addition
of a horizontal rock wall in the elementary gymnasium.
This will be installed on December 30th starting at 8:00 a.m.
We welcome volunteers to help with this project.
If you have an interest, please contact Mrs. Maribeth Brash, PE teacher. Our rock wall has been a cooperative project of the Caston
PTO and the community through donations of Box Tops for Education, and other
money-making promotionals. Mrs.
Brash has been saving the proceeds from these projects for several years to help
make this project a reality. Be
sure to be a part of the excitement in getting this project installed in our gym
so that when the kids come back the following week, they have something new and
exciting to bring in the New Year!
Full-Day
Kindergarten
A Viable Option
for
Caston Elementary School
Prepared by Mrs.
Cindy Douglass
Caston Elementary Principal
May, 2007
Research on Full Day Kindergarten
Research on the benefits of Full-Day Kindergarten presents a mixed bag of
evidence which would support and/or make an argument against the implementation
of the program. As I’ve done
quite a bit of research in recent months on the topic, I see a common theme of
concerns about the validity of many of the studies of programs already
implemented. Most of the concerns,
though, come from complications with the research as opposed to successful
implementation of programs and actual outcomes of the program.
First of all, researching educational initiatives at other levels of
programming provides the benefit of having significant baseline data on students
entering the program. When children
enter kindergarten, we do not have the benefit of this type of controlled
baseline data (example – the first five years of a child’s life) to help
inform our further research. Secondly,
the implementation of full-day programs have been “spotty” over the past
several years and it is only in the most recent years that the implementation
has blossomed to the point that we can look across multiple settings to gain
more significant data. The best
research attempts to control or limit selection bias in populations attending
half- or full-day programs. Unfortunately,
many of the schools that have offered “choice” end up having the majority of
the disadvantaged children in a full-day program while the more advanced and
social-economically advantaged children’s parents opt for the ½ day program
while they provide quality alternatives for the other ½ day for their child. This makes the comparison research difficult.
Finally, because of the initiative being rather new in nature – we do
not have the benefit of a lot of longitudinal data to fully support the
sustaining effects of full-day kindergarten.
What I have gained from the research is that there is
conclusive evidence that full-day kindergarten is beneficial to the achievement
level of kindergarten students during their kindergarten year – allowing
the child to be better prepared to enter 1st grade.
For this reason alone, I personally support the implementation of
full-day kindergarten at Caston Elementary School.
I also believe, based upon what I’ve been learning from the research,
that there are many significant benefits to many children well beyond
Kindergarten. That being said,
however; I would still continue to support the full-day programming solely on
the evidence that it is helpful the kindergarten year; considering any
additional benefits a “plus” to the full-day programming.
Kindergarten is the first experience the vast majority of children have
in the public school setting. When
their first experience can be positive and the child can feel successful, this
starts their schooling on a strong foothold.
I firmly believe that anything we can do to help assure this good start
is well worth the investment in a child’s education and will continue to pay
dividends to this child and to the school.
Much of the research that I have read on the subject of full-day
kindergarten states that children were more successful at meeting the
grade-level benchmarks and were less likely to be at risk for not achieving
reading success when involved in a full-day program.
A growing body of research continues to examine the effects of full-day
kindergarten. These studies suggest
that full-day kindergarten programs produce learning gains that are at least as
great as, and usually greater than, the learning gains of half-day kindergarten
program. As of the year 2000, there
were no studies showing greater gains, academic or developmental, for students
in half-day programs over those for students in full-day programs.
The gains in full-day vs. half-day have been much more significant for
disadvantaged students – in fact, all of the research examining
full-day kindergarten for disadvantaged children reveals benefits.
A study in Topeka, Kansas found that students who attended full-day
kindergarten had significantly greater gains in mathematics, language, and
pre-reading skills compared to students who attended half-day kindergarten.
A study of 17,600 3rd and 4th grade students in
Philadelphia found similar gains for former full-day kindergarten attendees
compared to half-day kindergarten attendees in standardized reading and math
scores. Additionally, researchers
found that 3rd graders who had attended full-day kindergarten were
significantly less likely to be absent from school compared to 3rd
graders who attended half-day kindergarten.
In addition to academic and attendance gains, research studies have also
cited social gains for students. Students
who participated in full-day programs displayed more independent learning,
classroom involvement, and productivity in work with peers.
