Green Bank Elementary-Middle and Marlinton Elementary Principals Talk Math & Reading Progress
As part of our series of stories about improvements in Math and Reading improvements at the Pocahontas County Schools, today we talk with Principals from Green Bank Elementary-Middle School and Marlinton Elementary School.
First up is the Principal of Green Bank Elementary-Middle School.
“Hello, I am rick Sharp, Principal of Green Bank Elementary-Middle School” said Principal Sharp. “I’d like to talk about our success last year on the West Virginia General Summative Assessment. We showed considerable improvement last year. I attribute that a lot to the teachers and their hard work, also the help of Joanna Bert-Kinderman, the Math coach for the county and also Alex Rodriguez, he’s a ‘Success for All’ Coach that comes in and helps with our Power Teaching program at the Middle School.”
“All but one grade level last year made growth in Mathematics. The one grade level that did not show growth still exceeded the state average. I tip my hat to them. The teachers have taken the time to go through the professional development with Alex and Joanna. They’ve incorporated Math Centers last year – showed a lot of growth there.”
“Admittedly here at Green Bank, we have some work to do, as well as many of the other schools in the county on Reading Language Arts, or English Language Arts. We’ve got some plans in place for the future on how to combat the decline of those scores from the third grade on. I am confident in the teaching staff here that we will make the corrections to move those scores in the right direction. I am really pleased with Aaron Baldwin, she’s been a great addition to the English Language Arts Staff at the Middle School. She’s done phenomenal work with the students. She’s holding them accountable and theyb are responding to the challenges she’s put in front of them. And also at the Middle School Staff as a whole, this is the first year since I’ve been here that we’ve had consistency at those positions. I think that because of the consistency, we show a lot of improvement because they know what to expect and the students know what to expect from the teaching staff. That relationship has to go both ways. I am pleased overall at the positive happenings here at Green Bank.”
Next we talked with Principal Phillip Anderson of Marlinton Elementary School and asked him to talk about his school’s Math and Reading programs.
Our scores last year in ELA for our smarter Balance Tests increased 19% from 3rd to 4th grade; increased 9% from 4th to 5th grade and our third grade was higher. Across the board we made a lot of gains. The year before in ELA we were below state standards and we came together as a group. And this year put us back on track where we are right on state standards, and a little bit above. Our Math scores last year were at state standards and again this year they were at state standards. But we are making progress in being above state standards in those. And that’s what our goal is, to never settle for what our scores were but to grow em, to increase them.”
I want to commend our staff and our community on their par in getting our kids ready to have better test grades. It took everybody. It took the community, it took the teachers, it took the kids to do this, and that’s a big thing. That’s why our students come to school, to be educated and to have socialization, but we here at the Elementary School we set the groundwork for their education. We’re the building blocks for them for the future and to see that the tests scores are growing really pleases me and I am happy to be a part of it.”
In upcoming stories we will be talking with our remaining two Principals, Rebecca Spencer from Hillsboro Elementary School and Dustin Lambert from Marlinton Middle School.
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