South Whitley Elementary School Recognized By Indiana Student Achievement Institute
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SOUTH WHITLEY - South Whitley Elementary School was recognized by the Indiana Student Achievement Institute as a "Top Gainer" school during the Indiana Conference on Learning Feb. 3 in Indianapolis.
The award is based on the school's improvement in ISTEP scores between 2005-07.The Indiana Student Achievement Institute awarded the "Top Gainer" designation to schools who reached targeted gains in the percentage of passing ISTEP+ tests over a two-year period. The gain or loss in ISTEP between 2005-06 was averaged with the gain or loss in ISTEP between 2006-07. Low-performing schools were expected to show greater improvement than high-performing schools. From 2005-07, the average gain in ISTEP+ at South Whitley Elementary School was 2.2 percent.
Sue Reynolds, executive director of the Indiana Student Achievement Institute, said, "We are so proud of the faculty and community members associated with South Whitley Elementary School. They are to be commended for their initiative and their commitment to the community's young people."
Leading the improvement initiative at South Whitley Elementary were Gina Borton, Kim Addison, Kris Cassady, Diane Williams, George Roth and Barb Flory. These individuals attended leadership training sessions conducted by InSAI over the past three years. Between training sessions, they facilitated school improvement activities with the student body, faculty and community representatives.
The improvement process used by the Indiana Student Achievement Institute, called Vision-to-Action, includes visioning for student success, using data to define and monitor change, conducting a force field assessment to identify local areas interfering with learning, and developing high-leverage strategies for improvement.
At South Whitley Elementary School, strategies include improving academic performance of disadvantaged student groups through the development of mentoring, tutoring and curriculum-focused initiatives.
