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The 706 students who attend Tommie Barfield Elementary can plan on meeting high standards once again this school year. Staff members went public with the TBE School Improvement Plan on Friday afternoon, which included a mission statement, beliefs, demographics and strategies to “inspire excellence every day in every way.”

HARMONY OSWALD / Eagle staff

Angela Alcala, a third grade student at Tommie Barfield Elementary, transferred to the school in January of last year from Lely. During the school improvement plan meeting at TBE Friday, she looked through books while her parents learned what the school plans to do to make this school year the best it can be for students.

According to Jory Westberry, principal, this year’s new recess schedule, the new lightning detection system and the new uniform dress code won’t be the only things to change. The school’s vision for improvement also looks a little different this year. After three years of dedication to academic progression in writing, parents and students can expect to see a new focal point.

“This can be complicated for teachers and parents, so I’m going to try and make this short and sweet,” says Westberry, addressing a small group of non-English speaking parents and allowing secretary Julia Brown to translate.

“We are trying to meet certain objectives by next year. One thing that’s noticeable from last year’s scores is that we need math improvement. We’ve been trying to improve writing for three years. Ninety-seven percent of students now achieve extremely well in writing. We will now focus more on math, since those scores went down a little bit last year.”

Although the school still plans to apply strategies for increased understanding and improved test scores in subjects like reading, science and writing, the concentrated attention this year will be put on mathematical progression. Westberry says an all new program at TBE will help kids, especially those who use English as a second language, to tackle challenging word problems.

HARMONY OSWALD / Eagle staff

Julia Brown (center), Tommie Barfield Elementary secretary, acts as TBE school improvement plan meeting translator, relaying all pertinent information back to Spanish speaking parents.

“One thing we’re excited about is a new way we’ve found to teach math, it’s called ‘Singapore math.’ We will be introducing it next month. I had a mini-training on it. It’s a visual approach to solving word problems. Oftentimes students just look at the numbers in a problem, and when they don’t recognize words like ‘difference,’ ‘sum,’ ‘addend’ or ‘quotient,’ they just add,” Westberry explains.

According to school improvement plan goals, by the end of 2008, 92 percent of all standard curriculum TBE students should score at level three or higher on the FCAT for math. Teachers will utilize strategies such as encouraging opportunities in writing and integrating reading into science and social studies, to support growth in vocabulary and comprehension.

HARMONY OSWALD / Eagle staff

M. Alcala, father of a third grade student, prepares equipment to listen to Spanish translations during Tommie Barfield Elementary’s school improvement plan meeting on Friday afternoon.

Input to develop the plan comes from parents, the school advisory council and teachers. According to Westberry, the goal of everyone at TBE is to make all students, white, black, pink or green, the best they can be.

“There is no way we can write down all the things teachers do on a daily basis in a document like this one,” says Westberry, regarding the newly released plan to improve.

“Every school is required to do a school improvement plan. When the teachers return in the fall, we develop it. They’ve already seen the scores from last year and know where we need to go. This just formalizes the project.”

To view or print a complete copy of Tommie Barfield Elementary’s school improvement plan, visit Collier County School District on the web at www.collier.k12.fl.us. Click on district departments, then click on planning/ accountability/staff development and the school improvement plans will be at the top of the page. Copies are also available at the school office.