The Auburn-Washburn School listed the benefits of full-day kindergarten
as:
- Allows children and teachers time to explore topics in-depth, reduces
ratio of transition time to class time, provides greater continuity of
day-to-day activities, and an environment that favors a child-centered
developmentally appropriate approach.
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- Emphasizes language development and appropriate pre-reading experiences.
- There are positive relationships between participation in full-day
kindergarten and later school performance.
- Expanded early learning programs enable more screening opportunities which
help with early identification of special needs or learning deficits and
could reduce long-term costs for special and remedial education.
- Develops children’s social skills, including conflict resolution
strategies.
- Assesses student’s progress through close teacher observation and
systematic collection and examination of student’s work.
- Exhibit more positive behaviors than pupils in half-day.
- They are more likely to approach the teacher, express less withdrawal,
anger, shyness, and blaming behavior than half-day kindergartners.
- Offers a balance of small group, large group, and individual activities.
- Full-day kindergarten programs produce higher reading scores in 2nd
& 3rd grade students.
- Full-day kindergarteners show improvement in standardized test scores and
reduction in Title I placement.
Some of the most current research on full-day kindergarten was conducted
by University of Delaware on the Delaware pilot.
They cited that students in full-day kindergartens had stronger literacy
skills both at mid-year and year-end – indicating that the full-day students
pull out front rather early in the school year.
They also determined that only 9.7% of the students in full-day remained
in the “at-risk” category for poor literacy skills as compared to 20.7% of
the children in the ½ day program. Interestingly,
these differences were cited despite the students in the full-day kindergartens
having many more academic risk factors!
None of the above statistics are surprising considering that students in
full-day kindergarten classes receive almost two and ½ times as much literacy
instruction. They also spend
significantly more time on writing. These
students also have more time for fine-motor and gross motor activities –
something that we know is very important for our young and developing
learners but has, unfortunately, gone by the wayside to more academic tasks
trying to be “squeezed” into a ½ day schedule.
Why Full-Day Kindergarten at Caston?
As Principal of the school, I have tried to make recommendations for
programming changes based upon research and best practice.
I’ve also tried to engage our faculty in the same process through our
TAS model training and our school improvement initiatives.
I’ve cited, as well as included for your own reading, positive research
on full-day kindergarten. There is
also research out there which is inconclusive regarding the benefits of the
full-day programming and the long-term benefits.
If we wanted to shoot down a program, we could focus on this and feel
justified in our decision. Clearly,
though, I think there is sufficient conclusive research that points to this as
an effective practice for kindergarten students. As we look to strategies for increasing our student
achievement; I feel that early intervention is the place we get the most “bang
for the buck.” It certainly makes
more sense than playing “catch up” later in the game.
While we will always have those students who will struggle in their
learning throughout their schooling, I do believe that more students can find
success if the interventions are in place for them at the point of greatest
need. When children come to us
already at a disadvantage and we can clearly see that a “gap” exists – we
need these interventions in place from Day #1.
Our demographics are changing. Our
percentage of children on free/reduced lunches is increasing.
The number of children from economically disadvantaged homes is
increasing. Each year in
kindergarten we are dealing with children who have attendance problems due to
transportation issues – they miss out on learning opportunities each day they
are gone. Clearly these are the
students who would gain the most from full-day programming.
The flip side of this is that we have children who come to us with
advanced skills. A full-day
kindergarten program could provide even more opportunities to challenge and
advance these children, as well. We
already have advanced programming in place at every other grade-level – a
full-day program could allow the same types of opportunities at the kindergarten
level.
I’ve had the opportunity to speak with both teachers who have taught in
a full-day setting, as well as administrators who have full-day kindergarten in
their buildings. They are very
positive about the benefits to the children.
The teachers cite that they have the opportunity to relax and teach the
standards while allowing the children to be “kids” and do more of the things
that make school fun for them. Many
of the teachers who oppose full-day kindergarten do so for the wrong reasons. They personally fear the extra challenge of making the
transition from a ½ day to a full day of curriculum/planning – let’s face
it, it is going to represent a lot of extra work.
They fear the unknown of something foreign to their teaching experience.
These fears are understandable, but are not justifiable reasons to alter
the course for doing what is best for the children of our school community.
Change is never easy, but it is often necessary of we are going to
survive and compete in our rapidly changing society.
