SBS Students Show Remarkable Growth in Learning

St. Benilde School has a long history of academic excellence, witnessed by our being a Nationally Recognized Blue Ribbon School of Excellence and the numerous alumni who receive top academic scholarships and finish at or near the top of their high school graduating class. Yet our tradition of excellence is not enough for us. We believe that a next level is always waiting. That is why starting in the Fall of 2012, the school committed to reforming our academic programs to embrace the personalized approach to education that distinguishes us today.

Our reforms began with the addition of the STAR benchmarks in the Fall of 2012 and the creation of teacher data teams to analyze student learning and drive more differentiated instruction. Then in the Fall of 2013, the school appointed the Assistant Principal as Director of Curriculum and Instruction. Her duty was and is to provide daily oversight of the academic programs and to work with the teacher teams and individual teachers, supporting them in improving their instructional strategies based upon student data and research-based best practices. In the Winter of 2014, in order to better take advantage of the potential available in digital learning, we started our Bring Your Own Device program for children in Grades 1-7.

In the Fall of 2014 - as a result of what the school learned from our early efforts at instructional reform - we added the Literacy Lab led by the Early Literacy Specialist. We also reformed our school schedule, giving more time to English Language Arts, Math, and Science, while not sacrificing time spent in religion, social studies, and electives. Finally, in order to better support teachers and understand which instructional strategies had the highest positive impact, we began using the Teachscape system, which helps the school’s leadership observe classrooms and drive personalized teacher professional development programs.

The results have been clear. Our personalized approach to educating children results in improved student learning. An early indication came in the Spring of 2013, when the school’s Terra-Nova 3 standardized test results came in. We saw across the board improvement, with some classes nearly doubling their scores year-to-year, especially in math computation.

We also have completed three consecutive years of the STAR benchmarks, which provide us with a comprehensive running record of student learning growth in the foundational literacy and numeracy skills that drive all other learning. The results are impressive.

In the Fall of 2012, 173 students took the STAR Reading test in Grades 1-7. Of those students, 136 scored in the top two categories (indicating they were at or above grade level in reading), while 37 performed in the bottom two categories (indicating they were below grade level in reading and in need of intervention). In the Spring of 2015, 179 students took the STAR Reading test. This time, 157 students performed in the top two categories, while only 22 performed in the bottom two categories. That means 15% more students performed in the top two categories than three years prior, while 40% of students who were originally below grade level are now at or above grade level!

In Math, 178 students took the STAR test in the Fall of 2012. Of those students, 161 performed in the top two categories, while 17 performed in the bottom two categories. Three years later, in the Spring of 2015, 179 students took the test. This time, 169 performed in the top two categories ( an improvement of 5%), while only 10 students performed in the bottom two categories ( a decrease of 41%)!

The results are even more impressive when looking at the Class of 2019, who took the test in first grade in 2012 right at the start of our efforts to improve student learning. In the Fall of 2012, 76% of the class performed in the top two categories in Math, while 24% performed in the bottom two categories. In Reading, only 53% of the class performed in the top two categories, while 47% performed in bottom two categories. Three years later in the Spring of 2015, fully 91% of the class finished in the top two categories in math, with only 9% finishing in the bottom two categories. Even more impressive, the class improved in reading from 53% to 83% finishing in the top two categories, with only 17% (from 47%) finishing in the bottom two categories. In fact, no students finished in the bottom category in reading or math after three full years learning in our personalized curriculum.

With more program enhancements on the horizon - including the addition of an enrichment specialist for the older grades, the start of personalized tutoring options, and the addition of more e-learning opportunities - we believe we have just scratched the surface of what we can do to help all students achieve to the highest standards!

At St. Benilde School, excellence is not just a goal… it is a way of life!

Would your child - or the child of someone you know - benefit from the personalized appraoch of an education at St. Benilde School? If so, contact us today by phone (504-833-9894), email ( [email protected] ), or on the web at http://www.stbenilde.com/admissions .