Those who can't…

“Learn More. Do More. Be More.” -Selma Middle School

This is the first part of a multi-part blog series about my school, and the unique needs and challenges we have faced. In particular, what happens when a study determines your school building is only at 65% capacity, but you are a high needs school.

I joined Selma Middle School in 2018 as a lateral entry teacher. I knew that I was facing a challenge because Selma was considered a re-start school and had barely avoided being taken over by the state of North Carolina the previous school year. ​As the 10th lowest growth school in the state, Selma Middle was labeled “consistently low performing” and had earned an F from the state. The 2018-2019 school year was a trial by fire that taught me sincerity and good intentions were not enough to overcome deficits that had been years in the making.

The 2019-2020 school year was when I started seeing how intentionality was vital to the change we wanted to see. The culture of the school shifted with a new principal in place, and steadily we made positive change. This included using culturally responsive teaching to meet the diverse needs of our students, which ranged from students coming from low-income households (we are a Title 1 school) to having large minority populations. We anticipated seeing growth on the EOGs, but then we suddenly went out in March for Covid. There were no EOGs that year, and we wouldn’t get a good idea of where we stood with EOG scores until the end of the 21-22 school year.

During that time we doubled down on PLCs (professional learning communities) and consistent analysis of student data. We had dedicated learning coaches helping us implement proven teaching strategies in our classrooms, and creating very purposeful lesson plans that were made to maximize class time. Time was carved out during the day for students that was specifically dedicated to academic intervention and enrichment based on need. 

Beyond academics, we found ways to positively change student culture, and bring the community into our school. Students started goal setting and we worked on building intrinsic motivation. Over time we found that the combination of educating students on what being a successful middle schooler looked like, and how to take advantage of advanced classes and applying to special high school programs, created a generation of Railblazers that were now practicing self-advocacy 

When we finally had the opportunity to prove our growth on the EOGs in 2022, we went up a full 10 points in our state grade. ​Despite a pandemic and the challenges it caused, we were showing growth and that what we were doing was working. This also pulled us up from being a “F” school to a “D” school.

At the end of the 2022-2023 school year, we were invited to apply to the NC Association for Middle Level Education’s “Schools to Watch Program”. We were successful, and earned the distinction during the 2023-2024 school year. We also showed another 4 points in growth on the EOGs. We had gone from being a consistently low-performing re-start school, to ​currently being in the top 20% of schools in North Carolina for academic growth. ​At one point we were even in the top 10% for academic growth! 

We​ went into the current 2024-2025 school year knowing that this is the school year that we will move to a “C” letter grade, and​ that with our track record of continued growth we will reach that “A” grade in the coming years. We sound like a great school to be a part of, right? Right?!