Before
Bermuda Elementary students leave their classrooms at the end of
the day, they recite a reflection together.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“Whatever I want to be, I can be. Whatever I want to see, I can see. Whatever I want to believe, I can believe. So today did I do my very best to learn?”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Bermuda, at 5835 Bermuda Ave., produces some of the best students in the Ferguson-Florissant School District, said Superintendent Art McCoy. With a 98 percent African-American student population and 85 percent of them receiving free or reduced lunch, the students have their share of challenges, he said. Yet a strong work ethic is not one of them.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“They do twice as many exercises in communication arts and math,” he said. “They represent excellence and equity because they are showing that it’s possible to close the achievement gap.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>On Friday, September 16, Bermuda Elementary will receive the Monsanto School of Excellence award at the St. Louis American Foundation’s Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarship & Awards Gala. The dinner and gala will be held at the America’s Center.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In the last five years, the school’s fifth and sixth graders have made huge leaps in their Missouri Assessment Program test scores. In 2006, 6.9 percent of Bermuda fifth graders were proficient in math, and in 2010, the number rose to 34.2 percent. The sixth graders equally went from 15 percent in 2006 to 42.2 percent in 2010 for math proficiency.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Ferguson-Florissant is one of the few districts statewide that has a majority black student population and is still fully accredited. Bermuda represents some of the district’s strengths, McCoy said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Bermuda
successfully
uses a strategy called “mastery learning,” where teachers meet
students at their learning levels.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>For example, if a third grader excels at reading, then that student will move up to the next grade level in reading. Vice versa, if a sixth grader is performing at a third-grade level in math, then that student will move to a lower-level class until the next assessment. Students are assessed every four weeks, said Alice Aldridge, former principal at Bermuda.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“It is a way of following the children rather the curriculum,” said Aldridge, who left Bermuda in May to become the district’s director of turnaround and compliance.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Janet Walker is the school’s interim principal.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Even the students who are placed in lower levels respond well to the program because they work hard to get back to their classrooms.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“They also have something to look forward to,” Aldridge said. “We don’t play it as something negative.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In order to make students lifelong learners, the teachers understand that they have to be lifelong learners themselves, she said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In 2011, 60 percent of the teachers had advanced degrees, which is higher than the state’s average of 56 percent. Aldridge has 30 years of experience, and last year she earned a doctorate from Maryville University.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>It takes serious commitment in the classroom for the district to maintain its accreditation and increase its academic achievement, McCoy said. On average, Bermuda’s teachers have 11.5 years of experience. That’s an increase from an 8-year average in 2006.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“Longevity is big here in Ferguson-Florissant School District,” he said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Parents have also shown serious commitment. Bernice Sanders has been involved at the school ever since her 32-year-old son came to Bermuda 27 years ago. Now her granddaughter attends fourth grade there.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“One of the main strengths at Bermuda is that they get the parents involved,” Sanders said. “They are very family-oriented.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Every year she hosts a Christmas ornament workshop, where each child gets the opportunity to make an ornament. The students take pride in it, Sanders said, and she enjoys doing it.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The teachers work with me hand-in-hand,” she said. “You can talk to the teachers. They don’t have any problem taking time to meet you before or after class.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Aldridge said the teachers and staff walk the neighborhood in the evening, making sure students get where they need to go. They work together like a family, she said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The power of working together,” she said. “It’s never an ‘I’ concept. We can accomplish anything collectively, and everybody’s input is important.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 125%; font-family: Verdana; color: black;”> The St. Louis American Foundation’s 2011 Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarship & Awards Gala will be held Friday, September 16, at the America’s Center, with the reception starting at 6 p.m. and program at 7 p.m. For information and tickets, please call 314-533-8000 or visit
“http://www.stlamerican.com/”>
“color: #457d9d;”>www.stlamerican.com
