2012 SCORE Prize Winners: Embracing High Standards | Page 10

“We try really hard
around here because
it is important to
stretch yourself and
do well to make
yourself and your family
proud.”

The school has parents reinforce expectations by
asking them to sign students’ folders every week
and help children improve in any area of concern.
Parents are kept informed about homework assignments, interventions and assistance that students
receive, in addition to their children’s progress
toward reaching goals.

— John Sevier Student
Academic “personal best.” Students and adults
work diligently, with encouragement, to reach their
personal best. The school routinely collects and
analyzes student performance data to demonstrate development and mastery of skills throughout the year. Every nine weeks, the teacher posts
each child’s progress toward achieving personal
academic goals, which students establish with
their teachers. A child struggling to make sufficient
progress according to the nine-week benchmarks
is retaught and offered additional interventions
by teaching assistants, either in the classroom or
through individual sessions, as needed.
Teachers frequently remind students of the “failure
leads to success” key and explicitly teach them to
persist through challenges—to be tenacious in their
learning. “No matter where students start, we are
looking for them to achieve their personal best,”
one teacher said. “They don’t have to reach a huge,
high-reaching goal, but instead can make steady
progress on the little things like getting more problems right on the test or doing third grade math if
you are a second grader.”
Students embrace the high expectations themselves. “We try really hard around here because it
is important to stretch yourself and do well to make
yourself and your family proud,” one student said.
“[Teachers] tell us that it is the same in school as in
football…keep trying, keep trying. If you keep trying,
you have a better chance of getting there.”

13

Pathways to the Prize
Lessons from the 2012 SCORE Prize School Winners

Encouraging parents to support their children. In
addition to engaging parents with academic folders
that are sent home weekly, the school recruits
parent volunteers for the Fox Watch, a club that provides guidelines for adults on how to support students at school. For example, parents are advised,
“Do start conversations with students at lunch. Do
make sure to spend time with all of your personal
children in some manner today. You are welcome to
divide the time in your child’s homeroom between
students. You are also encouraged to eat lunch
with your children; it is important to them as well!”
Fox Watch parents participate in an orientation, and
then they help with arrival, visit their child’s homeroom to work with teachers and students, attend
and help with enrichment activities, patrol parking
lots, and help with recess and student dismissal.
The group manages a schedule to engage other
parents as well. An annual 21-question survey is
used to determine the extent to which the program
is effective and valued by participants and how it
can be improved.

“Fox Watch Schedule”
http://www.tnscore.org/scoreprize/
downloads/2012/fox_Watch_
Schedule.pdf

“Fox Watch Survey”
http://www.tnscore.org/scoreprize/
downloads/2012/fox_Watch_Survey.pdf