Jefferson Elementary outlines Tier‑1 strategy to raise ELA and math proficiency for students in poverty

Jefferson Elementary Principal Kelsey Winningham told the Pullman School District board the school used a high‑poverty grant to support a schoolwide overhaul of behavior systems and instructional practices aimed at improving achievement among students living in poverty. "For ELA, 60% of our third through fifth grade students living in poverty will meet the state standard on our Smarter Balanced assessment," Winningham said, and she set a 50% math proficiency target for the same grade span.

The presentation traced the school’s professional learning back to a Tier‑1 conference and described concrete classroom strategies the team plans to scale. Teachers emphasized five Tier‑1 characteristics from the conference: grade‑level text, research‑based instructional strategies, systematic assessment use, student engagement in the assessment cycle, and differentiated instruction to meet diverse needs. Teacher presenters said productive struggle is essential: "The person who's doing the work is the one who's doing the learning," one teacher told the board.

Jefferson staff said the school began by strengthening behavior systems so learning time is consistent and then moved to apply Tier‑1 strategies academically. Examples the presenters offered include turn‑and‑talk routines, annotating text with a "stop and jot" strategy in fifth grade, and short, repeatable classroom activities to build prior knowledge and engagement. The team said those practices will be reinforced during staff meetings so substitutes and new teachers encounter consistent routines.

Board members questioned how Tier‑1 targets apply in high‑poverty settings with non‑normal distributions of student performance; Jefferson staff acknowledged that Tier‑1 is a baseline and described plans to layer Tier‑2 and Tier‑3 supports next year to serve students who need additional interventions. The school plans to pilot classroom strategies, gather assessment data and expand practices that show measurable gains.

Jefferson’s next steps are staff discussion of proven strategies, implementation in weekly staff meetings, and a focus on replicable practices across grade levels. The principal said the work links directly to the district goal of ensuring learning for all students and is intended to create consistent expectations so students can focus on learning.