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| Third grade teacher Marie Sprague works with Tanya Valadez at Central Gaither Elementary. |
“Do you know the meaning of the word endure?” asks third-grade teacher Marie Sprague.
Scrunching his face in concentration, Miguel Diaz pauses, then thoughtfully replies, “to last through something.”
“Good definition,” responds Sprague, beaming her approval.
Miguel, an English language learner, has shown incredible academic progress. So has his Title I school, Central Gaither Elementary in the rural community of Yuba City. The majority of the 252 students live at the poverty level and many are English language learners.
Poverty, mostly associated with inner-city schools, also exists in rural communities such as Yuba City, where many of the parents work in the fields as farm laborers and some work two or three jobs. Youngsters in the remote community do not have access to preschool programs such as Head Start. Since many of the parents don’t drive, students are bused to the school site.
While students in such circumstances might endure frustration in the classroom, students at Central Gaither are thriving. The K-8 school’s API scores went from 650 in 2002 to 770 in 2006. The school received a ranking of 10 out of a possible 10 when compared to schools of similar demographics.
As in most schools, the gap may be narrowing, but it still remains. Hispanic students’ API scores have increased from 635 to 724 over a three-year period, while the scores of white students have gone from 747 to 810. But the gap between the Hispanic students and white students has narrowed from 112 points in 2003 to 86 points in 2006. Teachers say they “still have work to do,” but are pleased with their progress.
Narrowing the achievement gap didn’t happen overnight. Yuba City Teachers Association members say the school once had a “revolving door” for administrators who constantly switched improvement plans. But the arrival of Principal Debbie Everett four years ago finally brought stability and support for teachers, which evolved into a shared vision for student success along with collaboration to make it happen.
“We’ve always felt that all kids could learn, but we push them a little bit more now,” says first-grade teacher Susan Catledge. “If they are at their comfort level, we try to push them to a higher level.”
“Our focus has really been on our state and district standards,” says sixth-grade teacher Marci Magenheimer. “We do everything within our power to make sure that they are mastered by students. If that means stepping outside the norm and teaching a lesson differently, that’s what we do. We are very goal-oriented. But it’s not student weaknesses that we focus on; it’s their strengths.”
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| Central Gaither sixth-grader James Steele gets teacher Marci Magenheimer’s undivided attention. |
A 21st Century Grant enabled Central Gaither to implement an after-school intervention program. Teachers expanded their intervention efforts to include not only struggling students, but also those in between excelling and struggling. Staffed by most of the teachers, it’s attended by nearly all students. Some go to intervention classes the first hour while others do their homework. The second hour is devoted to enrichment, which teachers say increases motivation. High enrollment is due, in part, to the inclusion of transportation.
“We don’t have electives like a middle school, so we worked really hard to come up with a wonderful program,” says Sprague. The teacher of the school’s deaf program, for example, offers after-school sign language classes. The support staff also get involved: The custodian teaches a guitar class, the cook teaches a cooking class, and a yard-duty supervisor teaches beading and scrapbooking.
“We are a small country school,” says Sprague, who’s taught there for 24 years. “And at a small school like this, everybody is important. It’s a long day for us, but it’s worth it. I definitely see the benefits of our after-school program and the way it motivates our students.”
Catledge serves as the school’s literacy coach one day per week, which staff say has improved instruction.
“I’m encouraged by the positive feedback provided by our school’s literacy coach,” says kindergarten teacher Marissa Gonzalez. “It helps me to grow as a teacher.”
Teachers meet twice a month for collaboration time with the literacy coach and spend a lot of time analyzing data to see what skills students might be missing. At Central Gaither, collaboration goes across grade levels since there is only one class per grade level. But teachers say the method is extremely helpful in building “bridges” from one grade level to the next.
Having parent liaison Araceli Ibarra on the campus has made a tremendous difference as well, say teachers. Parents are now more active in volunteering and are very supportive of the school.
There’s also a counselor on campus, as well as a nurse health aide who directs parents to resources. Some of the children had never seen a dentist before they visited the dental van that stops by the campus periodically to do health checks and make recommendations. By supporting entire families, teachers say the school is supporting the students.
“If our kids need backpacks or clothing, we make sure it’s taken care of,” says Catledge. “Most of us are parents, and just as we want the best for our own children, we also want the best for our students. We look at the whole child. Our kids are very happy here.”
Many rural districts — especially districts consisting of just one school site — cannot afford parent liaisons, literacy coaches and free transportation. But Central Gaither can do so through a combination of grant money and funding from the district, which has 20 schools. Still, because the school’s population is so small and funding is based on average daily attendance, it can be a yearly struggle to obtain funding for some programs.
But some of the most effective practices are priceless.
“We try to just be very positive every day,” says Magenheimer. “Just a nice ‘good morning’ and a smile here and there or a pat on the back can make all the difference.”
“It’s hard to measure, but our kids are excited to be here,” says Sprague. “And that sense of excitement carries over into academics.
