A dozen miles from South Carolina's glittering coastline, schoolchildren
at rural Sampit Elementary School sit down every morning to a hot
breakfast. Rather than single out the handful of children who do not
qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, the school serves everyone
through the Universal Breakfast Program.

Following a federal desegregation ruling in the 1990s, school attendance
lines in Georgetown, SC were redrawn and Sampit, formerly a small, all
African-American school, was reborn as a considerably larger, integrated
school. In 2000, with federal funding, a handsome new one-story brick
building surrounding a grassy courtyard and playgrounds was built to
house the new school. Principal Maudest Rhue-Scott, the principal of
Sampit prior to the new attendance lines, agreed to take over the new
school.

Sampit had many challenges to overcome that first year. Not only did
Rhue-Scott and her staff struggle to set up the new building and train
new teachers (more than half were new that year), but they immediately
confronted South Carolina's new PACT (Palmetto Achievement Challenge
Test) assessment, introduced that year. Student scores fell below
average that spring, but since then Sampit has found its footing as a
high-achieving "Center for Transformation and Learning." As Rhue-Scott
explains, she has cultivated a "can do," "hard work pays off," and "no
excuses anymore" culture.

![](media/image1.jpeg){width="3.277165354330709in"
height="2.5818897637795275in"}

Every morning, after the student team finishes its broadcast of school
news and the national anthem, Principal Rhue-Scott announces the day's
100 Book Challenge champions. When students log sufficient time reading,
they earn Olympic-style medals color-keyed to the number of hours
logged. Collecting them---with hugs from Rhue-Scott and the curriculum
specialist---is a proud moment for students.

A supplement to the school's core reading program, Harcourt Trophy, the
100 Book Challenge program asks students to read for 30 minutes at
school and 30 at home daily; students earn one line for each 15-minute
segment. The program's leveled readers and rapid rewards program have
captured the students' attention, and many have logged six and seven
hundred lines. Classrooms are full of books and students eagerly remove
their shoes, sprawl across the carpet, and read. The 100 Book Challenge
program, published and supplied by American Reading Company, replenishes
each classroom with leveled books several times a year. Next year the
100 Book Challenge Pre-K Program will be implemented at the pre-K level.

In the music room, while most of the students practice songs from
*Annie*, the musical Sampit students will perform with the local high
school, four students read quietly on the corner carpet amid several
bins full of books. Similar book bins line the computer class, and the
computer teacher notes that students read to earn 100 Book Challenge
steps whenever they have extra time.

![](media/image2.jpeg){width="4.072047244094488in"
height="2.1338582677165356in"}Every classroom at Sampit has six
computers. The school has two additional computer labs; participation
begins in kindergarten through computerized programs to encourage
reading and math concept skills and continues throughout the grade
levels. Students can check out Play Stations to be used with Plato
Learning Achieve Now software.

Many classrooms have rocking chairs, and students take turns sitting in
the rocking chair with their books. A teacher notes, "This is the only
school where you see kids reading while walking down the hall." She
added that students read not just for the medals but because they are
truly "proud and excited by reading."

Each book is coded by reading level, assuring the teacher and student
that the book, while challenging, is not too great a stretch for the
student. Teachers are very positive about the program because it
encourages students to read but does not leave them feeling helplessly
lost.

Rhue-Scott explains how teachers monitor student reading for
understanding. "Students read at their "just right reading level." While
the rest of the class reads, a teacher works with students individually,
listening to them read and coaching them forward while noting their
skill mastery on a form correlated to the book's reading level.

Students also have opportunities to display their book knowledge in
large groups. A teacher prompts, "Tell us about this book---not
everything, but paraphrase---and summarize your book. And tell us why
you like this book." In full, careful sentences, students articulate the
book's topic, enumerate some supporting details, and explain why others
should read the book. The teacher ends each student's presentation with
a compliment and leads a round of applause.

Sampit also participates in the Accelerated Reading Program, a
computerized program that helps students choose challenging reading
materials. Students can check their comprehension via computer when they
have finished reading, and get a measure of their progress.

In the fall, the school will implement Project Read, a phonics-based
program, school-wide, having successfully piloted it with fourth and
fifth grade students this year. Teachers have been trained in Writer's
Workshop to help students approach literacy as producers as well as
consumers.

When one student had a hard word, he used his finger to cover part of
the work so he could "chunk out" the parts he recognized. Other students
said, responding to the teacher's question, "we summarize because we
can. Because we're third graders and we know how." A teacher consulting
with a student about a book for the 100 Book Challenge program coaxed
him, "These are strategies you need to know to be proficient. It's not
enough to just know the words."

