• Category 1

    Selected in 2021

  • Grades: pre k - 4
    School Setting: suburban
    Town Population: 67,200
    Student Enrollment: 389
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 5%
    White/Caucasian: 75%
    Hispanic: 8%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 3%
    Native American: 1%
    Other: 8%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:19
    % Reduced Lunch: 44%
    % ELL Learners: 8%
    Founded: 1992
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Dr. Karen Reach
  • CONTACT:
    2303 Indian Ridge Rd.
    Johnson City, TN 37604
    423-434-5267
    reachk@jcschools.org
Woodland Elementary School
Johnson City, TN
Building relationships with our students and families is essential."
1. Tell us about your school’s success.
Woodland Elementary School: Learn. Lead. Serve. & Repeat.
Woodland is an outstanding PK-4 learning community central to high quality instruction affirmed within a context of student leadership and community service. Most importantly, our teachers are deeply committed to the principles of academic excellence and collaboration as they work within their content teams to create standards-based and engaging lessons for all students. Woodland has been recognized by the Tennessee Department of Education as a Reward School for multiple years and has achieved high levels of student growth through our previous TVAAS distinctions. In addition to our academic success points, we are deeply committed to building relationships with our Woodland students and families, and we know those relationships are essential. Moreover, the provision of character education through our student-centered Leadership Links programming continues to serve as a tremendous support within our community of learning.
2. Talk about the greatest contributing factor(s) that promoted positive change in your school.
There are several particulars positioning our school on a positive trajectory. Most importantly, our teachers and support team members are greatly committed to our students' academic success. Our teachers work diligently to implement a standards-based curriculum through engaging lessons framed within a Learning Focused instructional model. In addition, a continuous review of our formative assessment data and supporting discussions is critical as we scaffold and differentiate instruction. Further, our emphasis upon the importance of reading and a balanced literacy program are additional keystones to our Woodland success. And finally and with great importance, building relationships with our students and families is essential. And it is through those united partnerships that our students are positioned for success. It is important to note that we communicate often with our families through parent conferencing, email, school messaging, and family involvement activities.

3. How has ESEA funding supported the school's success?
ESEA funding supports our total school program in multiple ways. First, positioning our student support team has been a tremendous keystone to our success. That student support team is specific to our full-time reading/math interventionist, two educational assistants, several academic tutors, in addition to our full-time Family/School Coordinator. Through the ongoing work of this incredible support team, our Woodland students have been consistently positioned for academic success. Moreover, through our continued ESEA funding, we have been positioned to purchase additional instructional resources such as classroom library selections, standards-based instructional materials, technological programs, and supporting technological equipment to provide additional layers of learning support for our PK-4 students. And finally, through the provision of our Professional Development funding, we have provided many opportunities for our teachers to attend state and national conferences,
4. What professional development activities were used to improve teaching and learning?
Woodland teachers are provided with opportunities throughout the school year to attend state and national conferences. Upon return, those teachers present their training highlights and instructional connections with our entire faculty. And through an embedded model of professional development, our grade-specific teams work together in a sharing of instructional best practices and content planning. That process is specific to weekly planning blocks and at least once per grading quarter as teachers work collaboratively within a half/or full day planning session. Further, our consistency with data discussions is an important process at Woodland. Those data discussions yield a great opportunity for teachers to share and focus upon instructional practices and plan for differentiation particularly in review of our class-specific subgroup data. And finally, our newest Woodland teachers are consistently supported throughout their first year of teaching through a mentoring partnership.
5. Talk about the cultural shift leading up to your school's success.
Our school culture continues to be grounded within Susan Kovalik’s lifelong guidelines and essential life skills (i.e., kindness, respectfulness, patience, etc.); however, a cultural addition to those life skills began to emerge as our teachers participated in a group book study central to the work of Sean Covey and The Seven Habits of Happy Kids. Following that process, we strategically designed a school program to work in tandem with our life skills. That program emerged through our teacher leadership team and was later entitled: Our Woodland Leadership Links. We moved through a progression of collaborative planning as we designed opportunities for students to learn about the meaning of each specific leadership link and to serve within our learning community. Further, through professional development in regard to trauma-informed and restorative practices, our teachers are well established and positioned to support our PK-4 students within a social and emotional framework.
6. How has community involvement strengthened your success?
Community involvement is such an important connection. Our community partners have been greatly supportive of our Woodland students through the pathways of monetary donations and instructional support. Most recently, our Student Council organized a Kindness Matters campaign and enlisted the sponsorship of multiple Johnson City businesses. Those businesses graciously supported this special campaign as we were positioned to purchase Kindness Matters shirts for all students. In addition, we have been most fortunate as several community partners have served Woodland as classroom mentors and reading tutors. Moreover, the great work of our Woodland PTA is such a tremendous support for our students and teachers. Not only do our PTA team members work consistently to plan for PTA meetings, events, and fundraisers, they often serve within our individual classrooms as instructional tutors, guest readers, and classroom event organizers. We love our community partners and families!
Stats
  • Category 1

    Selected in 2021

  • Grades: pre k - 4
    School Setting: suburban
    Town Population: 67,200
    Student Enrollment: 389
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 5%
    White/Caucasian: 75%
    Hispanic: 8%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 3%
    Native American: 1%
    Other: 8%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:19
    % Reduced Lunch: 44%
    % ELL Learners: 8%
    Founded: 1992
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Dr. Karen Reach
  • CONTACT:
    2303 Indian Ridge Rd.
    Johnson City, TN 37604
    423-434-5267
    reachk@jcschools.org