Journal Profiles Wilcox County School

Focus on reading, single-gender classes help school defy odds

Some would say that the deck is stacked against F.S. Ervin Elementary School in Pine Hill. On average, 96 percent of students in Wilcox County quality for free or reduced lunch. Parents are not easily engaged in school activities, and the school system itself is under-funded in a county with a small tax base.

But this small school is a real myth-buster. Ervin has met its Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals under the No Child Left Behind law for the past three years, and its students outperform many of their peers in better-funded schools with fewer students from low-income homes. In fact, in 2006, more than 80 percent of Ervin's students in grades three to six scored at or above proficiency in both reading and math on the Alabama Reading and Math Tests.

The school’s success is profiled in the most recent edition of the Working Toward Excellence journal. F.S. Ervin has in place the components to be a great school: a research-based reading program, a strong principal who is willing to do whatever it takes to improve student achievement, and a faculty that is data-driven.

"In the last few years, the faculty at F.S. Ervin has transformed the school's culture from 'can't-do' to 'can-and-will-do,'" says Cathy Gassenheimer, president of the Alabama Best Practices Center. " The school is an excellent example of what can happen when faculty works together to address the needs of every student.”

Working Toward Excellence, the journal of the Alabama Best Practices Center, is published to help professional educators adopt the best ways to teach. The fall 2007 edition, "Bridging the Learning Gap," focuses on three Alabama schools that prove all children can learn at high levels when taught at high levels.

F.S. Ervin Elementary serves 438 students from age 3 (the school has a Head Start program) up to sixth-grader. Ninety-eight percent of the school's student qualify for free or reduced lunch, and 99 percent of them are minority. Historically, the school struggled academically. Nothing the faculty was doing seemed to help, despite their commitment to their students.

Things started changing 2003, when Ervin was chosen to participate in the Alabama Reading First Initiative, a more intensive version of the Alabama Reading Initiative for schools that qualify for extra federal funding. The Alabama Reading First Initiative gave the Ervin money for a research-based reading program, ongoing professional development and a full-time reading coach. The funding, training, curriculum and support made all the difference, just as they have at many other schools in the initiative.

Ervin’s data showed a gap in achievement between boys and girls. As a result, the faculty members decided to study Michael Gurian's book, "Boys and Girls Learn Differently," together. Studying the book led Principal Richard Bryant and his faculty to give single-gender classrooms a try. In fall 2005, upper elementary students were assigned to all-female and all-male classes that were balanced across the range of ability, from struggling to high-achieving.

As a result, "borderline" students were challenged to rise to the level of their "accelerated" peers. Student test scores in grades four, five and six have risen accordingly. After only one year, the percent of fourth-grade boys scoring at the highest level more than doubled, nearly quadrupled in fifth grade and improved significantly in sixth grade.

"The faculty at Ervin no longer accepts excuses for why a child isn't learning," says Gassenheimer. "Armed with the ARI strategies and an effective reading curriculum, the teachers know that every child can learn, and that every child deserves to succeed in school."

The A+ Education Foundation in Montgomery is home of the Alabama Best Practices Center, which receives major support from Microsoft Corp. and the Wachovia Foundation. Since 1991, A+ has advanced policies, programs and initiatives that result in high achievement by every child in Alabama's K-12 education system. A+ believes Alabama's economic future depends on strong public schools.

KEY LINK
PDF (449 Kb) of the Working Toward Excellence journal's 16-page print edition, www.bestpracticescenter.org

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