Executive Summary

R. E. Davis Elementary School Sumter School District

Mrs. Cheryl Ann Triplett, Principal 345 Eastern School Road Sumter, SC 29153-9212

Document Generated On January 9, 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

1

Description of the School

2

School's Purpose

3

Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement

4

Additional Information

5

Executive Summary R. E. Davis Elementary School

Introduction Every school has its own story to tell. The context in which teaching and learning takes place influences the processes and procedures by which the school makes decisions around curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The context also impacts the way a school stays faithful to its vision. Many factors contribute to the overall narrative such as an identification of stakeholders, a description of stakeholder engagement, the trends and issues affecting the school, and the kinds of programs and services that a school implements to support student learning.

The purpose of the Executive Summary (ES) is to provide a school with an opportunity to describe in narrative form the strengths and challenges it encounters. By doing so, the public and members of the school community will have a more complete picture of how the school perceives itself and the process of self-reflection for continuous improvement. This summary is structured for the school to reflect on how it provides teaching and learning on a day to day basis.

Page 1 © 2015 Advance Education, Inc. All rights reserved unless otherwise granted by written agreement.

Executive Summary R. E. Davis Elementary School

Description of the School

Describe the school's size, community/communities, location, and changes it has experienced in the last three years. Include demographic information about the students, staff, and community at large. What unique features and challenges are associated with the community/communities the school serves?

Since its construction in 1955, R.E. Davis Elementary school has undergone several structural changes. The original 54,613 square foot building was erected in 1955 as a high school (Eastern High School), which served students in kindergarten to twelfth grades. To date, several renovations have been made: the addition of an agriculture building in 1955, eight additional classrooms in 1962, and an addition of a 3,152 square-foot library in 1965. The total size of the building after these renovations is 67,535 square feet. Other improvements included roof work, installation of air-conditioning to the classrooms and gymnasium, and replacement of flooring throughout the building. The most recent renovation changed the building's façade from the appearance of a 1950's high school to a more contemporary edifice of learning. The new renovations involved an upgrade to the main office suite to include an attractive entrance and hospitality/meeting room, the addition to the primary wing to add fully-equipped early childhood classrooms with restrooms in each classroom, exterior doors that that lead to fullyequipped, developmentally-appropriate playground equipment, a new library, a new cafeteria, and modifying existing space to form conference rooms and storage areas. There has also been an upgrade to modern plumbing and enhanced lighting. Technology upgrades included installing Promethean Boards in each classroom and the addition of WIFI for high-speed wireless internet access throughout the building. Fiberglass back boards, and repairs to the bleachers and hardwood floors in the gymnasium, were among other aesthetic enhancements. Additionally, the school's parking lot has been resurfaced with asphalt and an attractive brick and chain-linked fence and lighting add to the finishing touches to make the school an inviting, beautiful place for children to learn.

R.E. Davis' staff consists of a principal, guidance counselor, curriculum coach, reading coach, sixteen teachers (PreK-5th grade), one special education self-contained teacher, one special education resource teacher, and one half-day Physical Education teacher. R.E. Davis shares a music teacher, an art teacher, and a media specialist with Mayewood Middle School. There are eight instructional paraprofessionals, one half-day administrative assistant, an attendance clerk, a secretary/bookkeeper, and a behavior interventionist. The student body consists of 362 students-- 85% African-Americans; 9% Caucasians; 6% Hispanic, American Indian, and other. The average student/teacher ratio is 22 to 1. The school is also a host site for AmeriCorps Members and has two members serving to help promote literacy in the primary grades.

Page 2 © 2015 Advance Education, Inc. All rights reserved unless otherwise granted by written agreement.

Executive Summary R. E. Davis Elementary School

School's Purpose

Provide the school's purpose statement and ancillary content such as mission, vision, values, and/or beliefs. Describe how the school embodies its purpose through its program offerings and expectations for students.

R.E. Davis' purpose is summed up in its Mission Statement: To provide optimal learning experiences for each child.

The school's vision is focused on preparing students for a future of achievements. To achieve this, the R.E. Davis community is committed to developing positive, contributing citizens who will become life-long learners. Students' performance is at the center of the school's purpose. Teachers provide students with critical thinking skills and problem solving activities. The school's Leadership Team, faculty, and staff work together to examine a variety of data to help inform teaching and learning. This includes Measure of Academic Progress (MAP), Palmetto Achievement of State Standards (PASS), STAR Reading and Math testing, Benchmark Testing, etc. Analyzing results from these measures helps to determine where instruction can be modified and places intentional emphasis on strategies geared toward increasing students' achievement. Paramount to the school's purpose is a deliberate attention to diversity in learning styles and implementation of various support systems. One such system is Positive Behavior Intervention System of Support (PBIS). Through this support system, the services of an onsite Behavior Interventionist are offered to help maintain positive behaviors and expectations throughout the school. Each day during the morning announcements, the students recite the PBIS pledge-- "Today I pledge to be respectful and responsible, learn all I can, do my very best, stay safe while I play, because that's the R.E. Davis way!" The school is also benefiting from additional literacy support through the recently added state initiative, Read to Succeed Program. Through this program an on-site Reading Coach supports and promotes literacy and reading instruction and interventions. Other student support programs and services provided include the Beta Club, as well as service men and women mentors that are from Shaw Air Force Base and the Third Army. Other support is offered through the computer lab, parent workshops, Saturday tutoring, student assistant program, academic intervention through a Multi-tiered System of Support (MTSS), Special Education services, counseling, etc.