I understand the monetary cost of increasing the size of our facility to
accommodate full-day kindergarten. I
share the same concerns expressed by our school board in this regard.
I would offer the following information which I think should bear upon
the need for additional space regardless of the full-day kindergarten
decision:
- I have increasing
dissatisfaction expressed from the current kindergarten teachers on the
arrangements of the large open concept area – they have expressed the
desire to have their own classrooms – free of distractions from other
classes going on at the same time. We’ve
investigated making changes to our current facility to partition off rooms,
but have not broached this project due to cost and uncertainty of what lies
ahead with our kindergarten programming.
- This year we housed a
preschool class for students in our school community who qualified for
special education preschool. We
did not have adequate facilities to do this. Next year, we will not be able to provide this class and
our preschool students in our district will have to be transported to a
neighboring corporation.
- Our special education resource
room is not conducive to the most positive learning environment for our
special education students. We
are housing five adults and seven grade-levels of students in one classroom.
The room is not large enough to hold all of the vast
supplies/resources needed for the range of students served.
I’ve expressed a desire to have an additional classroom to be
utilized as a resource room. Space
has not allowed us to do this.
I feel for the above reasons, it is justified for the school corporation
to look at the addition of classrooms to the elementary school as soon as
possible – regardless of the decision for full-day kindergarten.
I fully support full-day kindergarten, and obviously would like to see
the rooms used for this purpose. However,
in the event that we do not have full-day kindergarten, I think the four
classrooms could easily be utilized for the ½ day sections of kindergarten, a
preschool class, and an additional resource room.
If we later move to full-day kindergarten, we can relocate the resource
rooms back together OR we can utilize an empty classroom that could be vacated
by combining sections of students as they progress to the higher grades.
Regardless – the space would be well utilized and justified.
For the time being, I feel we need to aggressively work toward the implementation of full-day kindergarten by doing the necessary planning and preparation. I have encouraged the teachers to visit other schools, and have requested attendance at a free training this summer sponsored by the Indiana Department of Education. I will also attend this training to continue my own education on best practice for this programming. I hope that our school corporation will be progressive and supportive of looking at the feasibility of this programming so that our school can continue to offer the same services to our community as neighboring schools. I continue to field questions and concerns from parents of children entering kindergarten as to why we do not currently provide the full-day programming. Now that the state is providing additional funding for reimbursement of full-day kindergarten, it is difficult to justify that we are not doing full-day kindergarten because of the money – I think that the reimbursement will offset most of the cost of programming. Truly, the space is the issue that is holding us back – this is where we need the support of the school board as we look to future allocations of resources and facilities planning.
"Snapshot" Of Caston Elementary School (And Other Schools) With Benchmarks (DOE, 9/29/07)
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"Snapshot" Including Benchmarks |
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| Argos Community Elementary (5936) |
| Carroll Elementary School (0629) |
| Caston Elementary School (2157) |
| Eastern Pulaski Elem School (6994) |
| Frontier Elementary School (9113) |
| Franklin
Elementary School (0705) Fairview Elementary School (0709) Landis Elementary School (0711) Columbia Elementary School (0713) |
| North Miami Elementary School (6051) |
| Reynolds
Elementary School (9117) Buffalo Elementary School (9125) Monon Elementary School (9133) |
| Pioneer Elementary School (0649) |
| Columbia
Elementary School (2181) George M Riddle Elem Sch (2185) |
| Galveston Elementary School (0673) |
| Thompson Elementary School (0695) |
| South Newton Elementary Sch (6431) |
| Akron Elementary School (2139) |
| Mentone Elementary School (3603) |
| Tri-County
Primary School (3170) Tri-County Intermediate School (9143) |
| West Central Elementary School (7027) |
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Caston Elementary School Meets AYP - Recognized As Commendable School (Cindy Douglass, 3/6/08)
(This article has been provided by Principal Douglass and has minor editing for informational purposes.)
The state of Indiana has released the ‘07 school
accountability results for schools in Indiana . Each year, under the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) legislation,
it is determined if schools meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
Caston Elementary did successfully meet AYP for the second year in a row,
removing our school from the school improvement status under Title I —
something we’ve been striving for since 2004.
Additionally, schools are rated under the Indiana Accountability System
for Academic Progress. Caston Elementary School was rated as a “Commendable”
school with overall performance of 83.3%. This
represents an increase in our rating over our previous rating of “Academic
Progress” last year.
