- State testing has been underway at Riley Elementary School as this community aims for an A grade.
- Teachers and students have been working with new strategies in the classroom to help achieve these goals.
- Watch the video to hear from teachers and students about why they are feeling confident this testing season.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
State testing has been underway at Riley Elementary as this year they look to reach an A grade from the Florida Department of Education.
We're learning this testing season has been a chance to test our new strategies and approaches for both students and teachers that's making this school community feel confident.
Putting all heads together at Riley Elementary School, with teachers rolling out new strategies to help students retain information for state testing.
"A reading strategy that my teacher taught me is if I'm reading a book that's, like, not really interesting, I can, like, make it interesting by, like, telling to, like, reading aloud, reading, like, changing my voice maybe to fit the characters," said Taylin Seabrooks, a 4th grader at Riley.
"A funny way for me to remember it and then oh I cannot forget this, this is very interesting so now I like the strategy," said George Davis, a 5th grader at Riley.
"They gave me the courage to push myself and never give up and keep on it," said Londin Rollins, another 5th grader.
They're tools that are giving students confidence.
"I've been able to see the students actually become intrinsically motivated, they see the small successes and they're excited about, you know, the possibility of being able to finally accomplish their goals that they've set out to do," said Parish Williams, a Math Instructor at Riley.
Williams has been teaching for 30 years, and even the,n he said, he's always looking for new ways to help kids learn. One of these methods has been collaboration sessions with teachers.
"We're able to come back the next week and say yes, this strategy worked for this group, but it may not have worked for this group," said Williams.
Students are testing in subjects like reading and math this month. They're scores that will shape Riley's Florida Department of Education Grade. Last year, they scored a C. This year, they're aiming for an A.
Williams said they've been working hard to push for that score, closing gaps impacted by attendance issues, the COVID pandemic, and socio-economic factors.
"Those different variables are really making a difference, and it's impacting the performance, the academic performance, the social performance, the behavior is being impacted by all of those various variables," said Williams.
Williams said he feels confident in Riley achieving an A grade this year.
"It really has taken a village to help us reach this point that where we are now, and we just look forward to doing great things in this testing season and from here on out," said Williams.
Teachers at Riley said their testing season will finish shortly. According to the Leon County Schools website, testing in this district will wrap up toward the end of May.
Want to see more local news? Visit the WTXL ABC 27 Website.
Stay in touch with us anywhere, anytime.
