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Morven Elementary principal describes steps to reduce class sizes and speed student progress
Summary
Morven Elementary staff outlined interventions including splitting core classes, hiring veteran teachers and targeted interventionists to accelerate growth and exit low-performing status.
Morven Elementary School leaders told the Anson County Board of Education they are reducing class sizes and adding targeted support to accelerate student learning.
Mrs. (first name not given) Harrell and Dr. Pratt presented results and school-level plans, saying Morven has used limited staffing allotments to restructure core instruction so two teachers share instruction in core subjects, lowering class sizes from about 30 to roughly 15 in targeted grades.
"What we're gonna do is for core courses ... split that group in half," Harrell said, describing a model where one teacher focuses on math and another on reading and students rotate. She said the school recruited retired, veteran teachers to fill part-time roles and that the district allocated 1.5 positions the school used to create multiple smaller sections.
Nut graf: School leaders said meeting growth alone has not yet produced proficiency; to close the gap they plan smaller class sizes, interventionists, tutoring, family engagement and earlier enrollment of three- and four-year-old children to provide more time for remediation.
Harrell told the board that Morven hired a reading interventionist (grades 3–5) and a math interventionist for sixth grade and will continue after-school tutoring, family engagement events and weekly planning with instructional coaches. She set targets to increase composite reading and math by 7 percentage points by June (district-specified year-end target noted in presentation).
The presentation highlighted the Early Grades assessment pattern: district growth measures indicate students ‘‘meet growth’’ in many grades but proficiency levels remain low. Harrell said kindergarten and early-grade interventions must be strengthened and recommended recruiting Head Start three-year-old and four-year-old slots to expand early support.
Ending: Morven leaders said they aim to exit low-performing status by exceeding state growth expectations and achieving a C or higher on the school composite score, emphasizing a combination of smaller classes, veteran teachers, interventionists and family outreach.
