A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Serving Multiple Needs with Multiple Programs

Overview

School Context

Major Program Features

Instruction in reading and math classes focuses on achieving high academic standards through acceleration, enrichment, and higher-order thinking. The reading teachers use a whole language approach that integrates reading, writing, listening, and speaking within planned units of study that include various genres and topics. Math teachers use manipulatives to promote hands-on problem solving. Teachers frequently use cooperative learning techniques.

The county's kindergarten curriculum is the basis of the full-day kindergarten, and the Story Telling and Retelling (STaR) Program, developed at Johns Hopkins University, focuses on language development. In the STaR Program children, listen to several readings of the same book and then retell the stories to the teacher or teacher assistant. Each week, the kindergarten teachers meet to discuss the theme for the coming week and to share ideas and materials.

The readiness program, offered during the first grade reading and math periods, targets the lowest-scoring first graders. Each readiness teacher uses interactive and multisensory math and reading with a group of eight students, while the rest of the class remains with the first grade teacher. For example, the students may read a story about birds and then practice number skills by counting the number of birds perched in a tree. The afterschool program operates two days a week for the 50 lowest-scoring students in grades 1-5 (10 students per grade). Five teachers staff the readiness programs, and students receive both computer-assisted and direct instruction.

The lowest-scoring fourth and fifth grade students receive daily instruction in the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) Lab. Because of block scheduling, they are not singled out for special attention but participate in HOTS as a regular academic activity.

A six-week "summer enhancement program" uses science to improve the reading, writing, and math skills of nearly 200 students in grades K-5--those who score below the 50th percentile on district tests. Each grade explores a different scientific topic, including marine life, plants and animals, the natural world, space, energy and magnetism, and conservation and preservation. During the three and one-half hour sessions, students take field trips, perform experiments, read, write, and solve math problems.

Planning and design. McNair began planning the schoolwide project in 1990-91 as part of a program improvement plan addressing the problem of high retention rates and low academic achievement. More than one-fourth of the students were retained in their grade levels, and the school consistently ranked as the lowest in the district on nationally standardized tests. The schoolwide plan also focused on reducing student and teacher absences, improving school climate, and increasing parent involvement. The principal credits this unified approach with the project's success: "Instead of writing a separate school improvement plan or a separate management plan, we consolidated both into the schoolwide project. The [schoolwide] project goals became the school's goals, and the school's goals became the schoolwide project's goals."

Planning and implementation of McNair's schoolwide project occurred in four phases: (1) the School Improvement Committee-- including staff and parents--collected evaluation and demographic data that enabled the committee to identify problem areas and propose solutions; (2) the committee developed a schoolwide project plan; (3) a "restructuring team" of 10-12 teachers and staff members reviewed the plan and presented a final version to the entire faculty; and (4) the entire faculty went on a two-day retreat to learn about the schoolwide project. The schoolwide project was implemented in the 1991-92 school year.

McNair's adoption of a schoolwide project was the catalyst for several related changes. The Chapter 1 pull-out program shifted to parallel block scheduling for all students in grades 1-5, and Chapter 1 teachers became "extension teachers," providing enrichment activities to many more students. The school also added a full-day kindergarten, a readiness program, and an afterschool program offering remediation in reading and math for the lowest achieving students in grades 1-5.

Professional environment. McNair provided staff development during its first year as a schoolwide project in the areas of whole language, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards and math manipulatives, direct teaching, questioning strategies, cooperative learning, writing across the curriculum, publishing and bookmaking, and effective discipline. Two teachers received training in the Junior Great Books Program and have included some of those books and activities in their classes. During the 1991-92 and 1992-93 school years, all staff (37 teachers and 8 instructional assistants) participated in two graduate courses taught by faculty from The Citadel, the school's business partner, and paid for with Chapter 1 schoolwide funds, "Cooperative Discipline" and "Teaching Reading Through a Literature Emphasis." The 1992-93 staff development plan also committed time for team building and planning, and included a schoolwide retreat focusing on effective discipline, the schoolwide project, and the needs of at-risk students and their parents. Classroom materials and instructional supplies are available to the faculty in several resource rooms.

Parent and community involvement. The schoolwide project allowed McNair to add computer-assisted instruction to a GED class for parents and other adults from the community. A teacher works individually with adults who are unable to read or who are uncomfortable working in groups. Volunteers provide child care during GED classes.

In 1992-93, a McNair teacher assumed the newly developed position of Parent Educator to coordinate parent involvement activities, including monthly parent meetings and/or workshops; a monthly newsletter; homework envelopes to improve home-school communication; a student handbook; a schoolwide behavior management plan; and a parent resource library.

The Parent Educator also coordinates the McNair Family Council, a coalition of local agencies, associations, and businesses organized at the same time as the schoolwide project. The Council strengthens the school's relationship with the community by cooperating with other agencies and associations on projects that will benefit students and families at McNair. Members include directors or staff from most of the local social service and governmental agencies, school representatives, and parents. For example, through the OASIS Sports Program, a school-community initiative endorsed by the Council, the housing authority provides buses to transport students to area playgrounds for supervised afterschool activities.

In addition to its staff development partnership with The Citadel, McNair has partnerships with a nearby Navy base, a hardware store, and Taco Bell. As a result, Navy crews painted the school's interior and built playground equipment using materials donated by the hardware store. Members of the Navy's Command Missile Assembly group coordinate schoolwide clean-ups and serve as tutors and mentors to students.

Evidence of Success

Since the implementation of the schoolwide project, the school climate has also improved. Staff turnover is negligible, and teacher attendance in 1991 met the state's criterion of 96 percent. The number of parents involved as classroom volunteers or members of the McNair Family Council increased, and parents became more active in school-community events. Several parents began to research the process of obtaining grants from charitable foundations to help finance a new community center on school grounds. Summing up the project's impact on the school, the principal says:

The schoolwide project is so exciting....Everyone in the whole school has gotten involved, not just the Chapter 1 people but everyone--the cafeteria manager; the school counselor, who also serves on the McNair Family Council; the librarian, who has arranged for guest puppeteers ... There's just a lot of ownership for [the schoolwide project].

McNair Elementary School
3795 Spruill Avenue
North Charleston, SC 29405
Phone: (803) 745-7181
Fax: (803) 566-1848
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[Coordinating Services to Promote Learning]

[Taking a "Balanced" Approach to Academic Excellence]