Our school is helping all students develop the World Class knowledge and skills and life and career characteristics of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by developing students who make a difference. Our students continue to excel in reading. All of our grade levels exceeded the district and national average of students reading above grade level. We desire to increase this percentage every year. In kindergarten, 82% of our students grew as much as they should both in reading and math. In first grade, 63% of students in math and 60% of students in reading met their targeted growth goals. In third grade, 61% of students grew as much as they should in reading according to MAP. 66% of our fifth graders made expected gains in reading. In math, most of our students exceeded district and national growth target averages. 58% of our fourth graders hit their growth targets on MAP. As a school, we had one of the lowest percentage of students in the district scoring below the 33rd percentile in reading (25%) and math (28%). We also had the highest percentage of students in the district scoring above the 67th percentile in reading (47%) and math (40%). Our students learned so much in their core content areas. In addition, our Spanish immersion program successfully moved to fifth grade this year. All third through fifth graders transitioned from using iPads to HP laptop technology to improve their learning. They used Canvas as a learning management system to access needed content.
In addition to their world class knowledge, students acquired world class skills. They exercised their creativity in art as they modeled techniques and content of famous painters and sculptors. In music, upper grades students learned how to play the ukulele and African drums. In PE, all fifth graders learned how to ride a bike safely while all third and fourth graders learned how to swim and be safe around water. Our kids developed their critical thinking and collaboration skills as they solved problematic tasks in Math Workshop and in Science Investigations. The children were challenged to become critical thinkers about media sources in their library time. Our guidance counselor worked with our kids on learning how best that they learn and what they might need to do individually to study. All our teachers help our students know how to learn for themselves and how to work independently and cooperatively. These skills are vital as they move ahead in their education.
Beyond knowledge and skills, our students learned to become people of character. At RDES, we believe that students learn best by what is modeled by the adults. Good character is "caught" and not "taught." While we emphasize and highlight core values on a monthly basis, we want to see our students demonstrate good character every day. Even when a student has made a poor choice, we see our students communicate honestly and with integrity. We are amazed by their "Make a Difference" service projects that they choose to do. They care about themselves and others all around the world. As we looked at achievement results, we were amazed at the perseverance of our students who strove for success. Students work hard in our classrooms and demonstrate excellence. Over and over, we see our children's desire and capacity to get along with others improve. We are excited about being a part of the Winthrop Partnership Network which means we host interns and students in our classrooms so they can see best practices. Over the course of the year, we hosted many visitors who came to observe our Spanish language programs. In April, the League of Innovative Schools came to see our students and teachers. We also fielded seven Battle of the Books teams and our Science Bowl team tied for first place in the district competition. We are blessed to have building improvements including all new air units in our halls and new ceiling tiles throughout the building. This summer, the office area was renovated to provide better access to our health room. Security upgrades were also done throughout the building. At Richmond Drive, our mission is to equip all students with the skills, character and experiences in order to positively impact our world. We believe this is exactly what a South Carolina Graduate should look like. We develop learners who make a difference.
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