PREFERRED VENDOR/PARTNER n Smarrelli General Contractors www.smarrelli.com Smarrelli General Contractors, your local contractor focusing on commercial and residential concrete, steel, and carpentry construction. With over 60 years as a staple of Wayne, Randolph, Fayette and surrounding counties, we pride ourselves in not only building great buildings, but great people. A vision making our partnership with Randolph Central that much more special. but Randolph Central’s early adoption positioned the district ahead of the compliance curve. The results suggest that systematic phonics instruction, even for older students who missed foundational skills, can produce measurable gains. Project-based learning continues expanding downward from secondary schools. “We’ve moved it into Willard Elementary School this year,”Abraham says.“We’re going to see the growth of project-based learning and really focusing on employability skills including communication, collaboration and work ethic that the state of Indiana is really pushing.” The district formalized these priorities through its Portrait of a Graduate framework, identifying five core attributes: persistent critical thinker, respectful citizen, initiative-driven collaborator, dependable leader, and efficient worker.Abraham emphasizes the integration work ahead: “We have a great positive behavior program that’s K through 12, but we want to really strengthen that in the next couple of years.” Our positive behavior program fits hand in glove with our Portrait of a Graduate. For a district serving fewer than 1,400 students in a rural county of 24,502 residents, Randolph Central is a great example of how resource constraints need not limit ambition. By utilizing partnerships, sharing infrastructure, and focusing relentlessly on measurable outcomes, the district creates genuine economic mobility for students who might otherwise face limited options. investments. After implementing Orton-Gillingham training for all K-5 staff and establishing a literacy coach position, second-grade IREAD-3 passage rates jumped from 25 percent to 75 percent in a single year. Northcutt explains the expansion: “Now we’re moving that implementation into three through five followed by strategic work in the middle school to make sure that we’re helping those students that might have gaps in instruction before the science of reading was implemented in the state of Indiana.” The literacy cadre approach, which trains teacher leaders who then support building-level implementation, proved more effective than traditional professional development. Indiana mandated science of reading instruction statewide, 302 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 07, ISSUE 01
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