Under our school improvement plans, Caston Elementary School has
continued to improve. Our
performance showed an increase of 0.9% (due to an error by the IN Department of
Education this was originally reported as 0.6%) this year.
We’re proud of our accomplishments as a school, and so grateful to our
teachers, students, and parents who have worked so hard to help us meet our
goals for student achievement.
(Caston Jr.-Sr. High's AYP and rating may be found here.)
Debating The Issues: Caston Sixth-Grader Wins National Contest (Pharos~Tribune,
10/18/09)
(This article, by Jennifer Tangeman, was originally
published in the October 13, 2009 Pharos~Tribune.)
If you could interview anyone, who would it be, and why? What would you ask?
Addie Sarver’s answers to those questions led to her selection as a writer for
Weekly Reader magazine.
Addie, a sixth-grader at Caston (Elementary) School, entered
the magazine’s student reporter essay contest over the summer, and she was
chosen as one of 12 finalists from more than 850 essays written by students in
the fourth, fifth and sixth grades.
“My answer was Sandra Day O’Connor,” Addie said.
“Because she was the first woman justice on the court, and I admire her and
her strength.”
Addie’s mother, Shelly, had urged her to take some time with her selection.
“I told her to think about it,” she said, “and not just choose somebody
right away that she would want to interview.”
Addie’s essay could be no longer than 300 words. In her
essay, she credits O’Connor’s perseverance and asks her for advice on gender
discrimination and staying positive. Addie wrote that she would ask O’Connor
“what she thinks about being the woman who changed history.”
Sarver, a kindergarten teacher at Caston Elementary School,
said she and her husband, David, thought Addie had a solid essay.
“As a parent, and as a teacher, I read it and thought it
was good, but we did not know how good any other kid’s writing was,” she
said.
Sarver said writing comes naturally to her daughter, who
began writing a chapter-story series called “Spy Cat” in the first grade.
Addie continued writing “Spy Cat” for her fourth grade class newsletter.
“The kids in her class would read from week to week to see
what adventures ‘Spy Cat’ would go on next,” Sarver said.
Addie said writing allowed her to experience new things.
“I enjoy writing,” she said. “It’s fun to put
yourself in someone else’s place and write in their mind instead of being
yourself.”
As a finalist, Addie will be a student reporter for Weekly
Reader for the rest of the school year. According to the magazine, she will
debate hot topics and possibly interview actors, athletes, authors and other
newsmakers, as well as have the opportunity to cover big events such as the
Super Bowl.
The Sept. 4 edition features the topic, “Should failing
students be banned from clubs and sports?” Addie was assigned to defend the
answer no against fellow finalist Peter Brosnan of New York.
“If students are kept from activities they are good at, it
could damage their potential,” Addie wrote. “Clubs and sports teach values
that a letter grade may not always show, such as self-discipline.”
Addie’s next subject is standardized dress for schools. She
has begun researching the topic and interviewed her school principal for an
expert opinion.
“This is teaching her research skills and interviewing
skills,” her mother said. “Those are life skills that she will have to take
with her.”
She said Addie would assigned a topic every five to six weeks
throughout the school year.
Although writing seems to be one of her strong points, Addie
said she wanted to pursue a law career, much like O’Connor.
“I’ve changed my mind quite a few times,” she said.
“But I’m pretty sure I want to go into law. Just because of how many crimes
there are today and things that people are unjust about.”
• Jennifer Tangeman is a reporter for the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached
at (574) 732-5148 or jennifer.tangeman@pharostribune.com
The Winning Essay: Sandra Day O’Connor
By ADDIE SARVER
Through my short lived life there are many women who I have
come to admire. I have been drawn to them because of their leadership. Many have
had courage to speak up for what’s right. Most of these women have had
failures or setbacks but due to their determination they have grown stronger and
have become extremely successful. Although I have a “Bucket List” of women I
would like to interview, the woman that I most admire is Sandra Day O’Connor.
