Sappington Elementary highlights winter benchmark gains, honors students and staff

At the Feb. 20 Lindbergh Schools Board of Education meeting, Sappington Elementary Principal Dr. Takisha Parker told the board that winter benchmark results show student growth across grades and presented awards to two students and two staff members.

The principal said the school met its internal targets for winter benchmarks: “50% of our students in every grade level has shown growth in both our reading and math benchmarks,” Parker said. She cited specific grade-level gains: 88% of first-graders showed reading growth (FastBridge), 78% of fourth-graders showed reading growth (NWEA), 92% of kindergartners showed growth in I-Ready math, and 86% of third-graders showed growth on NWEA math assessments. On curriculum-based measures (CBM), Parker said Sappington’s winter results already met a Compass goal that at least 80% of students in grades 2 and 3 be identified as low risk or advanced: “85 percent of our second graders and 83 percent of our third graders are identified as low risk or advanced on their CBM assessments.”

The report credited collaborative teacher teams, partnerships with the special school district, interventions and progress monitoring. Stephanie Werner, who introduced parts of the achievement presentation, said the winter data reflect that the school is “making wonderful progress” and noted assessments were taken with roughly 45% of the school year completed.

Board members and audience members also heard individual recognitions. Dr. Parker and staff presented Student of the Month certificates and school T-shirts to Olive, a fourth-grade student described as “kind, generous, ambitious,” and Robbie, a fifth-grade student praised as “phenomenal” for going above and beyond for peers. Staff recognitions included paraprofessional Robin Gordon, honored as Sappington’s support staff person of the year, and Rebecca Keller, named Sappington’s teacher of the year and recognized for her 22 years in the district as a kindergarten teacher.

The presentation also described nonacademic supports and activities tied to student well-being. Parker said counselors hosted a family social-emotional learning night and tracked classroom lessons, small groups and check-ins. The district’s staff well-being program was mentioned: presenters said 67% of Lindbergh staff participated at Sappington last year and that 26 staff members earned 100 points or higher under the program’s incentive structure.

Other classroom highlights included new flexible library furniture purchased with parent-teacher-group funds, an elementary art project emphasizing character expression, hands-on science through a “My Side” program, and fifth-grade student data binders used to support personalized learning goals.

Board documents and the written student representative report were noted as available in the district’s public BoardDocs repository.