Fairview Primary Elementary students have been celebrating ever since they received their state standardized test scores in August.
“We really knocked it out of the park,” said Chanua Ross, principal of Fairview, a Jennings school that served pre-K through third grade last year and this year now goes up to sixth grade.
Last year, Fairview Primary scored 80 percent proficiency in math and 67 percent in English. Their scores soared above the state’s average of 56 percent.
Now they have more to cheer. Recently, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) recognized Fairview as a “highest performing” and “high progress” Title I reward school. Fairview was the only Title I school, or disadvantaged school, in the St. Louis region to receive the recognition.
The school’s high achievement is an inspiration to the Jennings School District as well as other schools in low-income neighborhoods, said Tiffany Anderson, superintendent of Jennings Schools.
“It signifies that a school that is struggling with the challenges of a high free/reduced lunch student population and underserved communities can meet the high mark,” she said. “It shows that it’s possible. If you have high expectations, they can do it.”
Anderson feels Fairview’s secret lies in the school’s strong parent involvement, long tutoring hours, curriculum and wrap-around services.
One thing Ross and Anderson have learned is that they have to be just as creative with parents’ engagement as with their students’. At every PTO meeting, parents receive a free 20-pound grocery bag from the schools’ food pantry. For many parents, this is a big help and makes the meetings a higher priority for them, Anderson said. Fairview was also the only school to install a washer and dryer on campus last year. Parents can exchange laundry loads for school volunteer hours.
“Parents are an important piece,” Ross said. “We need that piece. Our parents see that this is a school of high expectations.”
Last year, the district started “Saturday School,” where students who are struggling can come in for tutoring on Saturdays. Tutoring is also available every day until 6 p.m., and the school serves dinner for students who decide to stay.
Anderson said many schools in underserved communities find that students are far behind academically and aim the curriculum to meet the students where they are. The state recognition validates her belief that students will meet high expectations, she said.
In Jennings, teachers have been teaching at one grade level above, so third graders are learning fourth-grade curriculum. And even though second graders don’t take the state tests, they prepare for them.
“That means teachers have to be skillful at making sure students stay engaged consistently and instruction is moving forward at a fast pace,” Anderson said.
This year, the Fairview Intermediate students, grades four to six, moved into the Fairview Primary building, and Ross became the principal of both schools. In total, there are now about 450 students. Now as a joined campus, Ross said, teachers will be able to collaborate and share best practices.
“We’ve become one great big family,” Ross said. “We have the feel of one campus. The biggest thing is collaborating and working together.”
This year, Fairview also started a pilot program called the Gentlemen of Distinction class. This is a multi-age classroom for young men and led by a male teacher. Though only started this year, Ross said she has already seen an improvement in behavior and performance of the 11 students in the class.
“We are about changing lives and preparing students to be good citizens,” Ross said. “I definitely see an impact on their lives.”
The district also offers several family-support services, including mental-health counseling and a homeless center for parents. About 150 families in the district are homeless, Anderson said. It’s important to keep retooling and reworking how to address the needs of these families, she said.
“The biggest message to the community is that our students are just as smart as any other student in Missouri, and we can achieve at the highest levels,” Ross said.
For the students, the recognition validates this message, which teachers try to instill every day, Ross said.
“We always tell them that we believe in them,” Ross said. “Now the message is black and white with the scores. I don’t think it would have taken this for them to get the message, because this is the message they receive every day in the classroom.”
