Governor recognizes Danville-Neel Elementary for math turnaround
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey recognized students from Danville-Neel Elementary School during her State of the State address this past week for its striking gains in math proficiency.
“These students made the highest math gains in the state last year, jumping up a whopping 35 percentage points,” the governor told the crowd before asking this year’s fourth graders to stand at the event. “Boys and girls, congratulations on this achievement. … It is because of the great work of teachers and communities, like Danville-Neel, across this state that Alabama saw the largest jump in math scores in the country last year.” She said when she took office, Alabama ranked 49th in reading and 52nd in math. Today it is 34th in reading and 32nd in math.
Morgan County Schools’ Danville-Neel did it by using two math teachers, a math interventionist and an administrator determination to improve math skills.
“We just had a low year and so we weren’t happy with that and so we just decided we needed to make some changes in who was teaching math and strategically plan with some small groups how we do the math instruction,” said Principal Tara Marrow. “They had a mission, and they stuck with it. They never let up and the end result was the highest gains in the state.” She said a lot of kids fear math and a lot of times their teachers also have a fear of it.
“You have to get past that,” Morrow said.
Specifically, they found ways to make math relatable to the children and to do teach it in ways other than how it has always been done, she said.
“The expectations from the state have changed for the way math is taught, so you have to make the changes,” Marrow said. “Every child doesn’t learn it the same way, so you have to present different methods for them to be able to learn how to do it. You have to embrace that, and our teachers have done an amazing job with that.” She lauded teachers Kim Wenzler and Camille Broadfoot and math interventionist McKenzie Henderson.
“The math interventionist is phenomenal in working with kids and helping close gaps (in learning math),” she said. “She is also just really helpful in coaching the teachers and providing some really good modeling lessons for them as well.” To make the change they needed a plan.
“We mapped it out the first of the year,” Henderson said. “We do team teaching here. We wanted to increase scores, so we mapped it out and looked at the standards and we kind of did co-teaching together and put two classes together at one time and that was fun. We worked very hands-on and with small groups. They worked really well as teachers and we had great students and, in the end, we had great success.” The kids also learned important lessons from getting to see the governor and getting recognized.
“The kids got to see that hard work pays off,” Henderson said.
The school was only allowed to bring 20 students to the Capitol, so the class drew names. The kids were told to dress like they would for church.
“So the boys wore jackets and ties and the girls dressed up – it was really cute,” Marrow said. “They did a good job of representing us well. We were one of the top 25 schools in the state for growth overall for reading and math, but fourth grade had the highest growth in the state of any school in math.” When they got to the Capitol on the bus the governor fed them Chickfil-A, then they got to go in her office and take pictures with her.
“We got to sit right by the stage and when she recognized us, the kids got to stand up and they got a standing ovation,” Marrow said. “They treated us very well. It was a really good day.” “Obviously it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get to go and meet the governor,” Henderson said. She said the state superintendent spoke to the kids and there were lots of judges and others there to congratulate them.
“It was neat to have that kind of recognition,” she said. “For 9- and 10-yearolds to see the benefits of that was pretty awesome. They felt like superstars for the day.” She hopes the current class will continue to make gains that will carry over and continue to improve their standing in math.
“It was amazing,” said Morrow, who attended along with teachers and Morgan County Superintendent Tracie Turrentine and her staff member. “It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most of these kids and for us adults as well.” The governor called the educational efforts the “Turnaround Schools Initiative” and said it is delivering real results.
“Schools that were once among our lowest performing are now outpacing the average growth rate at other schools,” the governor said. “Thanks to this initiative we will no longer have failing elementary schools in Alabama.” State Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, sponsored the Alabama Numeracy Act in 2022, which put more focus on math education in early grades.
