“(1) The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers, (2) The only way to improve outcomes is to improve instruction, and (3) Achieving universally high outcomes is only possible by putting in place the mechanisms to ensure that schools deliver high-quality instruction to every child.” – How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top, McKinsey & Company, September 2007
Ideal Elementary identifies, recruits, fosters and retains the best teachers in the Charleston County School District by providing:
- High-quality induction/mentoring/coaching/training for teachers, including an external network of teacher supports.
- Incentive-based certification and individual professional development opportunities.
- Common, purposeful planning time and on-going team-based professional development.
- Standards-based evaluation processes that provide intrinsic rewards for teaching excellence, including financial incentives.
- An opportunity for teachers to be part of an entrepreneurial and innovative elementary school model designed to rapidly increase educational achievement.
Most of our faculty members have a minimum of 3-5 years teaching experience and use that experience to drive student outcomes.
As a result, they:
- Set ambitious goals for student achievement.
- Individualize curriculum based on students’ learning needs and design homework to help them achieve their individualized goals.
- Provide materials tailored to each unique student’s needs, used diverse activities to match student learning styles, and incorporate student choice making to allow students to demonstrate results. (bullet added 3/24/11)
- Emphasize and encourage independent reading. (bullet added 3/24/11)
- Leverage classroom technology, including Smart Boards, to increase student learning, and
- Actively engage parents in their children’s learning, both within and outside the classroom.
Ideal Elementary’s highly-qualified teachers (aka Professors), use evidence-based practices designed to produce high performance from students. They consistently:
- Prioritize student achievement via high expectations and well-defined plans for instructional improvement. They also place a priority on school achievement goals and federal adequate yearly progress goals, and set measurable goals for exceeding growth targets for improved achievement.
- Implement a coherent, standards-based curriculum and instructional program. There is schoolwide instructional consistency within grades, curricular alignment from grade-to-grade, and classroom instruction is guided by academic standards. Teachers have subject-matter expertise in literacy and numeracy, and the curriculum materials in mathematics and language arts are aligned with CCSD and State of South Carolina standards.
- Use assessment data to improve student achievement and instruction. Principals also use assessment data from multiple sources to evaluate teachers’ practices, identify teacher coaching needs, and provide ongoing targeted professional development opportunities.
- Have access to high-quality instructional resources, sufficient and up-to-date instructional materials, and support for supplementary instruction for struggling students.
As a result of this focus on high performance, student achievement rises at faster-than-expected rates.
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