“Hard work pays off,” said New Hope Elementary School Principal Sharene Ledford as she stood in the school’s lobby on Friday.
That hard work? Continued engagement in reading for students and milestone literacy accomplishments.
New Hope Elementary was honored by a special guest, state School Superintendent Richard Woods, on Friday during a Literacy Leader celebration.
In September, New Hope Elementary was named one of 155 schools out of more than 2,200 in the state to be designated a Literacy Leader due to exceptional achievement or growth in third-grade reading during the 2022-23 school year.
Woods presented the school with a blue banner reading “Georgia’s Literacy Leaders: Elevating achievement for students through literacy.”
According to a press release issued by the Georgia Department of Education, “schools with 90% or more of their third-grade students reading at grade level or above are being recognized for outstanding achievement, and schools with a 15% or higher increase from 2021-22 to 2022-23 are being recognized for outstanding growth.” Seventy schools were recognized for achievement, while 84 were recognized for growth.
New Hope Elementary qualified for the former, with 93% of third-grade students reading on grade level.
Arriving to the celebration via helicopter, Woods was introduced by Ledford after a few opening remarks and a video showcasing various fourth-grade students who were part of the 2022-23 third-glade class.
“We’re so honored that our Georgia (state) superintendent is able to be here with us today and we’re appreciative of the support of everyone,” said Ledford. “We really want to showcase the teachers and the students, because they’re the heart. They are the cause and the reason of why we’re here.”
Speaking to New Hope Elementary administration, faculty members and third-grade English language arts teachers, as well as representatives from Whitfield County Schools and the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce, Woods began by congratulating school officials and the students for the distinction.
“I want to say thank you for allowing me to stop by today, and congratulations,” said Woods. “There are a lot of people who said thank you for coming; well, you are all the ones that got me here. This was a very intentional and purposeful visit. I’m glad to be here at New Hope Elementary to celebrate literacy throughout the state while recognizing (its) importance for all of our kids.”
Woods also recognized Whitfield County Schools Superintendent Mike Ewton and Phenna Petty, who represents the 14th Congressional District, which includes Whitfield, on the state Board of Education.
“This is a brand new designation for us this year and I think it’s important that we celebrate literacy,” Woods said. “As you all know, it is an important thing and it took everybody to make it happen.”
Woods said literacy has always been an important factor for the state Department of Education.
“It’s not like one day we woke up and said, ‘Whoa, our kids need to read,’” he said. “But it’s always been a presence in education and I do think there are a lot of great things going on. For me, as a high school social studies teacher, I could always teach my kids content; there was no problem with that. But the issue I had was could my kids read effectively. Could they read and comprehend what they were reading. So I understand the importance of what that looks like and you have all done a tremendous job.”
Woods said the steps to get to such a designation are important.
“Even though we’re celebrating third grade, this did not happen — nor did it begin — in just third grade,” he said.”There was a pre-k(indergarten) teacher, a kindergarten teacher and a first- and second-grade teacher that helped get us up to this point.”
Ledford said such support from the state is beyond gratifying.
“To know that we are supported at the state level and the hard work of our teachers and students is noticed, it’s just wonderful,” she said. “It’s important for our families and parents to know that their hard work in supporting those kids isn’t going unnoticed as well, and that we’re being recognized for the hard work that’s being put in.”
Woods said he is proud of New Hope Elementary and the other 154 schools that received the award.
“And we’re looking to continue to increase that number each year,” he said. “But great job to everybody, starting with the (Whitfield County) superintendent and board for really investing in literacy, to our leadership here and all the way down to our teachers. This doesn’t happen in isolation, so even though we are celebrating this year’s fourth-graders for what they did in third-grade last year, we fully understand that there were past teachers that helped set the table for this success.”
He said banners and designations for excellent achievement or growth in subjects such as math will be implemented in the coming years and encouraged New Hope Elementary educators and students to continue their efforts.
“We’ll continue to expand that into fourth and fifth grade and we’ve got a good start here,” he said. “Next year, we’re adding (a math award) for both middle school and elementary.”
Woods also discussed a new award that the state Department of Education will begin rolling out in 2024 for elementary schools across the state — the John Hancock Award.
“We’re very excited to really put an emphasis on cursive writing,” he said. “I think it’s very important for our students to be able to write their name in cursive, because that is something that they own and is very personal to them.”
Woods said he hopes the award will be meaningful and encourage elementary schools to highlight the necessity of cursive writing for young students.
“We’re generating a lot of excitement with that,” he said. “I hear all across the state that kids need to know how to write in cursive, so we’re trying to definitely emphasize that and it will be a prominent part of our new English language arts standards. We’ll be rolling that out next year, so we’re kind of working on what it will take to get that designation, but we’re excited about that as well.”