Neelyville High School began the journey to be named an Exemplary Professional Learning Community (PLC) school in 2011. Seven years later that goal was achieved when NHS was one of 21 schools in the state to receive this distinction and one of only two high schools honored.
Exemplary PLC schools promote cultures focused on collaborative learning while effectively using data to increase student achievement.
"We were ecstatic to learn we received the award," Neelyville Curriculum Director Heather Wells said. "Hard work and dedication paid off."
The team is comprised of 24 teachers, a principal, curriculum director, 266 students and parents and community members who all played a part in receiving the recognition.
Wells, along with Superintendent Brad Hagood, NHS Principal Justin Dobbins, Brandi Lumby, Tammy Spencer, Lisa French and Traci Reinbott attended the 2018 Powerful Learning Conference last week to accept the award. Nichole Burdin was also a part of the team, but was unable to attend the conference.
NHS's journey began with the slogan, "Lighting the way so all students learn today and lead tomorrow," along with a mission and vision to guide the educational learning quest for success.
Tiger Time was a result of the slogan to reach students who were having difficulties in a regular classroom setting.
Tiger Time focuses on students who may need assistance in a small group setting with a teacher and peer tutoring held at the end of the school day.
"Tiger Time has been one of our biggest components," Wells said to assist the school in qualifying for the award.
Wells also credits weekly collaboration time with teachers, which is built into the school day.
Each week during collaboration time, an agenda is followed to utilize the time to reach all students, Wells said. Data is shared during this time as well as action plans for what to do next.
Data binders, weekly grade checks, weekly student/teacher conferences and student-initiated concerns are all included in the accountability goal-setting process for students and teachers.
To qualify for the distinction, the school was required to complete four stages.
First was the Missouri PLC Implementation Survey, administered by the PLC data/web coordinator, with a minimum of 75 percent participation from instructional staff in the school.
Next was to complete the PLC Implementation Rubric as a self-assessment, including electronic artifacts recorded in the MO PLC Artifact Collection Tool, which supports the assessment.
Then, NHS participated in an on-site review and finally, the school submitted evidence of increased student academic achievement along with a narrative describing the data and how it is used in the building.
Several data areas are looked at when qualifying to become and Exemplary PLC school including APR scores and graduation and attendance rates.
"We worked hard to be recommended," Wells said. "During the on-site visits, they looked at how the school has progressed and how much further we deeply implemented items."
Neelyville credited their focus on student learning to increased protection for academic time to ensure optimal individual student growth throughout all subject areas.
"Being named an Exemplary PLC school means we are doing good things," Wells said of the distinction. "The work is showing through our student's success."
Now that the school has achieved this distinction, Wells said the next goal is to be awarded as a Sustaining Exemplary PLC school.
"We will continue work to deeply implement all areas and sustain those," Wells said.
Not only was Neelyville High School honored by receiving the Exemplary PLC school award, but the group was also asked to present for the third year during a breakout session at the conference.
Their presentation, "The Climb," identified key elements on the path to a changed culture. The NHS group spoke about the struggles, challenges and successes through the presentation and included an interactive game and discussion with attendees.
"We spoke about how we have improved and made adjustments to better fit our students and to make sure their needs were met since this process has gone through," Wells said.
Since returning from the conference, Wells said the group comes back each year with new ideas to implement and try at NHS.
"We all try to attend different sessions to have a collection of knowledge to come back with," Wells said. "We may tweak the ideas a little to fit our school district and needs, but the base knowledge is there."