After receiving a degree in economics she went on to get her
LLB at Stanford University. No law firm in California would accept her
application to join their law firm because of her gender. That setback did not
stop her from becoming a lawyer. She became a civil lawyer when her husband went
in the service. She moved back to Arizona where she still struggled with
becoming a lawyer due to her gender so she opened her own practice with one
partner. She became involved in the Republican Party and eventually became a
senator. O’Connor was elected a superior court judge where she served all
three branches of the government. In 1981, she stood tall and proud as the first
woman in history to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
If given the chance to meet the honorable Justice O’Connor
I would ask her how she remained so optimistic about becoming a lawyer after she
was rejected from all the law firms in California? Next, I would ask her what
advice she would give a girl about overcoming gender discrimination in the
workforce or school. What she thinks about being the woman who changed history.
Sandra Day O’Connor’s setbacks taught her to never give
up and to remain strong. She is truly a person to admire.
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ADMIRING HER WORK: Addie Sarver, a sixth-grader at Caston, reads an issue of Weekly Reader that features her work as a student reporter. She was chosen from more than 850 essay entries to write articles for the magazine this school year. |
For The Love of Bugs! - A Caston Alumnus Returns (Caston Elementary, 11/18/09)
Guest
Presenter, Matt Paschen, a Caston Graduate and currently a graduate student at
Purdue University shared some of Purdue’s resources from the school of
Entomology with 1st graders in Mrs. Strasser’s class.
One of the goals at Caston Elementary School is to invite successful
graduates back to share about their careers and educational experiences so that
our students have a greater awareness of post High School opportunities.
Our 1st graders were SO excited to see the many insects that Matt
brought in and now understand what an Entomologist does.
Following is the story the students (along with Mrs. Strasser) wrote
following his visit.
Writing activities often occur following a classroom event such as
this because it provides a meaningful experience for the students to reflect
upon.
Matt Paschen brought
insects from Purdue. Entomologists
want to know how to control insects. He
sets traps in the woods to catch insects so he can study them.
He showed us dead insects from all over the world.
Insects from the tropics can grow bigger than insects here because they
have more time to grow. The walking
stick from Indiana was 3 inches long and the one form Malaysia was 12 inches
long. The butterflies from South America were big, shiny, and very
colorful. The Goliath beetle from
Africa was as big as Mrs. Strasser’s hand.
Matt thinks insects are awesome and so do we!
By
Mrs. Strasser’s class
Caston Math Scores Improve (Rochester Sentinel, 12/22/10)
The Sentinel report
Caston Elementary School Principal Cindy Douglass is pleased with improvements
her students are making in math.
She issued a press release crediting teachers and students with hard work in
reaching that growth and saying the state education department has noted their
improvements.
The state listed the schools achieving the highest growth percentage in math in
each county. Caston was Fulton County’s high growth school, with 39.8 percent
growth based on two years of ISTEP+ test results.
Caston utilizes Saxon Math as its core math curriculum, but also supplements
with Accelerated Math, Apangea Math, ALEKS and Academy of Math.
They are computerized programs that allow for individualized lessons based on a
student’s strengths and weaknesses in math, Douglass explained.
“It is nearly impossible for a classroom teacher to target each child’s
individual needs when it comes to specific math skills,” Douglass said. “The
computerized programs provide teachers with the tools to do this efficiently and
allows students to be working on those skills that are most needed for them to
make progress in mathematics. While this serves all students well, it is most
important for those students who are either below grade level or well above
grade level.
“Indiana is changing the way we determine if a school is making progress from
a standard score to looking at how much growth a student makes throughout the
school year. Because of this accountability shift, it is critical for schools to
be able to determine exactly what skills a child is able to demonstrate at the
beginning of the school year and then build upon that so that each child shows
at least a year of growth,” she said.
In the future, Douglass noted, schools will be assigned a grade based on the
percentage of students who make at least a year of growth each school year and
the percentage of students who pass the ISTEP+ test at grade level.
Also recently, Douglass learned sixth-grade integrated math and science students
of Teresa Button, all considered high-ability students, were ranked in the top
30 classes, statewide, in the Hoosier Math Cup competition.
The month-long skills competition uses the Apangea math program. Students earn
points as they solve problems.
Apangea is a statewide Web-based math intervention program provided by the
Indiana Department of Education free of charge this school year for students in
grades five and older. The online program is accessible from home and provides
tutors, plus prizes when students reach a certain number of points.
