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Story posted February 26, 2009. 

Results:
• Between fall 2005 and fall 2008, the percent of students scoring proficient or better in mathematics on the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) nearly tripled, increasing from 14% to 40% 
• In fall 2008, 50% of students scored proficient or better in reading on the NECAP, up from 29% in fall 2005
• Feinstein's growth well outpaced state-wide growth in both subjects

Named after philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein, who is said to have established the first-ever public high school with community service as its theme, Alan Shawn Feinstein Elementary at Broad Street in Providence, Rhode Island, serves a largely Hispanic population, many of whom have emigrated from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Of the nearly 400 children enrolled, 90 percent qualify for subsidized meals, an indicator of the school's poverty level.

To serve these students, Principal Christine Riley and her staff  came up with a recipe for student success:

1. Use large measures of data-driven instruction, research-based teaching practices and uninterrupted time for reading;

2. Combine ingredients with high-quality teaching; and

3. Heat with high expectations until 100-percent student proficiency is achieved.

It's a surefire plan that has led to impressive gains at the school over the past several years. Students at Feinstein-where 1 in 4 speaks English as a second language-have made big gains in reading and math proficiency on the New England Common Assessment Program (the standardized exam adopted by Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont). Between fall 2005 and fall 2008, the percentage of students proficient in reading jumped from 29 to 50 percent, and the school saw even bigger increases in mathematics proficiency, from 14 to 40 percent. [These gains well outpaced those achieved by the state as a whole, which improved approximately 10% in both subjects.]  "We have refined how we work as a school, so we really have a true professional learning community in which everybody's efforts are focused on student achievement," says Riley.

That includes honing common planning time into a laser-like focus on data that revealed gaps in student performance on state, district and school assessments. Called "grade-level support meetings," these weekly sessions involve teachers, instruction coaches and the principal following a goal-oriented cyclical process. Moving through several stages, they begin by examining student work and test scores, then identify instructional strategies and interventions needed, and finally evaluate progress toward desired goals. The collaboration, says Riley, has provided an opportunity for continuous teacher learning. "The primary work of teachers in not just to teach but also to grow professionally."

Also credited for change at Feinstein, which made the greatest achievement gains in the Providence Public School District in 2007, is a Reading First grant from the U.S. Department of Education, which provided funding for a full-time reading coach, materials, and training on scientifically proven methods of instruction. "It's not just something that someone threw on paper and decided that this is a fun activity to do," says teacher Colleen Driscoll, about the program's research-based strategies. "It has reasoning behind it. It has that rigor for the kids." Feinstein was part of the first cohort of schools in 2004 to receive the grant, which is designed to improve the literacy skills of disadvantaged students in grades K-3.

Parent Julie Mingoes was so impressed by how quickly and skillfully her son learned to read in kindergarten last year that she is now transferring her daughter to Feinstein to begin third grade there this fall. She says her son is always calling on her to read with him. "I'm just excited that he's excited. He can't wait to start first grade."

For additional information, please contact:
Christine Riley
Principal, Alan Shawn Feinstein Elementary at Broad Street
401-456-9367

This story came to LFA's attention after being published in the United States Department of Education newsletter The Achiever, July/August 2008, Vol. 7, No. 4.

Click here to access the article as contained in the US DOE website.

Story adapted and updated by Public School Insights, with school-level data available from the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and NECAP.