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State Recognizes Local Elementaries

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 6, 2007

ORLANDO - Strong performances on standardized tests earned Miles Elementary and Egypt Lake Elementary schools state recognition this week.

The Florida Department of Education singled out 12 Title 1 schools statewide for raising student achievement, including two Hillsborough County schools. Title 1 schools are those with a high percentage of children from low-income families.

Miles Elementary and Temple Terrace Elementary were praised for closing the achievement gap between white students' and minority students' test scores at their schools.
Egypt Lake Elementary Principal Lydia Sierra also was named one of 60 'turnaround principals' for improving a school's grade by least two letter grades in one year. Grades are based on Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores and improvement.

'As we all know, moving a school one letter grade is a challenging task,' said Iris Wilson, deputy chancellor for student achievement for the state. 'To move a school two letter grades is remarkable.'

Sierra did better than that. Egypt Lake jumped from a D to an A. Cahoon Elementary also made the same leap.

The recognition came during the 2007 K-12 Conference and Innovation Fair, a three-day convention the education department and Florida Education Foundation hosted this week in Orlando. The meeting focused on academic achievement, teacher compensation and innovative school programs.

Miles drew attention for shrinking the achievement gap between white and black students in math.

Black students in grades three, four and five raised their average math scores from last year and narrowed the distance between their scores and white students' averages, according to data from the Education Department. The percentage of black students performing at or above their grade level in math and reading also rose this year at Miles, while white students showed varying results at different grades.

The school's grade held at a C for the fourth year in a row, but Principal Deborah Coyle said signs were encouraging. Miles came closer to a B than it had previously on the state report card, and a federal assessment showed that the elementary school had met 97 percent of the criteria the No Child Left Behind Act sets.

Last year, Miles met 64 percent of the benchmarks. The federal ranking this year showed that Miles needed to improve test averages of children with disabilities, but more of its white, black, Hispanic and poor students were making progress.

Miles is considered an at-risk school, Coyle said, with 92 percent of its children coming from poor families, and the majority are a racial or ethnic minority.

'We have a lot of challenges, but we overcome these challenges,' Coyle said. 'We don't look at color. We just look at children, and that closed the achievement gap.'

One approach that helped teachers, Coyle said, was creating professional learning communities. Teachers met weekly to plan and monitor how students were performing. The school also has emphasized training.

Administrators, meanwhile, reviewed lesson plans and visited classrooms. The school assigned a math and reading resource teacher to come to classrooms as well, giving lessons or working with children in small groups instead of pulling the children out of their rooms.

Debbie Peabody, Miles' math resource teacher, said she would model lessons for teachers and review students' FCAT scores so she knew what areas she needed to work on with them. But she didn't forget the importance of fun.

Children who worked hard could earn a spot in Friday 'math superstar kickball' games, Peabody said. Students also played vocabulary games to learn terminology that might appear on the math test. They solved problems in colored chalk outside on the sidewalks.

Peabody brought in props, too, such as skateboards to teach geometry concepts. She said she would try any gimmick or game she thought the children might enjoy. 'Anything that motivates the kids,' she said.

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503 or cpastor@tampa trib.com.

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