School's improvement leads to a dance party

The gymnasium at Jefferson Elementary School on Wednesday afternoon was filled with dancing and laughter as about 150 students celebrated their success in the ABC Today program.

The program, started by Big Brothers Big Sisters, was implemented during the 2013-2014 school year by the ABC Today Network, a partnership of the Cape Girardeau School District and other community organizations.

ABC stands for attendance, behavior and classroom performance, which includes reading and math. As part of the program, data are tracked quarterly in the four categories.

Students succeeding in all areas are deemed green; those succeeding in three are yellow; and zero to two are red. They must miss fewer than 2.5 days of school per quarter, have one or fewer disciplinary referrals and earn a C or better in reading and math.

At the end of each quarter, the green students are invited to a celebration, such as Wednesday's dance party or last quarter's ice cream social.

KeShaunna Jones gets pulled around the gym by her classmates Wednesday at Jefferson Elementary School during a dance party for their success in the ABC Today program. (Glenn Landberg)

The school's kindergarten through fourth-grade enrollment is 308, and of those students, 51 percent were green for the third quarter -- an increase from the 34 percent green in the first quarter of 2013-2014, school officials said.

Jefferson Elementary is the first to go school-wide with the program. Principal Christa Turner said Jefferson has had a strong relationship with Big Brothers Big Sisters for a long time.

"So it was a natural fit for us to be the pilot school for the schoolwide program," she said.

Turner said the network meets quarterly to discuss the data, and with the exception of one quarter when the numbers saw a slight decrease, the students' success rate has risen.

"If we can show continued success in those four areas, those students are more likely to be successful in future education and also life experiences," she said. "It is nice we have big-picture data like this and not just test score data to look at. Test scores are important, but this is another way that it's not just about the test scores, it's about all four areas."

Attendance and parent involvement have been two of the focuses for the network this year.

Jamie Jones, a parent liaison for the school, said the students can't be taught if they don't attend.

"Attendance is so important," she said. "We have so many that get up on their own and get to that bus stop and get here because they want to come."

Ashley Beggs, executive director of Cape Girardeau Big Brothers Big Sisters, said the hope with the program is to learn from the Jefferson Elementary model before moving into an expansion opportunity.

"It's not out of the question, but we're just in the second year and are still learning," Beggs said. "The program itself, we will always be learning and always working toward student success."

Each year, the organization may find that focuses change, Beggs said.

"What I see as the future of ABC Today is really continuing to go to work," she said. "And just really trying to find out how we can best support the great work that staff, principals and administration do at that school."

klamb@semissourian.com

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