    
Location: Western Jr. Hwy, Greenwich, CT 06830 Basic Information Type: Intradistrict Magnet School African American: 11% Performance Of the 595 public elementary schools in Connecticut, Greenwich’s Hamilton Avenue school achieved the third largest increase in student scores between the 2004 and 2006 4th grade CMT. While only 47 percent of 4th graders scored within goal range in 2004, by 2006 this number had climbed to 71 percent. At the same time, Hamilton Avenue also secured a 17 point increase with the cohort of students who took the fall 2004 4th grade CMT and the spring 2006 5th grade CMT. Elements of Success Since taking over the position of principal in 2004, Principal Dr. Damaris Rau has worked to create a collective commitment to increasing student performance among the school’s staff. At the same time, the school has expanded its use of direct instruction to teach fundamental skills, while using data-driven decision-making to ensure that all children are making appropriate progress. With a facility problem forcing teachers and students to move into modular buildings, Hamilton Avenue has defined itself over the past two years not by where it is located but by what happens within its classroom walls. A relatively new class of teachers (three-quarters of whom started in the past two years) committed itself to doing whatever it took to catch students up to grade level. Hamilton Avenue tackled the challenge of reaching students who were falling behind with additional instructional time though before and after school programs and Saturday sessions, paid for in part through the federal Title 1 funds for high-poverty schools. At the same time, both school leaders and teachers worked together to make the time they were spending with students more productive. Individual Student Intervention Plans (ISIPs) were developed and monitored for student progress. Driving the plans forward are new systems for improving instruction grounded in the standardization of lesson planning, literacy checklists, and reading and writing templates. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hamilton Avenue, Greenwich