Yankee Town principal credits targeted instruction, after‑school Achieve program for jump to A grade

The principal of Yankee Town School told the Levy County School Board that the school moved from a B to an A last year after steady changes to instruction, targeted interventions and an expanded after‑school program.

The principal said the school raised language arts proficiency from 47 to 57 and math proficiency from 50 to 58, and increased total points from 63 to 68. She said the school’s lowest quartile progress rose to 75 percent and that the percent of students with disabilities meeting proficiency rose from 14 percent to 59 percent, figures she presented to the board as evidence of the school’s turnaround.

The Achieve after‑school program, which the principal described as individualized rather than “cookie‑cutter,” is a central part of Yankee Town’s approach. "We run ours with individual instruction," she said, and reported 58 students enrolled in Achieve with 15 new starts added the day before the meeting. She credited the Achieve coordinator, described in the meeting as the school’s math coach, with organizing instruction so after‑school work aligns directly with classroom struggles.

School staff described a combination of deliberate classroom practice, districtwide emphasis on explicit instruction, AVID strategies and coordinated intervention work as the core of their approach. The principal said teachers engage in weekly I‑Ready training and collaborative planning and that the school increased daily elementary science time from 30 to 45 minutes and added an elementary science lab funded in part by a grant.

Board members and district staff who spoke praised the school’s leadership and the principal’s emphasis on incremental, sustained improvement. The principal also noted recent local disruptions: flooding last fall displaced about 19 students and some families remain in FEMA‑provided hotel vouchers, and the school experienced a recent influenza spike that led to absenteeism among students and staff.

The principal invited board members to visit Yankee Town to see the programs in action and said the school intends to continue “slow, steady” growth by resetting goals, monitoring data weekly, and keeping parent engagement high.

Ending: The presentation consolidated classroom strategies, after‑school interventions and community outreach as the school’s primary levers for sustaining the A grade; board members signaled support and several said they would follow up with campus visits.