![](media/image3.jpeg){width="3.692361111111111in" height="3.05in"}

Math is a favorite with many students. As one says, "It's more
active....You're going to use it to pay bills. And the teachers have a
way of teaching math that is an easier way than my parents." In a
classroom, students describe the strategies their teacher uses to help
them conquer math, such as math games, a "math roundup", or "math
attacks." Explains a student, "If I don't get it right the first time,
my teacher gives me one more chance. She says, 'Go easy, and you can do
it.'" Another math strategy the students cite is singing as a means of
learning their addition/multiplication tables.

Student enthusiasm about math seems due in part to Sampit's being the
only school in the district using a curriculum (Everyday Math)
school-wide. Adopted four years ago, with extensive professional
development, Everyday Math earns credit from most teachers, who point to
its implementation as the reason for improved math test scores.

![](media/image4.jpeg){width="3.8875in"
height="3.348611111111111in"}"Teachers are the heroes of our children,"
says Rhue-Scott. "Teachers must inspire them and capture them." She
feels a critical factor to a successful school is "getting a person
(teacher) connected to the vision," then building trust and
relationships---teacher to teacher, administrator to teacher, and all
staff with students. To build these connections, a few years ago
Rhue-Scott hired a bus and took her teachers on a field trip---down the
(mostly dirt) roads her students lived on. It was an eye-opener for
teachers, she says, and helped them understand why for many of her
students, "school is the best part of the day." Rhue-Scott has organized
the school to ensure it remains a haven. Everyone, from the cafeteria
workers to the custodial staff knows every child and keeps an eye out
for him or her.

"We have to make up for the lack of experiences," a teacher says,
explaining that Sampit teachers "go beyond being a teacher. ...You have
to play the role as a caregiver too." Principal Rhue-Scott says she
cultivates her teachers "with heart," and then places them where they
can be models for other teachers. In testament to Rhue-Scott's
leadership, the teacher turnover rate at Sampit has dropped steadily,
from 28% that first year in the new school to 10% today.

Teachers eat lunch with their students, deepening relationships and
reinforcing the school's character and behavioral models of respect.
Recognizing that teachers do not have time to network during the day and
can feel isolated in self-contained classrooms, Rhue-Scott has arranged
for all teachers to monitor students as they board busses at the end of
the day; teachers take advantage of this time to reach out to each
other. (Students are bussed or driven because the area is rural.) Bus
duty thus becomes a time of fellowship, with the teachers greeting each
other while the students hustle to their buses. Non-classroom teachers
check off the names of students loading buses or cars in order to keep
close watch on student safety, freeing the other teachers to network.

Only two Sampit teachers are not certified as "highly qualified;" both
were switched to different grades and are working on recertification.
South Carolina is a non-union state and teacher salaries are not as high
as neighboring districts. However, National Board-certified teachers get
an additional \$10,000 (\$7,500 from the state and \$2,500 from the
district) per year for ten years. Three Sampit teachers are National
Board-certified and others are working toward the additional
certification. The district offers tuition reimbursement for teachers
and staff members seeking professional growth.

Teachers demonstrate "highly qualified" in many ways. During grade level
planning meetings and Wednesday afternoon professional development
session, teachers report very little non-instructional chit-chat. In
every classroom, the week's learning standards are on the board with
references to the state standards. Each lesson plan has the same format:
unit, strategy/activity, standards, and assessment. At the end of a
class, teachers go around to each student, documenting students' work
and listing student benchmarks on the computerized grading system.
Frequent student-teacher classroom discussions build student knowledge.

New teachers in South Carolina are enrolled in the ADEPT (Assisting
Developing Evaluating Professional Teaching) program. In the second year
of ADEPT, each teacher is assigned a three-member team who observes his
or her classroom performance and continually provides feedback for
improvement. The team includes a school-level administrator, a district
representative, and an outside teacher. New teachers at
Sampit---currently, there are five---are assigned an instructional
mentor and a "buddy" teacher.

As part of the professional development strategy, each teacher is
allowed to attend one outside conference per year, and the Teacher of
the Year goes to an out-of-state conference.

Perhaps the most critical key to Sampit's success has been the school's
radical restructuring of the school week to accommodate weekly
school-wide planning and professional development sessions. School ends
at 12:30 every Wednesday---the other four days were lengthened---and
teachers meet to plan lessons together, share ideas, and take part in
professional development.

