Schools shine with news of A's

Belleair Elementary in Clearwater and Southern Oak in Largo are shocked, but pleased, that they shed their D's.

By LORRI HELFAND

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 30, 2000

Principal Marcia Gibbs couldn't wait until she got to her office at Belleair Elementary to spread the news.

On Wednesday, the state's grades for schools were announced, and her school received a great report card.

Almost in tears, cell phone in hand, Gibbs called Area II Superintendent Lewis Williams. Then she got to school and, with the help of assistant principal Thea Jilderda, she called everyone on staff.

Phones were ringing off the hook all day.

Belleair Elementary in Clearwater and Southern Oak Elementary in Largo were district standouts, the only two schools leaping from a D grade to an A grade. At both schools, teachers and principals were in shock Thursday, eager to discuss just what they did right. They basked in their good fortune while remembering last year's disappointment.

"We felt pretty certain that we were going to improve," Southern Oak principal Robert Ammon said. However, he said, he was surprised at the amount of the improvement.

He also made sure to get the word out.

"I thought he was joking," Carol Cook, a fourth-grade teacher, said. "I asked him two or three times, "Are you serious?' "

One reason Southern Oak improved, according to Cook, was because the school incorporated reading strategies in all class work. "If kids are reading," Cook said, "they are learning."

The "Razzle Dazzle" reading program, which requires students to read 20 minutes each evening was especially effective, he said.

For both schools, last year's math scores hurt their grades. This year, Southern Oak's math scores jumped 11 points, and Belleair's jumped 27.

Southern Oak fifth-grade teacher Barbara Chapman thought the clincher was extra math instruction. Since January, she said, she taught math twice a day in order to get to material not usually covered by test time.

"I saw the math grades and I was thrilled. Oh, how wonderful," said Sedra Bostick, a fifth-grade teacher at Belleair.

Bostick felt the No. 1 factor was that she focused on solutions rather than problems. Instead of asking students for the right answer, she would ask them how they came to their answers. "They stopped worrying about if they got it right and started thinking about how they did it," she said.

Bostick said she asks students to take a high level of responsibility in the classroom, a program called classroom community. Students set their own goals, took responsibility for keeping the room organized and had input on various assignments.

Leslie Mankin, a fifth-grade teacher at Southern Oak, said she was amazed by the jump in grades this year. "We didn't do that much more," she said, "except put more math into the program."

Belleair PTA president Gayle Durrett, whose children are in second and fifth grade, was also impressed by the news. "I was so tickled," Durrett said, "I can't wait to tell my kids."

Both principals spoke of the stigma attached to last year's grade. "That was devastating," Gibbs said, "We knew we weren't a D school. We didn't like that and we didn't want to stay there."

Last year's results were difficult, Ammon said. But, he said, "we decided not to cry about it or try to make excuses." Instead he said, he and his staff decided to brainstorm and come up with strategies for improvement.

"It will be nicer starting school this year off with an A," he said. "Last year, teachers were so demoralized.

"Our goal now is to maintain," Ammon said. For next year, his school plans to isolate what was effective and implement those programs again. He also plans to help schools that didn't do as well.

"Any of us can be in that position and we need to help each other out."

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