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Education matters: Catching kids up
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During the 2006-2007 school year, Bryan County Middle School implemented Acceleration Classes in English Language Arts (ELA), Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. Acceleration teachers preview up-coming concepts and/or skills and provide a foundation or scaffold for new learning. Students are enrolled in these classes based on academic needs as demonstrated from their Georgia Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) scores as well as teacher recommendations.

Acceleration is a Learning Focused Schools instructional model and is designed to "catch kids up". Traditionally, a remediation approach is used and students fall further below grade level which consistently produces negative effects on motivation and self-esteem. Fifty percent of student achievement is directly attributed to students’ self-efficacy, feelings of competency and confidence. Students in Acceleration experience success which positively affects achievement by directly impacting their motivation.

The Acceleration model addresses the root cause of many students’ learning difficulty which is the lack of prior knowledge, vocabulary, and experiences that are necessary to connect to new knowledge and skills. Acceleration acts as a "bridge" for these students to close the gaps in their learning. Acceleration teachers assist students in building these learning "bridges" by previewing vocabulary, concepts, and graphic organizers. Acceleration activities are high interest instructional activities that help students develop the prior knowledge needed to achieve in the regular classroom. The advanced exposure to this information has given these students the confidence to participate in class and reach goals that they have never attained before.

The Acceleration program at BCMS has been a great success at closing the achievement gap for struggling students. The success of this program is evidenced in a greater number of students achieving Honor Roll and an increase in Acceleration students’ CRCT test scores. Many of those Acceleration students making Honor Roll had never done so before. Current CRCT scores show that 82 percent of 6th grade students served in ELA Acceleration increased their CRCT scores, 64 percent of 7th grade students, and 65 percent of 8th grade students. In Mathematics Acceleration, 57 percent of the 7th grade Acceleration students increased their scores, and 48 percent of the 8th grade students increased their scores.

While gains in test scores are at the core of educational discourse, the true success of this program is demonstrated on a daily basis in classrooms school-wide. Students that were once quiet and non-participatory are now engaged and willing to raise their hands. Students that were once defiant and disruptive are no longer feeling the need to act out in order to distract from their lack of skill or knowledge. These students enter the regular classroom with a new confidence. These students enter the regular classroom with the background knowledge and confidence needed to succeed.

Written by Julie Howard, BCMS/BCHS curriculum resource teacher.

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Groups hand out scholarships
RH theater scholarship
Richmond Hill High School senior Jacey Shanholtzer shows her Dawn Harrington Berry Spotlight Award, which was awarded by the Richmond Hill Community Theatre and includes a $500 scholarship. With her are Tom Harris, Ashlee Farris, Brett Berry and Kim Diebold. The award was created in memory of Dawn Harrington Berry, a long time RHCT member and president who died in 2016. - photo by Photo provided.

Three reports recently presented scholarships

Richmond Hill High School senior Jacey Shanholtzer received the Dawn Harrington Berry Spotlight Award, which was awarded by the Richmond Hill Community Theatre and includes a $500 scholarship. The award was created in memory of Dawn Harrington Berry, a long time RHCT member and president who died in 2016.

Garden Club

The Richmond Hill Garden Club recently awarded a $1,000 scholarship to Katherine Wood and a $500 scholarship to Carly Vargas, both seniors graduating from Richmond Hill High School.

The awards were presented May 8 during Honors Night at RHHS.

Wood plans to attend Green Mountain College in Vermont and major in environmental studies.

Vargas plans to attend Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee, to pursue a degree in either environmental studies or biology.

The garden club awards a $1,000 scholarship annually to a local high school senior who plans to major in a field related to environmental concerns, plants and/or gardening.

This year, due to having two exceptional candidates, the garden club awarded an additional $500 scholarship.

Exchange Club

The Exchange Club of Richmond Hill recently named Caroline Odom as its student of the year.

The club each month during the school year names a student of the month, and the student of the year is chosen from among those winners.

Awards are based on academic performance, community involvement and leadership.

Monthly winners receive $100, with the annual winner getting a $1,000 scholarship.

The Exchange Club has been recognizing students for more than 30 years.

Odom will go on to compete in the Georgia District Exchange Club against students from across the state.

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