SAM Visits Woodruff Elementary School

By Beth Thompson, Director of Collaborative Action Networks

The more and more progress we make on our collective impact journey, the more and more I continue to learn and be amazed at the incredible commitment to educational outcomes that already exists in our community.  Our executive director, Dr. John Stockwell, has been quoted many times as saying, “We do not have to look outside the box.  The solutions we are seeking can already be found throughout our community,” and it is true. 

The Spartanburg Academic Movement exists to improve educational outcomes for all children in our county by aligning many like-minded organizations and partners around the county with our shared vision for success, using data to focus on what is already working, spread those best practices, and facilitate the continuous improvement of practices that drive education indicators in a positive direction.   My work with the Kindergarten Success CAN has already revealed an abundance of practices that are making a difference in children’s lives every day. 

Our staff had the pleasure of visiting one of our county’s most recently named National Blue Ribbon Schools, Woodruff Elementary, where these practices are well underway

As we arrived, two incredibly cordial young boys greeted us at the door and escorted us to the “War Room.”  Later we found out that these two students are part of the school’s focus on academically struggling students, and traditionally would be part of a crowd that tends to “hide” or get over-looked when it comes to special opportunities.  Not at Woodruff Elementary School.  Every single student (and there are over 600), participates in the school activities, whether it is a part in a play, welcoming guests to the annual academic awards ceremony, or greeting guests at the front door. 

The abundance of promising practices that we witnessed at Woodruff Elementary School were phenomenal.  Here are just a few that were particularly remarkable:

• The “War Room.”  In this room, not privy to students, teachers and administrators gather to dig into the details of student achievement.  When we arrived, not more than two or three weeks since receiving the newest data on the spring state-wide standardized assessments, there were already charts and graphs on the wall noting areas of excellence, opportunities for improvements, specific standards that needed attention, and very specific subgroups of students that needed their attention this year.  

• Woodruff Elementary School is not just focused on charts and graphs.  The most powerful visual in the “War Room” was a wall with students’ pictures and their academic achievement so far this year.  The team at WES spends countless hours, even before the school year begins, discussing these specific students.  They carefully craft interventions for these struggling students that range from small group reading interventions to before school and after school academic programs.  The goal is to move children off of the wall – meaning they have met their academic goals for the year.  There truly is a “student behind every data point” on this wall.

• The students have goals.  They know what they are and they are actively working to improve their own learning.  The very first page of their student agenda is a goal sheet.  With their teachers’ assistance, students write their current progress on MAP assessments (a formative assessment guiding proficiency leading up to state testing in the spring) along with their personal goals for success.  And it does not end there.  
• On every grade-level hallway there is a bulletin board where students place their very own star in their current achievement category. As they receive and understand their assessment results, the students move their stars on the bulletin board themselves.  Also, in every classroom, you will find pyramids on the wall.  On the left-side, students describe what they are great at, ok at, can almost do, and what they do not yet know how to do.  On the right, the teacher responds with specific feedback on ways to improve. 

There were just so many amazing practices.  We were only able to scratch the surface during our visit.  
An intense deep-dive into data can sometimes feel overwhelming.  You may have heard recently in the news growing demands for less testing of our students, a call which has plenty of merit.  However, when the data generated from such assessments makes its way back into the hands of administrators, teachers, and even students, powerful learning and growth happens.  Woodruff Elementary School is seizing this opportunity, and it was truly evident in our visit that focusing on data does not have to be at the expense of any student’s ability to succeed in school. 

Woodruff Elementary School is truly a gem in Spartanburg County, and it is evident in Principal Argyl J. Brewton's dedication to the success of her students.  Yet it is only one of several National Blue Ribbon Schools within our seven school districts.  After leaving the school, our staff made a commitment to make it a priority to visit as many schools as we can, and to report back on the exciting things going on for children in Spartanburg County.  

SPARTANBURG ACADEMIC MOVEMENT TO PRESENT AT NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Spartanburg Academic Movement (SAM) has accepted a mission that may seem impossible, but it doesn’t involve Tom Cruise or secret agents. At this year’s national StriveTogether Cradle to Career Convening, “Mission Possible: Agents of Transformational Change,” Lindsay Moore, SAM’s Director of Communications, and Beth Thompson, Director of Collaborative Action Networks, willshare expertise in a workshop entitled “Planning and Implementing Effective Communications Using StriveTogether’s Communication Toolkit.”

