Two Lake Forest elementary schools last week presented plans to improve student achievement by focusing school resources on specific subjects.

    Cathy Zimmerman, principal at Lake Forest Central Elementary School, said last year’s Delaware Student Testing Program results showed a drop in fifth-grade math and reading scores and that the school’s special education students didn’t meet their growth goals.

    “In fifth grade, we had a tough year,” she told the Lake Forest board of education at its Oct. 9 meeting. “I think the reason we had a difficult time with math is because it’s a brand new program. Scores went down district-wide because teachers weren’t familiar with it. I can’t explain reading … I don’t know why we went down.”

    Zimmerman said she has increased time for reading from 90 minutes to 150 minutes, raised fourth-grade math class time to 75 minutes and added more time for writing.

    Time was trimmed from science, social studies, physical education, art and music classes to accommodate these expansions, she explained.

    She also chose to hire a reading specialist in lieu of an additional special education teacher.

    Central teacher Amanda Gaglione announced that she will launch a special program designed to help struggling African American boys in fourth grade.

    The Cultivating Overachievement through Organization and Leadership (COOL) program provides targeted students with academic support and links the skills they learn in school with real world issues.

    Gaglione said the program is affiliated with Oprah Winfrey’s “O Ambassadors” program, which encourages students in the United States to study a wide range of problems in East Africa. Students in the COOL program will learn about poverty, education, health care and environmental issues in the region and be able to teach what they have learned to their fellow students. The program also includes a charitable fundraising component.

    “We’ve selected between 12 and 14 African American males in fourth grade because we’ve seen that the fourth grade groups coming to us only have about 7% of those African American males getting fours and fives on the [Delaware State Testing Program exams], so we chose to focus on that group,” she said.

    Gaglione said she expects to see an 80% increase in the state test scores of students in the COOL program.

    Dr. Judy Craig, principal of Lake Forest South Elementary School, also saw a drop in performance in reading and math last year and presented several strategies to correct it.

    Craig emphasized changes to teacher’s professional development plans and additional opportunities for training.

    “Our new building has given us the opportunity to have a reading resource room that is filled with books the teachers can get ideas from,” she said, adding that teachers also will participate in bi-monthly meetings with the school’s reading coach and, on alternate weeks, meet with the other teachers in their grade level.

    To address slumping performance in math, Craig said she has “made some staff changes” and trained one teacher in every grade level in a new math program.

    “We’re also trying needs-based instruction in math,” she said. “We’re teaching a core lesson at the beginning of class, and at the end they’re breaking into small groups and working on areas that they need to.”

In other business …
    •The board recognized students Xavia Boyd and Brittany Lane, whose artwork was selected to appear in the 2009 national Cyber Security Calendar. The students each received a commendation from the board and a new iPod Shuffle.

    •The Delaware Department of Education honored four Lake Forest schools with Positive Behavior Support Star School awards. Lake Forest North, South and Central Elementary schools and W.T. Chipman Middle School were among 44 schools in the state that received the award.

    •The district was honored with an Environmental Excellence Award from Energy Education, an energy conservation firm that has worked with the school system for the last several years. In the last four years, Lake Forest has saved over $850,000 on energy by working with Energy Education, said Superintendent Dr. Daniel D. Curry.