Success Stories

Some schools have beaten the odds. They’ve made significant strides in narrowing the achievement gaps, attained proficiency levels that significantly exceeded the averages in their states, or improved student performance at an especially rapid pace. Follow the links below to read about the teachers, principals, and others who have made this possible.

     Some of these schools are truly exceptional. To inspire and encourage other educators in the gap-closing movement, The Education Trust each year at our national conference honors these high-performing schools with Dispelling the Myth Awards.

     These schools don’t offer simple answers or easy solutions, but several common strategies emerge from their practices. They provide a rich curriculum coupled with strong, focused instruction. They have high expectations for all students. They use data to track student progress and individual student needs. And they employ purposeful professional development to improve teachers’ skills.

     These stories and more have been collected in book form in It’s Being Done: Academic Success in Unexpected Schools (2007) and How It’s Being Done: Urgent Lessons from Unexpected Schools (2009). Contact rpitts@edtrust.org for prices for single books and bulk orders. You can read about Dispelling the Myth Award-winning schools and others by following the links below.

George Hall Elementary School, Alabama

Posted November 9, 2009 - 11:49am by rpitts



George Hall Elementary School is located in one of the poorest parts of Mobile. In 2004, when Mobile Public Schools ordered George Hall to reorganize and restaff, fewer than 50 percent of the school’s fourth-graders were performing at grade level in reading or mathematics.

North Godwin Elementary School, Michigan

Posted November 9, 2009 - 11:47am by rpitts



Like most of Michigan, the Grand Rapids area has been hit hard by the recession and suffered a further blow in 2009 when its GM stamping plant shut down. But just down the street from the plant, North Godwin Elementary School keeps its students’ options open by helping almost all of them—even those whose first language is not English— meet or exceed state standards.

Parks Middle School, Georgia

Posted November 9, 2009 - 11:45am by rpitts



Plywood covers windows on hundreds of foreclosed homes in the Atlanta neighborhood surrounding Parks Middle School. Deemed by the state “in need of improvement” for seven consecutive years, the school used to be just as forlorn as the neighborhood is today.

P.S. 83 Luis Muñoz Elementary School, New York

Posted November 9, 2009 - 11:43am by rpitts



At Luis Muñoz Rivera Elementary School, many students arrive at the school door already well behind academically. But staff members begin with what the kids can do and then build from there. And like their students, the teachers also are expected to learn and grow.

Roxbury Preparatory Charter School, Massachusetts

Posted July 21, 2009 - 12:51am by tvalentine



This middle school was designed to take students who have been ill-served by their Boston-area elementary schools and prepare them for the most prestigious college-prep high schools in New England. By eighth grade, the proportion of African-American and Latino students at Roxbury Prep who are proficient on state standards is greater than the percentage of white students statewide.

Norfork Elementary School, Arkansas

Posted July 21, 2009 - 12:49am by tvalentine



Rural and geographically isolated, Norfork, Ark., has limited experience with a culture of academic achievement. But with 80 percent of the students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, the community does have experience with poverty. This spring, the literacy scores of Norfork’s sixth graders were among the highest in the state, far outperforming many wealthier schools.

Graham Road Elementary School, Virginia

Posted July 21, 2009 - 12:45am by tvalentine



While more than 80 percent of the students at Graham Road Elementary School qualify for free and reduced-price lunch and nearly all are non-white (primarily the children of recent immigrants), every sixth grader met or exceeded state reading standards in 2008, and 96 percent met or exceeded state math standards.

 

Wells Elementary, Ohio

Posted July 21, 2009 - 12:54am by tvalentine



“Rust belt” is not a metaphor in Steubenville, Ohio, but a brutal description of the huge assemblies of corroded metal that hug the city. As they lose income, population, and hope, many such places find achievement in their schools begin to plummet. Steubenville, however, has been improving academic performance.

Osmond Church P.S./M.S. 124, New York

Posted July 21, 2009 - 12:50am by tvalentine



Osmond Church (P.S./M.S. 124 in Queens, New York) has achievement levels that compare well with some of the wealthiest schools in New York City, despite the fact that more than 80 percent of its students meet the qualification for free lunch. “Don’t tell me what a child can’t do,” says its principal, Valarie Lewis.

Ware Elementary, Kansas

Posted July 21, 2009 - 12:53am by tvalentine

Serving the children of infantry troops on Fort Riley, Ware Elementary is widely recognized as one of the top schools in the state. This, despite the fact that most of the families are not only low-income but battered by the trauma and displacement that comes from multiple deployments to two wars.