Blythe-Bower Elementary
Third Place, East Division, Elementary Schools

Guilford (Ron) Hill, Principal
604 20th Street S.E.
Cleveland, TN 37311
Cleveland City Schools
http://www.clevelandschools.org/blb/

Recipe For Success:

Blythe-Bower is a Title I and a Reading First School with 97.8% of our students receiving free or reduced lunch. We serve approximately 547 students from PK- 5 th grade and work with a transcient rate of over 60% of our school population. When you look at such data, you can see why I am so proud of our staff and students.

As teachers and paraprofessionals, we realize that we serve “in place of the parents” when students are with us. We believe that all students can learn and we dwell under the belief stated in our Teachers’ Motto: “Do not say or do anything to a student which you would not want someone to say or do to your child or special child in your life”. The success of our school is due to The Team Mentality of the staff.

I have to attribute our improvements to several factors:

• Dedicated and hard-working teachers and paraprofessionals,
• The hiring of a Literacy Leader and a Curriculum Coordinator,
• A group of motivated and concerned parents who push their children toward academic excellence,
• The use of The SuccessMaker Program: an interactive program used by kindergarteners- 5 th graders to improve math and reading skills,
• A Reading Program that promotes daily small group reading of 4-5 students on their reading level of the students. Within the program, we have a two-hour reading block per day and a Leveled Library of multiple books to be utilized. This program is used for all grade levels (kindergarten-5 th grade),
• Our Open Door Policy with parents. We work hard on our communication with parents. Our homeroom teachers also have one-hour per day when they can meet with parents about their child’s progress and we have a Parent Coordinator on staff,
• A relevant Staff Development Curriculum through the LEA and the local school to give teachers and paraprofessionals the skills to set up and guide an effective classroom, and
• The use of extended contracts by several staff members to assist students who are below proficient in math and/or reading after school. We also use some extended contracts in the summer.