• Category 3

    Selected in 2023

  • Grades: k - 5
    School Setting: suburban
    Town Population: 3,841
    Student Enrollment: 524
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 1%
    White/Caucasian: 85%
    Hispanic: 2%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 5%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 7%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:16
    % Reduced Lunch: 53.5%
    % ELL Learners: 4%
    Founded: 1953
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Stephanie Henrich
  • CONTACT:
    401 South Jaycee St
    Chandler, IN 47610
    812-925-6021
    shenrich@warrick.k12.in.us
Chandler Elementary School
Chandler, IN
Our teachers believe whatever it takes, our kids are worth it!
1. Tell us about your school’s success.
The success at Chandler Elementary all starts with the care, love, time, and energy that goes into fostering the whole child. This atmosphere cannot be described; it has to be felt. The top three things about our school that have made a significant impact with our students would be: focusing on the whole child through SEL, academic RTI with focused interventions and continuous progress monitoring, and our family/community collaboration. Implementation of our regulation room, five point individual emotional scales, and calming corners, alongside our remediation small groups and tier 3 intervention groups have fueled our success. Our school takes great pride in its innovative approach to meeting students' needs through the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), which is deeply rooted in our commitment to educating the whole child and fostering strong family and community involvement.
2. Talk about the greatest contributing factor(s) that promoted positive change in your school.
What allows us to create an environment that fosters learning and develops growth? It begins with relationship building. Our goal is to educate the heart as equally as the mind. SEL provides a platform to help transform our students into regulated, caring individuals who have the tools to be successful in challenging situations. Our SEL team shares ABC behavior forms and SRSS/ACES data which drives our daily morning meetings and SEL curriculum. The master schedule has allowed time to deconstruct state standards and dive into pedagogy. Teachers meet weekly as a team to disaggregate data and information about student growth/progress. Strong co-teaching teams allow for best practices to be implemented, which ensures that all students have the opportunity for growth. Teachers respond to student needs based on formative assessments. Through our SEL curriculum we teach our students to persevere and use grit to dive into academics that are challenging, therefore educating the whole child.
3. How has ESEA funding supported the school's success?
Chandler prioritizes ESEA funds for staffing of highly effective teachers. We believe our greatest resource is dedicated, caring teachers providing lessons that are data driven and academically ambitious to challenge the students. Our schedule has been intentionally created to allow for all our core classes to be streamlined while providing small group intervention time using all staff-assistants, classroom, Title1, and special teachers. We also set aside funds for parent involvement including our title team orchestrating an amazing literacy night each year that allows hundreds of students to receive new books and complete literacy based activities together as a family. A resource cart with educational materials is provided for parents to help their child at home. To prevent learning loss, our summer is full of academic and personal connections through summer school, high dosage tutoring, and parent involvement activities that keep us connected almost 365 days a year.
4. What professional development activities were used to improve teaching and learning?
Various teams work collectively in our building to improve our school. Weekly meetings are held with the behavior and academic committees. When these data driven teams meet, they collaboratively focus on analyzing school wide data and how to respond to the individual needs of students, which then drives relevant professional development. This collaboration has necessitated staff PD in the following areas: social and emotional learning, trauma informed practices, neuroscience, MTSS, Orton Gillingham Approach, conceptual math training with best practices, standards unpacking, and formative assessment training. The master schedule has been a crucial component to allow our grade levels, along with co teachers and support staff, to meet together to implement professional development. The staff supports one another with the sharing of strategies and resources. Our teachers believe whatever it takes, our kids are worth it!
5. Talk about the cultural shift leading up to your school's success.
As society shifted, many students entered school dysregulated with emotional and behavioral needs. We adapted by using a whole child approach-not solely focused on academics. Bringing in SEBAs, BCs, Youth First, and mental health professionals, the staff learned about neuroscience, self regulation, and student self awareness. A successful SEL program was born. A push for a strong academic RTI team to implement the science of reading in our intervention programs, created a school environment that was bound for success. Our work with a direct, explicit, cumulative, multisensory approach rooted in the Orton Gillingham method began after our staff pursued PD in this area, training even our assistants. We are seeing the success of these foundational skills as those student groups enter our upper grades and begin participating in state standardized testing. These programs have shifted our students to self regulated individuals that can then focus on academic demands.
6. How has community involvement strengthened your success?
Chandler Elementary is a family, composed of our students, staff, parents, and community. This creates a powerful force that works to make Chandler the heartbeat of the community. As a team, we work collaboratively to personally connect with each student and family, through family literacy nights with outstanding attendance, summer scholars program, high dose tutoring, family festivals, and strong parent-teacher teams. Chandler is blessed to be supported by a community that strengthens our instruction by providing programs through Youth First, Southwestern Behavioral Healthcare, AARP, YMCA, Kindergarten Camp, and career lead connections from our JA leaders, resource officers, and vital stakeholders. When the community sees a need that the school has identified it wraps its arms around the Chandler Vikings in partnership. We work as a team to support and encourage success, and watch as our students grow in an environment of love and support.
Stats
  • Category 3

    Selected in 2023

  • Grades: k - 5
    School Setting: suburban
    Town Population: 3,841
    Student Enrollment: 524
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 1%
    White/Caucasian: 85%
    Hispanic: 2%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 5%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 7%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:16
    % Reduced Lunch: 53.5%
    % ELL Learners: 4%
    Founded: 1953
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Stephanie Henrich
  • CONTACT:
    401 South Jaycee St
    Chandler, IN 47610
    812-925-6021
    shenrich@warrick.k12.in.us