Success at Wilmont Fraser Elementary School
The Peters Group has been working with Wilmont Fraser Elementary School, Charleston, SC for one year. The school is 97.9% free and reduced lunch with teachers and staff totaling less than 40. According to state standards, the school was low performing. During the time that we were involved in Staff Development, the school was under new leadership (principal and vice-principal). The goal of The Peters Group was to assess the overall climate/culture of the school, to motivate teachers and encourage them to become agents of change.
Within 2 visits we witnessed a transformation. Teacher attendance increased by 60%. Teachers were excited and anxious for Monday mornings so that they could incorporate new strategies and skill sets into teaching.
“We used Mr. Peters activities every morning before class for academic reflection and for homework preparation”; “We have seen an improvement in students attitudes and behavior”; “Every morning we run “positive messages” across the computer monitor”; I am more tolerant and accepting of students and their cultures”. According to the state department representative in one of the workshops: Teachers attitudes have changed, they really want to do what’s right for children”.
During one of the sessions teachers indicated positives and challenges of teaching at Wilmont Fraser. This was extremely important for teachers to assess why they were in the teaching profession and how they could offset any challenges. Throughout the year, their was not a decline with “positives” yet a drastic decline with “negatives”. Each time we walked into the school, a feeling of pride and calmness was felt more and more. School walls featured student success stories and community and national role-models. Interestingly, school and student projections of future success was displayed throughout the halls.
Workshop Topics for success at Wilmont Fraser
- Building relationships ” Do You Know Enough About Me To Teach Me”
- Assessment – Positive and Negative characteristics of school
- Teamwork and Empowerment
- Parent and Community Support (Mr. Peters addressed parents at PTA)
This entry was posted and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.