A Goal Realized

Feb. 1, 2010

“Congratulations. The deliberate, focused, and concerted effort on the part of your teachers and principal at Wamsley Elementary has paid off.” With these words, John Condie, regional support manager for the Colorado Department of Education, confirmed what the district was hoping to hear. After three years of hard work, intense focus, and extreme dedication, Wamsley Elementary School was officially removed from the state list of Title I schools in need of improvement.

Wamsley Elementary School Principal, Desha Bierbaum’s reaction summed it up for all the staff. “Yes! We did it! It has been a truly amazing journey and we are excited we are there.”

According to the federal program, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), a school which receives Title I funds and does not make Adequately Yearly Progress (AYP) for two consecutive years in the areas of math and/or reading becomes designated as a Title I school in need of improvement. Likewise, in order to be removed from the list, a school needs to make AYP for two consecutive years.

Wamsley did not make AYP two consecutive years in reading in 2005-06 and 2006-07. In 2007-08, the staff of Wamsley, together with then newly hired principal Bierbaum, decided to take action. Seeking immediate support, Wamsley applied for and was awarded a school improvement grant totaling over $150,000. Using this money, Wamsley began its road to reform by participating in an outside audit of their performance. The audit helped Wamsley identify its problematic areas and guided them in action planning for the future. As a result of the action planning process, they brought in a comprehensive mix of programs and professional development, which over the last two years, has helped them achieve their goal of making AYP and being removed from the list.

“Several consultants were brought in to help us meet our goals,” Bierbaum remembers. “We brought in Larry Bell, a motivational speaker for the staff, to instill in them first the belief that they could do this. Alan Dillon, then a consultant working with the Colorado Department of Education’s Reading First, helped us develop best practices for reading instruction in the areas of phonics, phonemic awareness, and fluency. Kelly King of the Gurian Institute, assisted us in thinking about our gender based learning gaps and brain based research of how students learn. It is these pieces we continually go back to.”

This achievement was no small feat for the Wildcats. In fact, there are 101 schools in Colorado currently designated as a Title I school in need of improvement. Wamsley was one of only eight schools this year to make their AYP goals and be removed from the list.

“This is quite an accomplishment for the students and staff of Wamsley Elementary,” noted Dave Smucker, Superintendent of Garfield Re2 School District at a recent celebration for Wamsley’s teachers. “The Board of Education and I are very proud of the work you have done here.”

Although this news is welcomed with great enthusiasm and validation of their efforts, Wamsley knows they continue to face an uphill battle. As a school, they did not make AYP in math last year, and if they fail to make AYP there for a second year, they will once again be designated in need of improvement, this time for math.

To this challenge, Bierbaum indicated that Wamsley is not resting on it’s recent success in reading and is applying some of the same principles it used for improvement on reading to gain AYP in math.

“We are doing focused math discussions twice a month as grade level teams, using our pre and post data to drive instruction. We also have started interventions once a week during our intervention time to re-teach those who need it and extend learning for others.”

For now though, the future seems bright for the students and staff of Wamsley Elementary.

“I see Wamsley as a high performing school regardless of demographics, social economic status, or mobility,” Bierbaum added. “We will be a school who will always be focused on the students and their needs, ever striving to be the best!”

- By Larry Brady