Three years ago, the lead teachers expressed a need for common planning
time, and Rhue-Scott surveyed the teachers and parents about changing
the school calendar to accommodate the half-day planning on Wednesday.
Only a few parents and teachers were skeptical. She worked with those
parents to expand the Wednesday after-school program and tested the
strategy. Today, Rhue-Scott says, teachers see the Wednesday planning
and professional development time as essential: "We cannot do without
Wednesday planning." Before, Rhue-Scott explains, "The teachers only had
hall-talk time. Now they have time to share, experiment, and discuss
effective teaching strategies." Sampit teachers agree that the common
time is useful.

![](media/image5.jpeg){width="2.25in"
height="4.505511811023622in"}Sampit has a curriculum specialist, funded
by Title I, who plans staff development by mapping out new curricula or
district trainings that offer onsite consultations. Consultants model
instructional strategies and conduct classroom observations, and time is
provided for consultants and teachers to reflect together, share how new
instructional strategies are working, and discuss the evidence of
improved student learning. The curriculum specialist and principal also
conduct classroom observations and determine professional development
topics and activities for Wednesday afternoons. One teacher recalled how
"hard it was" when the principal started coming in her classroom a
couple of years ago. The principal "forced team-work initially."

In addition to Wednesday afternoons, teachers also have 45 minutes daily
for planning; twice a week that time is spent in grade level meetings.
The students rotate through daily "specials," such as art, music, or gym
to allow for this planning time. During this time, teachers complete
weekly lesson plans according to their pacing charts or review missed
items on MAP or PACT tests. The district tried to do pacing guides
according to state standards a few years ago, explains a teacher, "But
we did not think that they were adequate and redid them."

"We do not just do our copying during our 45 minutes daily planning
time" teachers add. At a 4th grade planning session, teachers review
items that students from three classes missed on a math PACT benchmark
test and, with the missed items in mind, create common homework
questions. Even if few students in one class missed an item, that
teacher agrees to include it on the homework: "My students need to
reinforce that they know that concept."

The lead teacher---one of the three 4th grade teachers who is on the
principal's leadership team---facilitates the discussion, keeps notes,
and divides up the work to finalize the homework questions for the next
week. She also completes a common planning report form documenting their
work for the principal. Afterwards, the teachers discuss instructional
concerns, for example: "I need a strategy to teach a child about adding
three digits numbers; he does it like this....How do I teach him this
instead?" They offer each other suggestions, promise to check in the
next day, and finish by establishing their planning goals for next week:
in this case, the writing process and schedule.

The specialists, non-academic teachers, know how important this planning
time is for the teachers. Valued members of the professional team who
also contribute to students' academic success, specialists set goals and
benchmarks in their content areas and hold high expectations for the
students. Every Tuesday, they focus on PACT testing strategies in 3rd,
4th and 5th grade classes, helping students recognize patterns, consider
different ways to look at the same problem, brainstorm, and write.

In addition to a scheduled PE class, each grade level attends "early
bird" gym once a week---a privilege students can lose for poor behavior
in other classes. The gym teacher teaches physical skills, such as
catching and throwing, in a cumulative spiral so that students are
always challenged, and believes that "the specials get kids to school."
Students can earn non-academic awards in the specials, which is very
important for some students.

When South Carolina revised its state assessment test, it also raised
achievement standards overall: it is one of a handful of states whose
state achievement scores map closely onto its NAEP scores. That means,
explains Rhue-Scott, that "basic" in South Carolina equals "proficient"
on most other state assessments. By that measure, Sampit has made steady
and notable progress.

However, as Rhue-Scott explains, each year the state raises the
benchmark based on the NCLB (No Child Left Behind) goal that all
students be at or above basic (South Carolina's proficient) by the year
2012. Additionally, each year state standardized tests scores weigh more
heavily in the formula for AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress). To accomplish
these goals, Rhue-Scott explained her Data Driven Decision-Making (DDDM)
process:

Step 1: At the beginning of the year, teachers use the previous year's
test results to create a roadmap for grade level planning and
instruction. Student data are collected through a battery of
assessments: STAR (Renaissance Learning); Edutest (Plato
Learning/Achieve Now), MAP (Measures of Academic Progress, and PACT
(state assessments). With these data, teachers set targets by student
for the first 30-45 days of the new school year.