“It is an honor to be asked by StriveTogether to present at their national convening. They like what we do, so they are giving us the opportunity to share our successes with other communities. Presenting will increase SAM’s visibility and credibility on a national scale, which is really exciting for Spartanburg,” says Lindsay Moore.

The StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network brings together cross-sector leaders who are committed to improving education outcomes for kids. Representing more than 60 community partnerships in 32 states and Washington, D.C., more than 350 attendees at the sold-out event will share their work to unite communities around shared goals, measures and results in education.

SAM works to improve education for students throughout Spartanburg County, bringing together more than 200 Partners. Together, these partners have united around six shared goals that impact educational outcomes from cradle to career.

“These Cradle to Career Network members champion this work in their communities, and SAM will share successes and failures to benefit the larger mission of ensuring educational success for every student,” StriveTogether Managing Director Jeff Edmondson said. “Fellow Network partnerships will walk away with concrete actions they can take to progress their work at home.”

Throughout the three day convening, attendees will explore and discuss education equity, continuous improvement, community engagement and other topics that directly affect their work.

We've Moved!

SAM offices are now located in the Mary Black Foundation Building

Stop by and see us anytime!

Our new contact information is: 

Physical and Mailing Address:

349 East Main Street, Suite 101

Spartanburg, SC 29302

Phone: 

864.573.5804

Kindergarten Success CAN: The Importance of Getting Started

The beginning of a new year often brings an abundance of resolutions.  You can see this in the many gyms that are bursting at the seams with new members resolving to a healthier state of being.  Perhaps you have made such a resolution before and realized that you knew the outcome you were seeking, but did not quite know the exact way in which you would reach it.  What you did know, though, was the importance of getting started.  

Last week, the Spartanburg Academic Movement (SAM), together with the Mary Black Foundation, initiated such a resolution.  The Kindergarten Success Collaborative Action Network (CAN) was launched with over thirty early childhood professionals gathered to take the first, most important step.  The resolution? All children enter kindergarten ready to be successful.  How do we achieve it?  By getting started. 

Momentum from those initial first steps is already evident.  As the group of early childhood professionals gathered last Tuesday, each described their feelings with words such as excited, thrilled, honored, thankful, eager, and even nervous.  The Kindergarten Success CAN members have participated in an orientation session to learn more about the collective impact process, modeled after a successful initiative from Strive Together in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, providing a roadmap that will lead to children ready for success in kindergarten…a critical foundation to a process of life-long learning.  

Unlike groups that have convened in the past, even those with great results and especially good intentions, the Kindergarten Success CAN offers the opportunity for early childhood professionals from public schools, community organizations, post-secondary programs for educators, child care centers, and others to come together around the common goal of ALL Spartanburg County children prepared to be successful at the very start of their education journey.  The Kindergarten Success CAN is not a group collaborating on a new project, grant request, or even simply discussing the complex issue of kindergarten readiness.  Instead, it is a group committed to improving their own programs and taking collective action so that the children of Spartanburg are fully supported during their earliest years.  

The Kindergarten Success CAN now begins meeting regularly to finalize a charter and develop and implement a shared action plan.  Using local data, the Kindergarten Success CAN will uncover ways that all programs can continuously improve their effectiveness in assuring school readiness and also identify opportunities to work together toward the common goal.  Even though “collective impact” is a rather new concept for tackling complex social concerns, Kindergarten Success as the first CAN within the SAM framework is an extraordinary place to start, especially because of the leadership of the Mary Black Foundation in the area of early learning and a growing commitment and understanding of early childhood development locally, state-wide, and nationally.  

Much like the resolutions made at the start of a new year, there is no one way to get to the goal immediately.  What is most important is that we have begun with a determination to succeed.  Soon, the picture will begin to sharpen and opportunities will emerge, and the momentum will continue to build throughout the process.  

This start with the new year is energizing, not only for this particular Kindergarten Success CAN, but to the Spartanburg Academic Movement as a whole as many of these networks, each organized around key education outcomes, begin to unfold in the months ahead.  Just as the name suggests, the Spartanburg Academic Movement is, in fact, a movement towards the best educated county in South Carolina.  For every step we take, we are one step closer.