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Wilmer Elementary School culture is built upon trust. Students trust they will be in a safe learning environment where all faculty and staff members know their face and name. Faculty members trust they will receive support from administration to ensure each student’s need is met. School staff trust they have the resources needed to perform their duties. Parents’ trust their children will be treated with kindness and respect by highly trained professionals.

Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.

Wilmer Elementary host events throughout the school year to encourage families to be involved. We believe parents/guardians are one of the keys to successful student achievement. To encourage parent attendance we combined student performances with Parenting Day and increased parent attendance by 53%. The Media Center invites moms, dads, and grandparents to the school Book Fair to encourage parents to read with their child and to build home libraries. We host Grandparent’s Day and invite them to come to the school and visit the classrooms of their grandchildren. Our parenting center is stocked with a plethora of educational games for parents to use at home to interact with their child. Family game night is held to help parents learn how to play the games. Parents are invited Awards Day where students are recognized for their accomplishments. The counselor works closely with parents, students, and middle school faculty to assist in the transition from elementary to middle school.

Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.

No single activity can be credited for strengthening ties to our community. Efforts to involve the community have been initiated by administration, teachers and parents. Sessions are presented during Parenting Day to help parents understand the educational process, testing information, the Accelerated Reader Program and ways they can assist their students. Partners in Education, Student Council, and National Elementary Honor Society participate in various community services during the year. The community is informed of school news and activities through the website, messaging system and newsletters. Staff coordinate student performances for parents and publicly recognize students for honor roll, attendance, and character. They also coordinate Special Olympic Teams, Hour of Code,Jump Rope for Heart and a Mentorship Program for at risk male students with community organizations. Everything is coordinated to assure the community is involved and informed of all school activities.

Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.

When our current philosophy of high expectations of all students is not enough to guarantee the success of each student our change begins with the identification of needs that are not currently being met. The identification process is data driven. The success of each child is the ultimate goal of Wilmer Elementary.

What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?

Goal #1
Continue to use data to determine student needs.

Goal #2
Increase parent and community involvement in meeting student needs.

What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?

There is no magic wand in creating a successful school, it entails dedicated administrative team members, teachers, and staff. Aspects that can be replicated would be rigor in the classroom, on-going professional development, grade level collaboration, high expectations for staff and students, and maintaining clear, open communication with the faculty, staff and community.

Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.

Increasing student achievement is our catalyst for all programs and initiatives. This whole school commitment begins with each student, therefore meeting the needs of each student does not fall into a single program, it begins with identifying the need of the student. STAR Reading and Math reports are inspected to identify students at risk or in strategic need. Classroom assessments and continuous progress monitoring guide daily instruction through data. Grade level collaborative planning sessions are conducted weekly and include Problem Solving Teams, professional development, and data interpretation. Students identified at risk receive additional help from the classroom teacher, resource teacher and/or paraprofessional. The instructional coach is on hand to assist teachers to ensure that they receive the assistance and resources needed. All student assessments are carefully analyzed for gaps in learning, so the gap can be addressed immediately and a proactive plan put in place.

Explain how Title I funds are used to support your improvement efforts.

Title I funds are used to conduct a Bridges Program before the beginning of the school year in order to introduce new students to Kindergarten. A paraprofessional is employed to assist in the library and to coordinate weekly computer lab classes. Funds are used to pay substitutes for classroom teachers to participate in extended planning and professional development. Teachers are paid to work additional hours before and after the regular school day to tutor struggling students. Funds are also expended to present professional development that meets the specific needs of Wilmer Elementary faculty, staff and students. The largest portion of funds are used for teaching supplies and technology needs. We have furnished each teacher with a laptop, Smartboard, and a Smart document camera. In addition, we have new computers in the computer lab, a class set of IPad Minis for teachers to checkout for classroom use. Each classroom has three tablets and a minimum of two computers for student use.

Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.

Extended planning time
Weekly collaboration meetings
Key leadership placement and planning
Feeder Pattern collaboration meetings
Digital Literacy
Technology Training
Destiny Training
Six Traits of Writing
Sonday System
Common Formative Assessment Training

Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.

Data drives daily life at Wilmer Elementary. Data is used daily to make decisions by students, teachers and the administrative team. Students are taught, beginning on day one how to read their A.R. goals and percentages, both individually and on the classroom level. Students are held accountable for their A.R. goals and are trained how to use data to improve their reading skills and classroom performance. Teachers meet individually with parents and students to review and interpret A.R. data and test scores. All major classroom assessments are analyzed to ensure that each student masters the standards taught. The administrative team and teachers use data to drive instruction. The team analyzes data to determine success or failure of programs and initiatives to ensure the best educational process for each individual student is in place at Wilmer Elementary.

Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.

Wilmer Elementary School culture is built upon trust. Students trust they will be in a safe learning environment where all faculty and staff members know their face and name. Faculty members trust they will receive support from administration to ensure each student’s need is met. School staff trust they have the resources needed to perform their duties. Parents’ trust their children will be treated with kindness and respect by highly trained professionals. Students trust they will learn the skills necessary to graduate college and career ready. Examples of change are expectations that students self-monitor AR goals, STAR data, ACT Interim test results, classroom performance, end of quarter test and ACT ASPIRE test results. Every teacher completes a professional learning plan each year to assess their strengths and address their weaknesses. Each teacher’s experience is unique and every classroom is different; however, as a group we build a positive and trusting learning environment.

• Category 2

  Selected in 2015

• Grades: pre k - 5
  School Setting: rural
  Town Population: 11,874
  Student Enrollment: 632
  Student Demographics:
  

  Black/African American: 3.3%
  White/Caucasian: 88%
  Hispanic: 7.4%
  Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
  Asian: 0%
  Native American: 1.3%
  Other: 0%
  

  Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:19
  % Reduced Lunch: 83%
  % ELL Learners: 2.5%
  Founded: 1890
• PRINCIPAL:
  Timothy Dollar
• CONTACT:
  7456 Wilmer Georgetown Road
  Wilmer, AL 36587
  251-221-1780
  tldollar@mcpss.com