Teachers agree on annual school-wide improvement goals and set personal
goals, identifying specific areas to address or improve, that the
principal uses for teacher evaluations. The principal and curriculum
specialist summarize goals by ELA, math, science, and social studies for
the district and base staff development plans for the year on these
goals.

Step 2: At the end of the first semester, teachers identify students who
are not on grade level and determine interventions, including a time
span and statement of necessary resources, that should make measurable
differences in student performance. In grades 2-5, students meet
individually with teachers and set goals for MAP tests, aiming to be on
grade level.

Step 3: Twice a year, at the end of the first semester and the end of
the school year, teachers meet with the principal and curriculum
specialist to create lists of students' standardized test scores and
classroom grades (and attendance, teacher comments, and data of parent
conferences) by name and class, identifying anyone who is performing
below grade level. These data are used to set class goals---although
Rhue-Scott has teachers write the goals out, student by student, rather
than relying on printouts. Teachers can analyze the meaning better when
they produce the document themselves, she says.

![](media/image6.jpeg){width="2.796456692913386in"
height="2.263779527559055in"}According to Principal Rhue-Scott, another
major reason for the school's success is its ability to maintain
classrooms of no more than 16 students, thanks to Title I funding. In
small classrooms, teachers can focus on every child's needs, and serious
behavior problems are rare at Sampit.

Students are grouped by reading and math levels in their classroom
during Focus Group---a time for small group instruction with their
teacher or certified tutor. Each teacher has a certified tutor at least
40 minutes a day. The principal explains that teachers prefer to have
the "extra pair" of hands in their classroom rather than sending the
students to another classroom for Focus Group. No time is lost during
transition.

According to the teachers, high expectations are another significant
reason for Sampit's success. The administration sets high expectations
for teachers, teachers set high expectations for students, and students
set high expectations for themselves.

An after-school program feeds dinner to children who need to stay late
to accommodate their parents' work schedules. During the summer, the
school offers an enrichment program which both feeds children (breakfast
and lunch) and takes them on field trips to the beach, zoo, and other
interesting places. According to the Superintendent, the district feeds
1500 children during the summer.

During the school year, lunch buddies---relatives or businesses that
have partnered with Sampit---come at noontime for a meal. Santee Cooper,
a local electrical plant, is a big supporter of Sampit; through a High
Performance Partnership, Santee Cooper provides the school funds for
such items as landscaping, awards (souvenirs, prizes), special lunches,
and field trips. Volunteers from the plant, particularly men, serve as
role models and mentors for students.

Sampit demonstrates its pride through celebrations. In addition to the
100 Book Challenge program winners' daily announcement, Sampit
celebrates and gives awards for many things. Every month celebrations
include Birthdays, Student of the Month, Spirit Day, and 100 Book
Challenge parties. Bi-monthly, Sampit recognizes a Super Sampit Writer.
Every nine weeks the school celebrates Super Sampit Awards Day and High
Five Achievers. The Students as Authors celebration is annual, and
fundraising celebrations are held "as needed."

  ----------------- ------------- ------------ ------------ ----------------
  Even amid the                                             
  many                                                      
  celebrations,                                             
  there is an                                               
  attitude of                                               
  seriousness at                                            
  Sampit: Learning                                          
  is the work and                                           
  students are                                              
  expected to do                                            
  their personal                                            
  best. As                                                  
  Rhue-Scott says,                                          
  "At Sampit all                                            
  teachers believe                                          
  every child can                                           
  learn" and they                                           
  help each child                                           
  move forward. A                                           
  parent praises                                            
  the teachers and                                          
  staff members,                                            
  remarking that                                            
  "Teachers are so                                          
  proud of the                                              
  students." Fifth                                          
  Grade Assessment                                          
  Data---Percent at                                         
  or Above                                                  
  Basic---All                                               
  Students                                                  

                    2002          2003         2004         2005

  ELA               64            70           90           93

  Math              74            70           84           88

  Percent tested    96            96           100          100

  Fifth Grade                                               
  Assessment                                                
  Data---Percent at                                         
  or Above                                                  
  Basic---African                                           
  American Students                                         

                    2002          2003         2004         2005

  ELA               60            57           94           93

  Math              73            57           88           90

  Fifth Grade                                               
  Assessment                                                
  Data---Percent at                                         
  or Above                                                  
  Basic---Free or                                           
  Reduced Price                                             
  Lunch Students                                            

                    2002          2003         2004         2005

  ELA               61            64           90           92

  Math              100           92           82           86
  ----------------- ------------- ------------ ------------ ----------------