ST. JAMES, Minn. – A St. James elementary school has earned the title of a Celebration School after working for three years to improve from priority school status.
The celebration school designation is part of Minnesota’s federal accountability system. This replaces the No Child Left Behind system that used to exist. Recognition is used to increase student achievement.
In spring 2012, Northside Elementary was classified as one of the lowest 24 performing schools in the state, Karla Beck, former principal at Northside Elementary, said.
“It’s not easy work, in fact it’s really exhausting,” Beck said about the changes made over the last several years.
Beck made changes to the ways the school operates with teacher development strategies and more.
“We also did professional development on student engagement strategies,” Beck said.
Beck is the principal at the high school in St. James. Even though she’s gone, Northside’s new principal is continuing these ideas and strategies.
“One of the things I really noticed when I started was how much the students are involved in their own education,” Douglas Storbeck, Northside principal, said.
One of the ways that the school is teaching students responsibility is by having them use technology that holds them accountable.
“We use student data notebooks that they track how they’re progressing throughout the year,” Storbeck said.
And it’s setting goals for students that help the overall school.
“Students use those to track their own progress, to know where they are, to set goals,” Beck said.
“Being identified as a Celebration School is really a big deal for the community and our school but I think more community wide,” Storbeck said.
It’s also a reward to those who made the changes just a few years ago.
“It’s just work that’s paid off and it feels so great for our kids to have these experiences and for the adults who have taken so much time and cared for to learn, and they did it,” Beck said.