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 WEEKLY
QUOTE: Caston Elementary Principal Cindy Douglass reads the quote of the
week from the student agenda. The quote is based on one of the “Seven
Habits of Highly Effective People,” a book written by Stephen Covey. The
school is following Covey’s books for inspiration in giving pupils more
responsibilities. Denise
Massie |
 TEACHING
LESSONS: Students in Jill Strasser’s classroom work together on a group
activity. Strasser is chair of the “Leader in Me” program based on the
book “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey.
Strasser works on incorporating lessons from the book into her classroom
activities. |
Improving
Student Achievement: Caston Elementary Making Positive Strides Into The Future
(Logansport Pharos~Tribune, 1/26/11)
(This article was originally published in The
Pharos~Tribune on
January 26, 2011. Bold type and highlighting have been added by the Webmaster.)
by Denise Massie
Pharos-Tribune
— FULTON — Pupils at Caston Elementary School are developing leadership
skills through a program known as “The Leader in
Me.”
The concept is based on a book by Stephen R. Covey, Principal Cindy Douglass
said, and its goal is to help students develop into independent learners and
take responsibility for what they are learning.
Each classroom follows the “Seven Habits of Highly Effective
People,” also
based on a book by Covey.
Two years ago, Douglass and several others from the school visited a school in a
suburb of Orlando, Fla. They met with staff members and students during their
trip.
“We tried to implement what we learned at that school,” said Douglass.
Students also have a quote of the week listed in their school agenda notebooks,
and they participate in related workbook activities, receive leadership roles,
participate in student-led conferences with parents and teachers and must keep
track of their school goals.
Each student also sets one personal and school goal each nine-week grading
period.
“We are trying to instill in them, you need to set a goal, but you have to
have a plan on how to work towards the goal and accomplish it,” Douglass said.
The effort is part of a school improvement plan that helped Caston Elementary to
gain schoolwide status for federal Title 1 funding.
“Basically, what that allows you to do is have flexibility to use funding for
any student within the school, without restriction,” Douglass said.
One of the problems before, she said, was that the school was required to
identify the lowest performing students and could use the funds only to help
those students.
To qualify for schoolwide funding, the school needed to have a certain number of
students who met the requirements for free and reduced prices lunches, and it
also had to go through intensive planning. To accomplish that, the school
decided to bring in an outside agency.
“We wanted someone to walk us through the process,” said Douglass.
A year ago, the school signed up with the Indiana Student Achievement Institute,
and it is now in the second year of a three-year program.
Both the junior-senior high school and the elementary school used stimulus money
to send teams for training sessions aimed at taking the staff through each step
of the process.
“There are different areas we are working on that will hopefully have a
positive impact on the students,” Douglass said.
Goals the school is working on address student academic performance, student
leadership skills, parent and community involvement, communication and
transitions to and from elementary school.
Some of the goals were chosen by the school, while some were required to qualify
for the Title 1 funding.
“Last year was more of a planning year,” said Douglass. “This year has
been the first full year of implementation.”
Under the student academic performance category, the school has placed its focus
on reading, especially in kindergarten through second grade. Reading is the
foundation of all other skills in the classroom, Douglass said, and each child
should be expected to read by third grade.
The school has looked into intervention techniques for those children in need,
and staff members hope to be more consistent in monitoring each student’s
progress.
Students struggling with reading have also had the opportunity to use “The
Academy of Reading” computer software. After-school tutoring is offered at no
cost to the family.
The school has also begun a differentiated instruction program that will allow
teachers to have their students demonstrate what they’ve learned in different
ways.
“I think this is very important,” said Douglass. “We know not all students
learn the same way. In a traditional classroom, they are taught one way and are
expected to show what they learned in one way.”
Another area the school has worked on is communication to parents.
“We want to be able to communicate more effectively with a parent about a
student’s progress in a way they can understand,” said Douglass.
As far as community-parent involvement, a parent volunteer program has been
revamped. As of last week, 33 volunteers accounted for more than 60 hours of
volunteer work. Four family fun nights with a “hook” were also scheduled.
The hook is to involve reading into each fun night held.
The school has remained on track for implementing each goal.
“We’re forced to stay on schedule and keep things moving,”
Douglass said. “Are there still things to do? Absolutely. That’s part of the
plan to continue to evaluate.”
All she knows for now is that everything the staff has started has seemed to
work.
“Student achievement is improving,” Douglass said. “We have substantial
data to prove that.”
• Denise Massie is a staff writer at the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at
574-732-5151 or denise.massie@pharostribune.com
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