• Category 1

    Selected in 2023

  • Grades: k - 5
    School Setting: suburban
    Town Population: 500,000
    Student Enrollment: 340
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 4%
    White/Caucasian: 52%
    Hispanic: 31%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 2%
    Native American: 1%
    Other: 10%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:10.7
    % Reduced Lunch: 50%
    % ELL Learners: 5%
    Founded: 1987
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Brian Casebeer
  • CONTACT:
    3663 Woodland Hills Dr
    Colorado Springs, CO 80918
    719-234-5000
    olive.mcrae@asd20.org
Pioneer Elementary School
Colorado Springs, CO
At Pioneer, we emphasize eyeball-to-eyeball instruction over programmatic interventions.
1. Tell us about your school’s success.
Pioneer had long been rated as Performance on Colorado's School Performance Frameworks, with total scores in the 60s. For the last three available years we have increased our SPF scores to 85%, 88.2%, and 89.6%. As a result of this improvement in student learning, we have earned the Governor's Award for Distinguished Improvement twice and the Governor's Bright Spot Award for student performance in Science. As measured by the Dibels assessment, we consistently support our students in achieving a schoolwide average of 80% proficient in reading by the end of the year.
2. Talk about the greatest contributing factor(s) that promoted positive change in your school.
We maintain high expectations for student effort and learning while striving to create a warm, supportive environment in which each student feels known and cared for. We work hard to create a professional culture that allows for deep implementation of Professional Learning Community (PLC) practices. With the support of content coaches, our grade level PLC teams focus together on student learning, and have data-driven discussions analyzing the effectiveness of their instructional choices. Our reading, writing and math coaches provide specific, targeted professional learning as well as instructional modeling, team teaching and small group intervention and enrichment. We have developed a rigorous Multitiered System of Supports that identifies student learning needs quickly and follows up with systematic, targeted supports in all core content areas and around social/emotional needs.
3. How has ESEA funding supported the school's success?
ESEA funding has allowed us to do so many important things for our students and community. We provide math and reading-based Parent Nights each year that support parents to better help their children with academic skills, as well as providing opportunities for all in the community to get together and have fun. At Pioneer, we emphasize eyeball-to-eyeball instruction over programmatic interventions, and we have used ESEA resources to add several instructional positions to our teaching team. We use these funds to provide reading and writing instruction professional development and purchase manipulatives and other instructional materials for reading and math. Importantly for the deep understanding and implementation of PLCs, we have accessed ESEA funds to take 15 teachers to PLC at Work Institutes and provide additional PLC planning days to all grade level teams.
4. What professional development activities were used to improve teaching and learning?
We have focused our professional development activities on the following:
- PLC culture and practices
- differentiation at the Tier I level
- increasing student engagement at all levels
- content-specific PD from our reading, writing and math coaches
- student social/emotional supports
5. Talk about the cultural shift leading up to your school's success.
At Pioneer, we are very aware that we serve a student population more impacted by poverty than any in our district. We are careful, however, not to use the challenges of poverty as an excuse. We developed a vision statement that is a driver and filter for all decisions - we want to be known as a school where "all students will learn at high levels; all means all." We have also improved our ability to frequently collect formative assessment data and use it in a non-judgmental manner to examine and evaluate the effectiveness of our systems and instructional practices.
6. How has community involvement strengthened your success?
Our Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) has increased in membership and activity and supports our teachers and school community in a variety of ways. Eagle Scouts have partnered with us on several school improvement projects. We have a strong connection with area churches who provide significant updates and maintenance to our campus, frequent meals to staff, and various forms of recognition and encouragement for the work we do. Through Office Depot's outreach to Title I schools, we have received generous in-kind donations that have allowed us to upgrade office furniture and provide teaching materials to all staff.
Stats
  • Category 1

    Selected in 2023

  • Grades: k - 5
    School Setting: suburban
    Town Population: 500,000
    Student Enrollment: 340
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 4%
    White/Caucasian: 52%
    Hispanic: 31%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 2%
    Native American: 1%
    Other: 10%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:10.7
    % Reduced Lunch: 50%
    % ELL Learners: 5%
    Founded: 1987
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Brian Casebeer
  • CONTACT:
    3663 Woodland Hills Dr
    Colorado Springs, CO 80918
    719-234-5000
    olive.mcrae@asd20.org