Principal believes student achievement will improve

By By Georgia E. Frye / staff writer
Oct. 23, 2003
Crestwood Elementary School Principal John Lisenbe has mapped out a detailed set of goals and strategies to ensure his students will improve their performance levels next year.
Each principal in the Meridian Public School District was asked by Interim Superintendent Sylvia Autry to set goals for improving achievement at their schools. Lisenbe's plan is by far the longest and most detailed of all the principals' plans.
The Mississippi Curriculum Test gauges students' ability in reading, language and math in the second- through the eighth-grades.
Crestwood Elementary received a Level 3, or "successful," accreditation for this school year. Last year, the school received a Level 1, or "under-performing," rating from the Commission on School Accreditation.
Lisenbe's strategies for success include taking students out of one of their physical education classes each week to receive extra help in areas where they scored in the "minimal" or "basic" categories on the MCT. Lisenbe said students have PE three times a week and don't mind missing one of those classes.
Lisenbe said he understands that students may feel pressure to perform well on the MCT.
Lisenbe's strategies to improve student achievement include 30 minutes of MCT prep at the beginning of each day. And, the school now has a part-time remediation tutor, Dottie Dudley, who works with small groups of students.
Dudley said she uses music to help children learn and she talks to them about how the brain functions. Most importantly, she said, she talks to students about their feelings.
Lisenbe agrees that attitude is important to their success.