This St. Clair County school closed an achievement gap by over 14%. Here’s how

In late September, Lebanon Elementary School was one of about 350 schools recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School, a longstanding and prestigious program run by the U.S. Department of Education.

More specifically, Lebanon Elementary was deemed an “Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing” school, meaning it is among the state’s top schools for closing achievement gaps, which refer to disparities in academic performance between groups of students based on socioeconomic status, race, gender or other factors.

According to the Illinois State Board of Education, this year’s nominated schools needed to have improved the achievement gaps between a disadvantaged student group and statewide results by 7.4% in reading and 6.3% in math from the 2018-19 to 2021-22 school years. The disadvantaged student group includes low-income students, special education students, English learners and homeless or migrant students.

Lebanon Elementary School closed its achievement gap for that group by 14.6% in reading and 14.5% in math, according to the state board.

The school serves between 250 and 300 students from pre-K through fifth grade in the rural and diverse communities of Lebanon and Summerfield in St. Clair County.

Lebanon Community Unit School District 9 Superintendent Amanda Ganey, who recently joined the district and has a doctoral degree in educational leadership, said if there’s one word to summarize everything the district has done to narrow achievement gaps, “it’s investment.”

“You have a community, you have teachers, you have leaders that are all invested in the education of the students,” she said. “And without investment, there is no impact. Without impact, there’s no progression and growth.”

Schools are nominated for the National Blue Ribbon awards by their chief state school officer and then invited to apply by the Department of Education.

District Instructional Support Coach Donna Wood, who has a doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction, led the effort to complete the hefty application for Lebanon Elementary School.

Wood began in this role in 2019 and said at that time she was tasked by the superintendent with focusing on the district’s elementary school. She works with teachers to improve the quality of lessons and therefore students’ education. Additionally, she is responsible for finding and fixing educational deficits as well as researching new educational tools and techniques to increase student achievement.

In 2019, the district analyzed data at the elementary school and determined that it needed to update its reading and math curriculums and to make social-emotional learning — an educational method that incorporates social and emotional skill building into school curriculum — a priority.

Lebanon Elementary has since implemented the evidence-based Into Reading and enVision Mathematics curriculums as well as Second Step social-emotional learning programs.

Last year, the school also established “power half hours” that it has adjusted and is continuing this year. On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, students are grouped according to their reading abilities for 30 minutes and receive specialized instruction. On Wednesdays, students that are below the 25th percentile are pulled individually for progress monitoring.

The power half hours are part of the school’s “response to intervention,” an educational approach that aims to identify and proactively help struggling students. Students are tested in reading and math at the beginning, middle and end of the school year, and those performing below the 25th percentile receive targeted instruction — or “interventions” — to help them catch up.

Ganey said it took a lot of work to fit the power half hour into the small school district’s schedule to help all students learn.

“We are striving for all student learning. That is how you close gaps, when you hit all of the needs of all of your students,” she said.

Lebanon Elementary is a Title I school, meaning it participates in a federal grant program for schools serving a high number or percentage of children from low-income families to ensure that all students are achieving state academic standards. With this support, the school is able to provide specialized help in reading and math to students who need it, including through a summer math and literacy camp.

“Lifelong learners”

Lebanon District 9 has been investing in teachers like it has its students.

The district has a “professional learning community” model that provides time during early releases on Wednesdays for teachers to collaborate and share ideas on how to improve their instruction and create a learning environment where all students excel. It also has a mentorship program to help new teachers adjust and promote teacher retention amid the ongoing shortage.

According to the 2022 Illinois Report Card, Lebanon Elementary School had a teacher retention rate of 95.6%, above the state average of 87.6%.

Additionally, Wood leads book studies with teachers on a variety of topics like the science of reading and engaging students who live in poverty.

“It’s not a one-and-done type of staff. It is a continued learning. We have lifelong learners in this district as our staff, and that’s exciting,” Ganey said.

“And I can tell you with just being here in three short months, I am continually having conversations with staff members on ‘What can I do next? How can I facilitate the continuation of my learning?’ Which again, if we have lifelong learners teaching our students, our students are going to become lifelong learners and continue to learn and grow.”

Among the other factors the school outlines in its application as contributing to its success are:

• A pre-K program that gets students ready for all-day kindergarten (and this year, Wood and Ganey said, the school has received a Preschool for All grant to help grow its preschool programming)

• After-school enrichment and intramural programs

• Technology-infused instruction across the district, with each student getting their own device, and a technology teacher who provides instruction on STEM topics like coding and robotics

• Physical education five days a week

• Fifth graders being able to participate in band and sports alongside the district’s junior high students

• Weekly library and music courses

• An active parent-teacher organization

• A multifaceted partnership with McKendree University in Lebanon — the oldest college in Illinois — that allows the school to work with student observers and teachers from the university, among other things

• The Lebanon Education Foundation, which was founded in 1995 by the district’s board and provides grants and scholarships to high schools students and supplies to classroom teachers

• Other community partnerships with the Lebanon Rotary Club, Lebanon Lions Club, Lebanon Woman’s Club and Chapter One Project, which provides school supplies to every child in the elementary school

• A caring group of retired faculty who volunteer and provide resources

“It takes the community, it takes the students and it takes our staff to really earn this award. It’s not done single-handedly by anybody,” Wood said.

She will be traveling to Washington, D.C. in mid-November to attend the awards ceremony.