Geary Elementary Far From Failure

Geary Elementary School isn’t failing and hasn’t been for several years.

That’s the message Superintendent Sean Buchanan wants parents and community members to hear.

The elementary was on a list – along with 171 other schools statewide – that warranted additional support in raising test results for a certain subgroup of students. Additionally, the school had been struggling with chronic absenteeism.

Buchanan has long been a skeptic when it comes to using the state school report card for an accurate measure of the performance of a district.

Buchanan likened the using the results of a subgroup to having a small number – say 10 Asian boys less than 10-yearsold – who performed poorly on a standardized test. It is important to note Geary has no Asian population, so the illustration is theoretical. If that subgroup of children had a bad day, or there were other obstacles to that day’s testing, it doesn’t mean the children aren’t learning, or are bad students. It is similar, Buchanan has said, to trying to compare a photograph to a video or a movie. It is a snapshot that may not be representative at best and unfair and totally out of focus at the worst.

Geary Elementary scored a ‘C’ on the most recent state school report card. The staff went to work on what the Oklahoma State Department of Education deemed as deficiencies.

Led by principal Tasha Jefferson, the staff and faculty homed in on building relationships with parents and worked with them to develop ways to improve attendance.

The communication between the community and the school worked. Increased attendance resulted in increased learning.

Gaps in subject mastery were investigated. “Through the continued use of our intervention staff, we addressed and monitored the gaps,” Buchanan wrote. And the gaps began closing.

He gave the credit for the improvements to the hard work of the students and staff, the leadership of the principal and the buyin of the parents who make education a priority.

Now students are eager to enter the building and the social media accounts from the school often show children absorbed in hands on, innovative learning and document how the learning translates into student success.

Buchanan said he and Jefferson would work together to determine whether the school would choose to continue to accept the added support services and funding the state offers to schools with challenges.

The services include completing a continuous improvement plan while receiving monthly visits from the specialists. Many of the suggested improvements were already being addressed through the development of a professional learning community Buchanan instituted a few years ago. In this system teachers and staff share ideas and experiences to ramp up their teaching skills and create an environment where all students can achieve to their fullest potential.

Geary schools were taking part in statewide assessments this week and the first week in May. In addition to schedules posted on the schools’ social media account, there were also tips on performing well. Those tips included getting plenty of sleep prior to the testing and eating a hearty breakfast the morning of the tests. They ended with ‘smile.’

The smiles are likely because the changing atmosphere and culture of the elementary school are not something the state report card can put a grade on.