News Release: 28 September 2009
Wetzel Elementary School: A Success Story
Wetzel Elementary School is located in the heart of the Kaiserslautern District in Germany and falls under the Department of Defense Education Activity’s (DoDEA) schools in Europe. At the end of last school year, 420 students were enrolled at Wetzel. However, Wetzel Elementary is different from other DoDEA schools; 75 percent require intervention programs for academic success and 86 percent of students and family are coping with the stresses of extended deployments and reintegration, when a deployed service member returns home. Up until three years ago Wetzel Elementary was under-performing on DoDEA’s TerraNova exams. Since then much has changed and the school has become a success story. Wetzel Elementary has drastically improved its TerraNova scores, strengthened communications between parents and teachers; and fully embodies DoDEA’s philosophy of Kaizen, or continuous improvement.
“The success and focus of Wetzel Elementary on continuous improvement is aligned completely with the District’s vision to be Standards Based, Data Driven, and Student Focused in order to obtain highest student achievement for all,” said Ms. Lawanna Mangleburg, Superintendent of DoDDS-E Kaiserslautern district. “We learn from Wetzel Elementary that the greatest impact on every child’s being able to reach their highest achievement level and sustain it, comes from linking effective assessments and research-based instructional strategies with caring and respect for each student.”
In working towards continuous improvement, Wetzel Elementary provides a variety of services aimed at improving students’ academic performance. Wetzel Elementary’s administration works hard to establish a commitment and belief system among the entire staff that all students can be successful and makes necessary accommodations to help students to attain highest success. Tutoring and one-on-one assistance is available for students that need additional help. Wetzel Elementary students are assessed early in their academic journey in order to allow the staff to provide support to those who may need it. At Wetzel Elementary assessments are viewed as part of the teaching and instructional process, not a single event. Data from assessments is later used to evaluate teaching criteria. Student performance data is monitored weekly so teachers can look at where students are struggling and focus on those areas. This practice has led to the improvement of student test scores, including a steady increase in TerraNova scores. By monitoring weekly student performance data and looking at prior student exam data, teachers are able to make suggestions and provide services to guide learning, meet academic needs, and enhance academic performance. Student performance data is used to establish goals, determine interventions and drive the school improvement plan.
“We look at the individual child and do all we can to help them to be successful. The increase in students’ TerraNova scores is a byproduct of student-focused, data-driven, researched-based teaching practices,” said Helen Balilo, principal of Wetzel Elementary School. “We use a balanced literacy approach and a focus on content literacy throughout the school. We also teach thinking skill strategies to our students.” The school has developed strategies to help improve student achievement like: “Think, Information, and Plan, Solve + Explain,” (TIPS+E) a problem solving tool, which started in the math department. This program is now incorporated into all grade levels and all areas of study.
Professional development is important to Wetzel’s success and continuous improvement. During the initial planning to improve Wetzel’s test scores, ongoing professional development was provided by teacher leaders, educational technicians (ETs), and the District Superintendents Office (DSO) Generalist to ensure that student learning gaps were being addressed, based on diagnostic information. Teachers receive professional development training throughout the school year. The philosophy of current principal, Helen Balilo and her staff is that teacher input and student data are crucial to the professional development plan. Given this is the philosophy, the school’s active partnership with Ball State University provides an opportunity for the teaching community to learn new strategies, share their love for the teaching profession and participate with other educators in professional development training.
Teachers at Wetzel Elementary stay an extra 10 minutes each day to “Bank Time” for ten early release days. These days are also used to increase professional development. Much of this professional development training focuses on learning strategies to help parents better understand student data, test scores and at home learning strategies. Mutual respect and strong working relationships between staff and administration is a key element in maintaining positive student performance. Teachers, together with the administration, have formed teams to look at and improve upon student achievement as well as address the needs of teachers. For instance, the School Improvement Leadership Team (SILT) has worked to address the school’s performance needs and weaknesses as shown in TerraNova results. Teachers are also encouraged to collaborate, share their ideas and make suggestions as to how the school can improve.
