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Richmond Drive and Rock Hill High principals report test gains and targeted supports in turnaround updates
Summary
Richmond Drive Elementary reported decreases in behavior incidents and growth in MAP and other benchmarks; Rock Hill High reported improvements in A–C grades on Algebra I, English II and Biology and new credit‑recovery efforts during lunch.
Principals from two Rock Hill schools briefed the board on continuous improvement plans on Feb. 11, describing targeted classroom supports, data‑driven instruction and new interventions aimed at raising student achievement.
Richmond Drive Elementary Principal Robert Ham told trustees the school has increased in several MAP categories, with three measures rising by double digits; fourth‑grade math showed the largest MAP percentile increase, a gain of 23 points from the prior period. Ham said classroom visits and clearly defined professional learning community (PLC) expectations have driven instructional changes and that behavior infractions are down about 50% compared with the previous year.
Ham described instructional tools and interventions: the HMH Miura literacy tool for fluency and comprehension, use of DreamBox to target strand weaknesses, coach‑led PLCs, spiral reviews of benchmark questions, and lab days with external consultants to model high‑impact strategies. He reported staff vacancies recently filled and flagged an open position in the building‑bridges special education program; the school is using Tiger Time (a built‑in intervention block) to provide tiered supports.
Rock Hill High Principal (Rock Hill High) reported increases in the percentage of students earning A–C in courses tested so far this year: a 21% increase in Algebra I A–C, a smaller increase in CP Biology and English II. The high school has created "success groups" — small, targeted groups pulled from common assessment data — and added a credit‑recovery lab during lunch for ninth and tenth graders; 24 students were placed in that credit‑recovery program in the first cycle. The principal said administrative walkthroughs and frequent classroom observations (121 at the time of the presentation) are being used to give teachers feedback.
Why it matters Both principals linked improvements to focused coaching, PLC work, targeted small‑group instruction and expanded interventions. Richmond Drive highlighted progress on climate and attendance plans; Rock Hill High emphasized EOC course preparation and graduation rate progress (district predictor cited a rise toward 83.4% from 79.4%).
Provenance Richmond Drive topicintro: transcript block at 2181.315 — "continuous school improvement turnaround plan" (evidence_excerpt: "share some updates with our continuous school improvement turnaround plan"). Richmond Drive topicfinish: block at 3629.2 — "look forward to the next update" (evidence_excerpt: "we look forward to the next update"). Rock Hill High topicintro: block at 3642.165 — "continuous improvement plan update at this time. It is Chicago High School..." (evidence_excerpt: "present the updates of our continuous improvement plan"). Rock Hill High topicfinish: block at 4560.6553 — "Keep up the work" (evidence_excerpt: "Keep up the work. We're excited to see what it looks like in a couple of months.").
