Growing as a Professional Learning Community (Dufour) based upon trust and respect for all stakeholders has proven to be the vehicle of change ensuring that every child receives high quality instruction and multiple opportunities for academic success and improvement. Project Achieve, a comprehensive accountability system, has been an essential part of the success of PLCs by providing focus lessons aligned to our state standards, data for progress monitoring of student performance, and half day collaborative planning sessions for all teachers. The key work of Forestville PLCs is to determine essential learning outcomes by developing, sharing and collectively analyzing common assessments and by asking questions about learning that improve teaching practices in every classroom. Most importantly, PLCs are the foundation of our pyramid of intervention for accelerating student learning within the regular classroom.

Embracing the school-wide Title I model has become the framework for closing the achievement gap. Title I flexible funding has allowed us to employ a well rounded Core Intervention Team that provides targeted intervention in reading, math, and writing during the instructional day. The team actively supports classroom teachers by meeting with them individually, discussing student progress in PLCs, developing units of study based on NC Standard Course of Study, modeling lessons in the classroom and by conducting staff development on best teaching practices. Success Builders, after school tutoring, and Saturday Camps have also been provided by Title I funds. The master schedule has been carefully crafted to incorporate time for intervention and uninterrupted blocks of time for reading and mathematics instruction.

The key focus of staff development has been to provide teachers with the tools and resources to support student learning. A staff-needs assessment, created by the school improvement team, was utilized to structure a menu choice of sessions for teachers and assistants. Thinking Maps (Buckner) and Write From the Beginning (Hyeres, Yeager) workshops were held to provide the building blocks of a consistent K-5 writing program. FRES is a pilot school for Building Thinking Skills (Parks, Black), and has had extensive learning styles training (So Each May Learn, Moirao) to make creative problem solving and analytical thinking skills accessible to all students. Participating in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey) training resulted in helping students with setting and achieving realistic academic and personal goals. Completing workshops in Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (Echevarria, Vogt, Short) provided teachers with planning and instructional strategies that ensure all students have access to the curriculum regardless of language barriers. Targeted, specific staff development for a highly qualified staff has directly impacted successful student academic growth.
The partnership between family, school, and community is valued and recognized as an essential ingredient in closing the achievement gap. When students, parents and teachers work together as partners, everyone benefits from the outcome. As members of the National Network of Partnership Schools and Partnership for Educational Success, we have enabled families to develop focused family empowerment strategies. Our broad range of outreach efforts includes conducting home visitations and multi-lingual parent-teacher conferences, as well as hosting parent education nights. The Forestville Winter and Spring Carnivals of Learning offer a fun evening for parents and children to experience hands-on problem-solving activities, to enjoy a healthy meal, and to take home packets of practical learning activities and materials. Although we are nestled in a small rural community, students at Forestville have learned that their actions can make a positive global impact. Grade level teams sent care packages to soldiers stationed overseas, designed and created ceramic bowls participating in the Empty Bowls Project for world hunger, and raised money for Dimes for Diabetes research. On a local level, we have collected food and clothing for homeless shelters, adopted groups of grandparents at local nursing homes, donated stuffed animals to local fire departments, and have annually co-hosted the Knightdale Community Health Fair. The community has given back to our school through the Helping Hands Mentoring program, 4-H Club, and the Knightdale High School tutoring program. Parent volunteers work throughout the school assisting at-risk students in core academic areas and providing support for classroom teachers.