Teachers and reading specialists work directly with the school’s literacy coach to examine student work and identify individual student needs; in addition, teachers and administrators develop appropriate learning options for students who are struggling to meet the expectations of various literacy skills. A large reason for the school’s drastic improvement has been the efforts of Ms. Balilo. She attends monthly meetings at the DSO with other Kaiserslautern district principals and assistant principals. The meetings allow school administrations to share Data-Based Best Practices and share their expertise and as well as lessons learned in order to achieve the above goals. Balilo and the staff at Wetzel Elementary have been actively building and strengthening relationships between parents, teachers and administrators. These relationships are vital overall to the long term goals of the school.
Wetzel Elementary’s Parents as Partners philosophy has increased parent involvement in the school and the school has become an active support for families with parents deployed. Families with children enrolled at Wetzel Elementary have begun to notify the school’s registrar of an impending PCS move or reintegration. This is mainly because of the registrar’s focus on out-processing.
Community service is also a vital part of the parent, teacher, and school relationship. Parents and members of the community actively give back to the school through volunteer work. The school has over 500 volunteer hours and a few of the military units have adopted the school for volunteer service. Wetzel Elementary hosts a number of community centered activities for students and their families such as Fall Carnival and Winter Fest. The Fall Carnival and Winter Fest are school events sponsored by the School’s Parent/Teacher Organization (PTO) that feature age appropriate theme related activities for Wetzel students and their parents to enjoy along with good food. There are educational activities as well as activities that are just for fun.
Teachers value the relationships that they build with Wetzel Elementary’s students and their families. Last school year, teachers willingly gave up some of their planning time before the start of school to come to a “back to school barbeque.” This helped to build stronger relationships with students and their families before the start of school. Wetzel Elementary School works to be active partners to parents then it comes to educating their children. This includes creating communication strategies that specifically targets parents. The school has successfully implemented various forms of communication to inform parents of school activities and student progress. The Continuous School Progress (CSP) team and the PTO established the Lunch-and-Learn program, Parent Chat and the Parent Center to include parents in the learning process. “Parent Chats” allow the school’s psychologist to support deployed parents in dealing with child development, student testing, homework, and child behavior. Parents also value the Lunch-and-Learn program since it provides games and other tools for parents to use at home to reinforce the curriculum that students are learning at school. Through these programs the school demonstrates its commitment to the overall well-being of students and their families.
A military spouse whose husband is active duty Army with the 4/70th Armor, has lived in Baumholder since 2004. She has two children enrolled in Wetzel Elementary School and knows from first hand experience Wetzel’s dedication to the students and parents it serves. “My husband and I believe that the experiences a child has in elementary school sets the foundation for his or her educational career,” she said. “We feel that Wetzel understands the importance of early education in these childrens’ lives and gives their best. It sounds strange but it feels like family when you come to Wetzel Elementary.”
The release of the fall First Grade Assessment Data, Survey Review, “Wetzel Wants You,” the School Advisory Committee (SAC), “Sweet Strategies for Success,” and Parent/Teacher Organization activities help parents understand what is occurring within the school. First grade teachers at Wetzel Elementary share information about student performance to individual parents during the fall First Grade Observation Survey.
It is difficult to pinpoint Wetzel’s success on just one factor. Wetzel Elementary’s success stems from a variety of factors; the school’s success is the implementation of a combination of many factors: a strong focus on highest student achievement and continuous improvement, strong parent partnerships, ongoing professional development and mutual respect between the school’s administration and teachers. “I believe there are many things that came together to help our students become more successful. All of these are areas that we are continually working on to expand and improve,” said Balilo. “My best advice is to continually work to keep all conversations focused on the students; that is why we are here. My motto is, whether you think you can or think you can’t, either way you are right!”