Elgin B. Milton Elementary School

School Information

School Name: Elgin B. Milton Elementary School
School District: Ozark
School Address: 1601 Walden Dr., Ozark, Arkansas 72949
School Phone: 479.667.4745
School Fax: 479.667.3936
Principal: Lori Griffin (1-3) and Shane Vincent (4-5) and Kelly Burns (K)
Principal Email: lori.griffin@ozarkhillbillies.org and shane.vincent@ozarkhillbillies.org and kelly.burns@ozarkhillbillies.org
Web Address: http://ozarkhillbillies.org

Demographics

Number of Students: 745
Percent eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch: 57.2%
Percent of Limited English Proficient: <1%
Percent of Special Education: 0.06%
Racial/Ethnic Percentages:

• White: 96%
• Black: <1%
• Hispanic: <1%
• Asian: <1%
• Other: <1%

Student Achievement Data

Scale: % at or above proficient, school scores vs. state scores

Grade 3	Math (School/State)	Read (School/State)
2008-09	92/81	65/67
2009-10	93/84	77/71
2010-11	95/86	86/76

 

Grade 4	Math (School/State)	Read (School/State)
2008-09	78/78	76/70
2009-10	92/80	88/71
2010-11	88/82	87/82

 

Grade 5	Math (School/State)	Reading (School/State)	Science (School/State)
2008-09	79/70	75/68	43/49
2009-10	77/74	77/74	54/53
2010-11	90/78	90/76	75/56

In addition to increasing our scores across the board, we have more than doubled the number of our students in our Advanced category on our state assessment.  We are not satisfied with just Proficient.  We want as many students as possible to be considered Advanced, because this will just take them even higher in their future education.  We also have reduced our special education population significantly after our teachers began working in PLCs and focusing on results.

Our school was removed from “Arkansas School Improvement” because we reduced the number of special education referrals by 50%. Our Benchmark state testing is scored with a rubric in four categories: Advanced, Proficient, Basic and Below Basic.  We are continually reducing the gap of performance between our special ed and general education students.  We have moved 50-70% of our special ed students into the Proficient categories, depending on which grade level and subject area of the test. We attribute this to our system of intervention and the work of collaborative teams in our school.

Please present any additional information that indicates your efforts to build a professional learning community have had a positive impact upon students and/or teachers.

The number of discipline referrals has decreased after we implemented our learning from the PLC at Work Institute.  When students are behaving, they are more engaged in learning. We are being more proactive in developing a positive culture and are focused on building positive relationships.  When a consequence is not successful in changing a student’s behavior, we don’t keep doing the same thing over and over. 

We also really get to know our students!  We learned about the check-in/check-out buddy system at the PLC institute and have implemented this wonderful intervention to help the emotional side of relationships in the school setting.

Please elaborate upon strategies you have found to be effective in any of the following areas:

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

Our teachers work diligently daily and meet weekly in their PLCs to disaggregate data and discuss best practices to regroup the students for the best possible advancement.  Common assessments are created and given to guide instruction.  The key focus in their meetings now is student results, and THEN they work to research and share best teaching practices to move our students to the next level? 

Students are now involved in monitoring their learning using student-friendly graphs and charts.  Even in first grade students monitor their reading level using a trajectory chart.  They see exactly where they need to be by the end of the year, and it encourages them to try even harder.  They celebrate success when they reach their goals.

Nicole Vagle, Solution Tree Consultant, has helped us with motivating students and including them in the rubric creation process.  Our teachers immediately saw student writing improve in the classroom.  She also helped our teachers incorporate “student-voice” into the classroom.

2. Creating systems of intervention to provide students with additional time and support for learning.

Our teachers work collaboratively to plan intervention/enrichment time each week for our students.  Students are grouped based on their needs and travel to different classrooms to receive instruction.  Common assessments are given to determine if students are ready to move to another area of intervention or enrichment.  Paraprofessionals, parents, community members, and even students are used to help tutor when there is a specific need.  The teachers do “whatever it takes” to help our students achieve. 

3. Building the capacity of teachers to work as members of high performing collaborative teams who focus the efforts of their team on improved learning for students.

The teachers take responsibility for ALL of the students, and they problem-solve together to create the highest student achievement possible.  The meetings are now teacher led, instead of administrator/instructional facilitator led.  The teams create norms together and review them annually to increase time on task during the meetings.  The teams create SMART goals to guide instruction and progress, and they analyze the data and reflect to determine if the goals have been met.  Teachers understand we are now a “systems-based” decision making school.  When one component of the system changes, every other component has to be analyzed to determine if they need to be realigned to our common goals, our mission and our vision.

List any Awards and Recognition Garnered by Your School

• Comprehensive Literacy Model School  

• School of Excellence-2010

• National Board Certified Counselor/Arkansas Counselor of the Year

• Third Grade Teacher Selected to Represent Arkansas at the George Washington Teacher Institute