• Category 1

    Selected in 2019

  • Grades: pre k - 6
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 3,228
    Student Enrollment: 418
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 11.5%
    White/Caucasian: 78.2%
    Hispanic: 2.9%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 0%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 6.7%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:17
    % Reduced Lunch: 67.9%
    % ELL Learners: 4.5%
    Founded: 1921
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Melida Reeves
  • CONTACT:
    550 Williams Street
    Pendleton, SC 29670
    864-403-2300
    mreeves@anderson4.org
La France Elementary School
Pendleton, SC
PRIDE stands for: perseverance, responsibility, integrity, dependability, and empathy.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
We have implemented an annual outreach program. This entails three different events that occur during the school day where we invite community members to conduct sessions with our students. The three events consist of Career Day, Science Day, and Art Day. Schedules are created to allow students to attend multiple sessions for each event. These sessions may include demonstrations, presentations, and/or hands-on activities. The people that volunteer to come in are encouraged to incorporate academic standards and high interest activities. We invite professionals from local universities and colleges, as well as the local workforce. We view this program as a success because students are engaged, they are exposed to a plethora of career opportunities, and this enables us to build relationships and involvement with our community.
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
Our top two goals for next year are as follows: full implementation of PBIS and continue to strive for excellence.
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
We operate on a single motto that we possess schoolwide ownership of student success that includes achievement and social/emotional well being. All staff members take a vested interest in every child in our building. We embrace a mindset of a small community in that all staff knows the students' names and faces. We place value on interpersonal connections. Our staff works as a family, therefore we are able to create the same environment for our students. We have a student first mindset. We use the acronym PRIDE as a standard for behavior and academic success. PRIDE stands for: perseverance, responsibility, integrity, dependability, and empathy. Through this all inclusive perspective we keep achievement at the forefront while supporting our students socially and emotionally.
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.
Our school schedule allows a unique 50 minute period daily for every grade level. We call this period Reading and Enrichment (R&E). R&E looks differently for each student. This period creates flexibility for pull outs. For instance, the following are served during this time: gifted and talented, resource, speech, reading intervention, and OT/PT. If students are not attending class or sessions within these groups, teachers use data to differentiate for small group instruction in reading and math. We are able to include related arts teachers to push in and instruct small groups. Fountas and Pinnell LLI, Orton Gillingham, William and Mary GT curriculum, and Do the Math are some of the resources we use during the R&E period. We utilize every person in the building we can to help during these periods so that students are receiving personalized instruction. These programs, our data talks, and our "all hands on deck" approach assist us in closing the achievement gap.
Explain how ESEA federal funds are used to support your improvement efforts.
Our funding is used mainly to support early childhood interventions. We lower class size in first grade to provide our teachers opportunities for more intensive interventions within the classroom and to provide specialized small group instruction. We also provide a full day 4K program for our students that is an excellent way to provide early intervention to our students that need it the most. The 4K program establishes a solid foundation for our students when entering kindergarten. We use the funding to provide Orton-Gillingham training and Eureka math training which are two instructional programs that we embrace at La France Elementary.
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
We have PLCs once per week that focus on data and individualized professional development for our teachers. We discuss student needs, concerns, strategies and interventions to help students. The reading and instructional coach provide resources for teachers. It is a time of full collaboration between classroom teachers, special education teachers, interventionist, and coaches.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
School culture has been a major focus over the past two years. We have really focused on making our culture one of family. We also have embraced the philosophy of "they are all our children". This simply means that we love our kids collectively whether you're the teacher of record for that child or not. Every child has 60 adults in this building that love and care for them daily.
Stats
  • Category 1

    Selected in 2019

  • Grades: pre k - 6
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 3,228
    Student Enrollment: 418
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 11.5%
    White/Caucasian: 78.2%
    Hispanic: 2.9%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 0%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 6.7%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:17
    % Reduced Lunch: 67.9%
    % ELL Learners: 4.5%
    Founded: 1921
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Melida Reeves
  • CONTACT:
    550 Williams Street
    Pendleton, SC 29670
    864-403-2300
    mreeves@anderson4.org