Warren County R-III elementary school principals highlight growth

By John Rohlf, Staff Writer
Posted 6/5/23

The three Warren County R-III elementary school principals recently highlighted progress the schools made this year and looked towards goals for the next school year. 

Rebecca Boone …

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Warren County R-III elementary school principals highlight growth

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The three Warren County R-III elementary school principals recently highlighted progress the schools made this year and looked towards goals for the next school year. 

Rebecca Boone Elementary Principal Steve Weeks noted the strides the school made in student reading levels and positive referrals over the course of the 2022-2023 school year. As of the May 11 Board of Education meeting, Weeks said about 70% of students reached their grade’s reading level or made a year's worth of growth. He noted the number was 5-10% higher than last school year. 

Rebecca Boone shattered their goal of writing 1,000 office referrals. As of this month’s board meeting, the school had about 1,500 positive office referrals. 

“If you by chance check out our Facebook page, you’ll see eight to 10 to 15 positive referrals every day on there,” Weeks said. “Our teachers have been amazing. (Assistant Principal) Dr. (Kathleen) King and our office staff have done a great job helping us process that.” 

The school also met their goal of working throughout the year to add student’s stories to the student information system. 

Weeks’ goals for Rebecca Boone for the 2023-2024 school year are for the school to develop a culture of success by having 75% of all students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade read at or above grade level or achieve one year’s worth of reading growth, by handing out at least 1,500 positive office referrals and to increase their 90/90 attendance for the upcoming school year. 

“We do want to add the 90/90 attendance goal back in there since MSIP (Missouri School Improvement Program) 6, they pulled the attendance back in there so we want to put that in there.”

Daniel Boone Elementary School Principal Stacie Goldsmith reported at the April Board of Education meeting that Daniel Boone was on track to meet or exceed all building goals for the school year. One of the school’s goals was for 75% of students to be reading at grade level or have at least one year or more of growth in reading. Goldsmith said after the first semester, the school had 55% of students already make six months or more growth and 68% of students already at or above reading level. 

Daniel Boone also had a goal to develop a culture of success through positive teacher and student interaction by earning 8,000 compliment coins to teach, reinforce and support behavior schoolwide. 

“We’ve already met this goal with over 8,000 compliment coins this year,” Goldsmith said in April. “And this isn’t even counting every smile, hug, handshake, high five that a student received every day.”

The school also had a goal to implement effective practices to support being a trauma informed school by each certified staff member participating in at least one professional development opportunity. 

“We are going to reach this goal by training our staff through one professional development opportunity,” Goldsmith said in April. “We’ve already done this also through the child advocacy training.”

Warrior Ridge Elementary Principal Brandy Patterson said Warrior Ridge also met several goals this past school year. They wanted to celebrate and recognize the academic excellence of students. 

“We do that weekly in our classrooms and then inviting those parents back in to celebrate their students has been a really big part of that celebration this year,” Patterson said. 

They have implemented tier two and tier three interventions by rebuilding the way the school uses their data. They have collaborative conversations at the data team meetings. 

Looking forward, they are starting their own student newsletters, which will go out in place of Patterson’s office newsletters. They will also start a new newscast at Warrior Ridge, following the guidance of Rebecca Boone, Patterson said. 


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