• Category 2

    Selected in 2020

  • Grades: k - 4
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 23
    Student Enrollment: 366
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 0.4%
    White/Caucasian: 70%
    Hispanic: 24%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 1%
    Native American: 0.4%
    Other: 4.2%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:18
    % Reduced Lunch: 35%
    % ELL Learners: 7%
    Founded: 2015
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Jennifer Martin-Palacios
  • CONTACT:
    3000 Stagecoach Blvd
    Rock Springs, WY 82901
    307-352-3265
    palaciosj@sw1.k12.wy.us
Stagecoach Elementary School
Rock Springs, WY
Our culture is all about growth and improvement."

Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
Stagecoach has a Title I Reading Night that includes a Chili Cook-off to bring our community together. We invite our local fire stations (RSFD), Sweetwater Paramedics, Rock Springs Police Department, Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Dept., WY Highway Dept. and Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County to participate. Each PLC and invitee makes chili for Stagecoach’s families to determine which is best! The winning PLC and entity get a trophy. Afterwards, we go into our cafeteria for Books for Bingo. Here the community workers engage in telling families about reading strategies , reading passages and playing games. The parents and students love when the first responders are present and participate in school events. Our Chili Cook-off is a warm, inviting event that brings everyone together just to have fun. It is a creative competition that also brings in our Title I events in order to support reading.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
As the leader of the school, I believe it is my role to bring the staff and students together in understanding our continuous improvement in the areas of academics and social development of our students. As a team, we must first understand and live our school values, mission, and vision. As a united team, we must have a laser focus on areas of concerns and align our short and long term goals. These goals must support our mission and vision that we have created.
I strongly believe we must have the ability to have meaningful discussions about our data and make changes that are needed. A culture of collaboration should include a team where everyone contributes to purposeful and positive effect on student learning. We need to have structures and process in place to support shared leadership in which ALL staff have a responsibility for student learning and engage in collaborative conversations which are focused on continuous growth to increase student achievement.
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
Using vertical articulation (common vocabulary and expectations) to ensure a seamless transition from grade-level to grade-level in language/grammar and in mathematical expectations.
All students will achieve one-year’s growth in reading
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
Proper implementation and usage of PLC and Data Teams. Choose growth for all students and celebrate it!
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.
Looking at curriculums, curriculum maps, report cards, and state testing has been a long process. We have been able to see what is missing in curriculums and needs support. We have also been able to look at what is different from curriculum maps and report cards in order to fit the needs of our students. Using data to understand what students know and where they are still struggling to create groups to meet the needs of all students and ensure growth. With that data reflection we have incorporated flex groupings in PLC’s. Teachers are always willing to share what works in order to make it better for everyone. This year, trying to bring our grade level material to be vertical with the school will show what is missing from each grade level and see how we can get our “Big ticket items” to shine through. All this work is to ensure our school-wide initiative for 100% of our students to achieve one-year’s growth in reading.
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
Critical professional developments have include PLC Training and Data Teams Training for all the teachers. Through these trainings, we have focused on using our data from Common Formative Assessments to the four PLC questions :
What is it we expect students to learn?
How will we know when they have learned it?
How will we respond when they do not learn?
How will we respond when they already know it?
Through this process we understand the importance of team collaboration, professional vulnerability, self-reflection, and goal setting as a PLC and with students. These professional developments have allowed us to take a deeper look into learning targets, differentiated instruction, high-yield strategies, and the need for vertical articulation. As a staff we also realized the need to bring our students into the data reflection and tracking process. Together we are finding strength in cohesive collaboration as a staff and staff to students.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
We run weekly data team meetings to ensure that each student is showing growth. We have created and implemented common assessments and common grading practices to ensure equity is met. Our teams strive to make sure that all students are growing regardless of their initial placement (above or below grade level) and create goals based on student needs. Together we review data and create interventions to target areas for growth. Data teams allow us to have to discussion about best practice and teaching strategies on how to help all students be successful and see growth. Data is also integrated into every part of our day. We use data binders with students to help them see where they are at and how they can improve their learning. Data teams are not only important to hold staff accountable, but also our students. Data is everything!
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
Our culture is all about growth and improvement. We use data to find out what needs to improve and work hard to make the changes needed. We use the mission and vision statements as a springboard for talking about how we can continue to grow. Our culture has HIGH EXPECTATIONS and it’s the expectation that everyone is present. Our changes have focused around staff relationships, which have improved over the past few years. We believe work is a fun place to be even when the work isn’t fun! This has helped immensely. Actively building staff relationships and encouraging professionalism among staff members has been vital in making progress. We are a family here. We protect each other, “have each other’s backs”, work hard, and strive to be the best!
Stats
  • Category 2

    Selected in 2020

  • Grades: k - 4
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 23
    Student Enrollment: 366
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 0.4%
    White/Caucasian: 70%
    Hispanic: 24%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 1%
    Native American: 0.4%
    Other: 4.2%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:18
    % Reduced Lunch: 35%
    % ELL Learners: 7%
    Founded: 2015
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Jennifer Martin-Palacios
  • CONTACT:
    3000 Stagecoach Blvd
    Rock Springs, WY 82901
    307-352-3265
    palaciosj@sw1.k12.wy.us