• Category 1

    Selected in 2017

  • Grades: 2 - 4
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 4,105
    Student Enrollment: 339
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 0.9%
    White/Caucasian: 87.2%
    Hispanic: 4.2%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0.6%
    Asian: 0.3%
    Native American: 0.3%
    Other: 6.5%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:23
    % Reduced Lunch: 37.2%
    % ELL Learners: 0.6%
    Founded: 1998
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Jodi Bennett
  • CONTACT:
    810 N. Highway D
    Webb City, MO 64870
    417-673-6085
    jbennett@wcr7.org
Harry S Truman Elementary School
Webb City, MO
Our entire staff, along with our parents and community, share in the dedication and belief that all children can learn and be successful.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
Our building truly embraces and focuses on the importance of parent involvement and of fostering positive relationships within our families and community. Throughout the year we are proud to offer multiple activities which are highly attended by both parents and community members alike.

Some of our highlighted activities include our Grandparents Day celebration where we average over 500 visitors in attendance yearly. This is a day that our students look forward to as they get to celebrate and showcase their school. Another extremely successful yearly event is our Title 1 Parent Involvement Night. During this night, students and families have the opportunity to engage in a variety of hands-on learning opportunities and fun activities, while providing parents with additional educational resources. Our end of the year fireworks night is our largest community event. This night celebrates our students and families hard work and yearly accomplishments. While this is a school event, many community members attend not only to show their support, but to participate in the various nightly activities while enjoying a spectacular fireworks display.

Other activities that strengthen our parent and community relationships include our Veterans Day assembly, monthly character trait assemblies with community speakers, career day, our school carnival, field trips, high school students that partner and act as positive role models for our students and our MUSCLE Program (Men Using Support Compassion and Love to Encourage).

Over the years, these events and activities have grown and have helped us continue in fostering long lasting positive relationships that we consider to be worthwhile and life changing.
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
Harry S Truman’s success can be attributed to our high level of expectations (for students, families, and staff alike) along with the ability to build and foster positive and lasting relationships. Our entire staff, along with our parents and community, share in the dedication and belief that all children can learn and be successful. We strive at making our school the best by providing our students an environment where they feel loved, valued, and are presented with many opportunities to experience success.
Explain how Title I funds are used to support your improvement efforts.
Title 1 funding has been and continues to be a crucial factor in the implementation of our program and in the success of our students. Our program focuses on helping students master the necessary skills in both reading and math through small group instruction using researched based intervention activities and strategies. Title funding also provides our building with multiple opportunities which help build and foster positive relationships with our students and parents. These relationships are vital to the success of our program and academic achievements of our students. Through Title funding, we are able to provide parents with materials, ideas, manipulatives, etc. which helps connect and build a successful and productive program for our school. We are very fortunate that our district also sees the importance of this amazing program as they help contribute significant amounts financially to make our program what it currently is.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
At Harry S Truman, we view data as a vital part of our daily instruction, overall student success, and effectiveness of our Title 1 program. At the beginning of each year, we assess all students in the areas of math, reading, and fluency which determines our baseline data. Over the course of the year, we assess students using quarterly STAR testing, Developmental Reading Assessments, State Assessments, district assessments along with daily formative assessments. This data not only helps us establish our small groups for instruction and intervention, but helps us individually address student concerns so we can ensure academic growth opportunities at every level. Data conversations are also a vital part to our success. Currently, our building meets to discuss student data during bi-weekly grade level data team meetings. During this time, our building administrator and instructional coaches (provided by our district) are often available for questioning and planning purposes. Our building has also initiated a strong SIT team (Student Intervention Team) composed of our administrator, Title 1 Teacher, classroom teachers, counselor, school psychologist, and speech teacher which meet periodically to discuss and document our struggling students and appropriate interventions which will allow them to make gains and be successful. Lastly, one way we use data is to effectively communicate with parents during formal and informal conference times. At Harry S Truman, we expect 100% parent attendance and participation during fall and spring conferences where data reports are given and discussed.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
Harry S Truman opened its doors in 1998, serving 250 students in grades K-4 from five rural communities. Over the years, student population has grown to well over 550 students, which in turn has generated the construction of an additional building in 2006 that began providing services for students in grade K-1. As a result of this expansion, Harry S Truman currently houses students in grades 2-4 and services 339 students.

The mission of our school district expresses our commitment to our students and to continuous improvement process. We are "striving to prepare today's youth to meet the challenges of tomorrow’s world by guiding all students in the acquisition of knowledge and development of skills that will enable each to become a productive and responsible individual”. We tell our students they can go anywhere from here!

Over the past few years, we have strived to provide our students with 21st century learning opportunities. We have focused on getting technology and devices into the hands of our students while teaching them the importance of digital citizenship. In 2017, we implemented a STEM lab which has encouraged our students to be innovative thinkers while providing them with opportunities to explore the 4 C’s of STEM (collaborative, communicate, critical thinking, and creativity), makerspace and the introduction of beginning coding skills. This has allowed students to work collectively as a group along with teaching them important life skills such as being a team member and critical thinker. One of our most positive and supportive building additions is that of a ship bell, which is mounted on a wall in the cafeteria. This bell represents our students hard work and ownership for their learning. At Harry S Truman, we encourage students to set daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly goals, etc. and when students reach their goal, they get to ring the bell. This has been a great self motivator along with being a great positive moral booster for our students. It’s amazing when you hear the bell followed by numerous students applauding as they celebrate in other’s successes.
Stats
  • Category 1

    Selected in 2017

  • Grades: 2 - 4
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 4,105
    Student Enrollment: 339
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 0.9%
    White/Caucasian: 87.2%
    Hispanic: 4.2%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0.6%
    Asian: 0.3%
    Native American: 0.3%
    Other: 6.5%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:23
    % Reduced Lunch: 37.2%
    % ELL Learners: 0.6%
    Founded: 1998
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Jodi Bennett
  • CONTACT:
    810 N. Highway D
    Webb City, MO 64870
    417-673-6085
    jbennett@wcr7.org