To ensure parent/community involvement, the faculty and staff host parent nights, Open House, parent-teacher conferences, and extracurricular activities. Parents also have contact with the school through Parent Portal, which can be accessed on the school's website. School newsletters and weekly class/grade-level parent newsletters are also published. Additionally, parents receive telephone notifications of important events, inclement weather announcements etc. through the EduLink system.

The school's motto is "The Future Starts Here". Students are reminded daily to make each day count toward a bright future.

Page 3 © 2015 Advance Education, Inc. All rights reserved unless otherwise granted by written agreement.

Executive Summary R. E. Davis Elementary School

Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement

Describe the school's notable achievements and areas of improvement in the last three years. Additionally, describe areas for improvement that the school is striving to achieve in the next three years.

Being a Title I school with a high percentage of students coming from households with low to moderate income has not caused R.E. Davis to waiver. The school has risen above the odds to perform at high levels. R.E. Davis' students have a perpetual track record of success. Some of the achievements and improvements include: -Palmetto Silver and Gold Awards based on the results of SC PASS scores. -"A" rating based on the states ESEA waiver. -Participation in Service Learning Initiatives and projects such as Goodwill for Goodwill, My Community and Me, Shower Shaw

with

Cookies, Career Fairs, etc. -An R.E. Davis fifth grader received recognition at the South Carolina State Fair for his "Grandparent's Day Essay". -Participation in activities that support the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, Pennies for Patients, and the American Heart Association. -College & Career Day Activities-- Door Decorating Contest of teachers' favorite college or university; teachers wore their favorite college paraphernalia; students dressed as their future career choice. -Students participated in fundraising events, raising over $ 22,000--2013-to present.

R.E. Davis' teachers are committed to continual learning and professional development. Teachers participate in Professional Learning Community (PLC) activities to stay current with research-based, best practice procedures. R.E. Davis is the home to past and present educators receiving awards to include Distinguished Reading Teacher, Teacher of the Year, and National Board Certification. The present and past campus Teachers of the Year are also members of the Sumter School District's Teacher Forum.

Page 4 © 2015 Advance Education, Inc. All rights reserved unless otherwise granted by written agreement.

Executive Summary R. E. Davis Elementary School

Additional Information

Provide any additional information you would like to share with the public and community that were not prompted in the previous sections.

R.E. Davis is a rural, Title I elementary school located in the eastern section of Sumter County, South Carolina, serving 362 students in PreKindergarten through fifth grade. It is the only elementary school in the eastern area of Sumter County; therefore, the students are from several surrounding communities. Students travel from distances that extend up to twenty-five miles. This unique combination of communities and extended distances from which students travel to R.E. Davis is due to a history of changes and consolidations. The changes started when Eastern High School evolved into a middle school (after desegregation in the late 1960's to early 1970's). The school was then renamed for a long-serving principal, Mr. Reynold's E. Davis.

For many years, R.E. Davis remained a kindergarten through 8th grade school. A consolidation was imposed where St. John and Mayesville Elementary Schools closed and joined the R.E. Davis family. The sixth, seventh, and eighth grade classes were eliminated, sending those students to Mayewood Middle School. To date, the elementary students from all of the communities surrounding St. John, Mayesville, and R.E. Davis are served under one roof at the recently renovated, R.E. Davis Elementary School.

Having endured yet another consolidation on the district level, a group of stakeholders has embraced the culture, purposes, and vision of R.E. Davis Elementary school--supporting its special needs to stay afloat during change. This group, the Eastern High School Reunion, meets regularly at the school, provides financial support and contributes school supplies. Local churches also make contributions of school supplies and sponsor perks and refreshments for faculty and staff. Community volunteers sponsor a community basketball league for students. Sumter County Government offers an added resource by providing a community resource center for after school tutoring. This county-operated community center was funded by a referendum, "Penny for Progress", and Sumter County. The support community center was constructed on the former Eastern High School's football field--making it convenient for the support staff walk to R.E. Davis each afternoon to escort students to the center for afterschool tutoring and other activities. The center bears the historically inspired name-Eastern Community Center. In the same spirit, R.E. Davis' faculty and staff collaborate with stakeholders to make the school's facilities available for joint interests.

The school is the site for many banquets to honor the Legacy of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, a historically renowned American Champion of Change--whose roots and heirs are from the Mayesville Community. For several years, R.E. Davis' faculty and students have also sponsored an annual benefit basketball game, which is a service-learning project involving fourth and fifth graders playing a professionally officiated basketball game. This project, called "Goodwill for Goodwill", contributes proceeds from admissions to the students' basketball game to the restoration project of the Goodwill Parochial School, a former school for African Americans, which is on the United States National Register. The Goodwill School is also a part of R.E. Davis' history, as in the mid 1960's Goodwill School consolidated with the then Eastern High School. A former Goodwill School student and contact person for the restoration project attends the students' basketball game, and receives the contribution on behalf of the organization. R.E. Davis' leadership respects and supports the perpetual relationships that have been sustained by the longevity of faculty members, and by the presence of fifth generation students' family members. This history and attributes have helped R.E. Davis Elementary school, a Title I school, to rise above the atrocities of poverty to perform at high academic levels on state assessments--making it proud to be the academic "Anchor of the Eastern Island" of Sumter County, South Carolina.

Page 5 © 2015 Advance Education, Inc. All rights reserved unless otherwise granted by written agreement.

Executive Summary R. E. Davis Elementary School

Page 6 © 2015 Advance Education, Inc. All rights reserved unless otherwise granted by written agreement.