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Nixon Elementary School

"The program is successful because it is user-friendly and meets curriculum goals and objectives. The teachers believe strongly in the value and quality of SuccessMaker, and are committed to using it every day."
     Donna King, Principal, Nixon Elementary

Highlights

• Nixon has met all 2003 federal proficiency benchmarks by showing adequate yearly progress in reading and math.
  
• Reading, language and math scores on the TCAP test have steadily increased since implementing SuccessMaker in 2001.
  
• With the help of SuccessMaker, Nixon Elementary has been removed from the Tennessee Governor’s List of Low-Performing Schools.
  

Profile

Nixon Elementary is a Title I school in a low socioeconomic area of Hardin County, Tennessee. Seventy percent of students receive free and reduced-priced lunches. Ninety-nine percent of Nixon’s kindergarten through grade five students are Caucasian. The elementary school enrolls 94 students and is part of the Hardin County School System, enrolling 4,000 students in 10 sites.

Challenge

In 2000, Nixon Elementary was placed on the Tennessee Governor’s List of Low-Performing Schools due to low achievement on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program test (TCAP). Nixon Elementary needed to take action to be removed from that list. In addition, they needed to demonstrate adequate yearly progress by meeting state and federal benchmarks and objectives in reading, language, math, science and social studies.

Solution

Nixon Elementary implemented SuccessMaker instructional courseware from Pearson Digital Learning in 2001. All 94 students in the school use SuccessMaker.

To work toward meeting school objectives in both computer labs and classrooms, each student participates in two 15-minute SuccessMaker reading and math sessions each day. SuccessMaker courses at Nixon include Math Concepts and Skills (MCS), Reading Readiness (RR), Initial Reading (IR), Reader’s Workshop (RW), Spelling Skills (SPS), and First Adventures Bookshelf™ (FAB). According to Donna King, Principal at Nixon Elementary, "Students especially like the immediate feedback they receive with SuccessMaker and they love to check their scores. We’ve been extremely pleased with how well SuccessMaker reinforces learning skills."

Teachers are involved on a daily basis to monitor and assist their students as they work with SuccessMaker. The administrator is also involved through student enrollment, running course reports, and troubleshooting. Along with regular instruction in all learning objectives, students receive weekly instruction in reading content and data analysis. The lead Title I teacher at Nixon implements the program and runs daily session reports on each class and student, giving teachers the information they need to provide individualized, targeted instruction to each student’s areas of greatest need.

Teresa Hurley, Kindergarten teacher at Nixon thinks, "SuccessMaker provides excellent re-enforcement for classroom skills. Because each child works on their own level, it is also a challenge for more successful students. They love going to the computer—it is something they look forward to and enjoy doing even though it is school work."

Fourth grader, Spencer says, "It’s fun! It’s at your level so it helps you get a better education."

To honor student achievement, Nixon Elementary gives SuccessMaker awards to students every six weeks.

Results

A comprehensive set of nationally normed achievement tests is administered annually to Tennessee students in grades three through eight, one of which is the TCAP test. Each score represents a percentile ranking. A score of 50 means that the students in a school scored as well as or better than 50% of students nationally.

The following graph documents Nixon’s average TCAP scores in grades three, four, and five over the past four years. Scores have been steadily increasing since implementing SuccessMaker in 2001.

Carol Schultz, fourth grade teacher says, "SuccessMaker has helped to raise our test scores by exposing students to many skills on a daily basis. Problems are presented in a variety of ways, so that students often use higher level thinking skills."

When asked about the math portion of TCAP he had just taken, one student replied, "Oh it was easy! I’d seen all of it already on SuccessMaker!"

In addition to increased achievement on the TCAP, Nixon has met all federal proficiency benchmarks in 2003 by showing adequate yearly progress in reading and math. Nixon has also successfully met its attendance requirement.

2003 NCLB Required Proficient + Advanced Levels & Attendance

With the help of SuccessMaker, Nixon Elementary has conquered its challenge and has been successfully removed from the Tennessee Governor’s List of Low-Performing Schools. Strides in achievement are continually being made each year.

Contact us for additional information on how Pearson Digital Learning can help you achieve results with SuccessMaker Enterprise.