Principal tells PWSD board elementary campus shows growth on ATLAS results

The Palestine-Wheatley School Board this week heard updates from elementary principal Tiffany Caldwell on ATLAS test results at the campus along with the establishment of a food pantry, called the Patriot Pantry, within the district. According to Caldwell, the ATLAS tests focus on math, science and English language arts to test the abilities of students. "You have a copy of our data and I know it is a lot to look at," said Caldwell. "Part of our letter grade is based on achievements, overall growth and the growth of the lowest 25%. It is based on these ATLAS scores for third through sixth grade classes. So, we have math, science and ELA, beginning and middle, and then the percentage of change." Caldwell explained that while the third grade, at the beginning of the year, had less than favorable scores, the scores have already increased 23%. "Let's look at math," said Caldwell. "Third grade is the first one you will see. Our level one started off at 57% and that is a lot. That is not a good thing. Middle of the year, this is not our summit, we still have the end of the year stuff. So, middle of the year, they have already brought up 23% of that level one group. That is huge growth. That is not just going to affect our achievement, it is going to affect overall growth and the bottom 25% growth all at one time to improve that letter grade." Caldwell told that board that student scores all moved from levels one and two into level three. "If we look at level three, it went up 16%," said Caldwell. "We didn't just move the red, we moved yellow into that level three as well. When it comes to achievement, we are only going to get points for level three and level four kids for our letter grade." According to Caldwell, the fourth grade science teacher at the elementary school, a first year teacher, showed the most growth overall on the campus. “Look at fourth grade at the middle of the year and beginning of the year in science," said Caldwell. "Our fourth grade science teacher is a new teacher. She is a first-year teacher, fresh out of college. She has the greatest growth overall for our campus to move 12% down in level two, which is what we want. We want levels one and two to go down and levels three and four to go up. She made huge gains in that fourth grade class." In other business, Caldwell told the board the school was awarded a $1,450 Giving Tree Grant through the St. Francis County Community Foundation to begin a food pantry at the elementary campus. "For our educator achievement, Alyssa Bailey is our counselor and she is a first-year counselor," said Caldwell. "We have had a lot of students who are considered homeless, who get little bags of food each Friday. We also have other kids who are not considered homeless that need some support. She received $1,450 to purchase food for what she is calling the Patriot Pantry. This is to help students who are not classified homeless, but still need support – families and students." "With that food, I am assuming that is dry food," said board president Micah Jo Hilsdon. "Yes," Caldwell responded. "Will we also accept donations?” asked Hilsdon. According to Caldwell, the pantry will not just be available to students at the elementary, but at the high school as well. "Absolutely," said Caldwell. "She has a fundraiser that she is going to share with the elementary as well, but the high school can also use the pantry. Those funds are not just for our kids. We have several closets that we are going to use to store it in right now because we are limited on space, but if we need to store some over here for the high school, we can."

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