MIFFLIN TOWNSHIP — COVID-19 turned the world of education upside down, forcing students and educators to adapt to new and often-changing circumstances.
Despite the challenges of the last three years, Mifflin Elementary School principal Nathan Stump said some good came out of the shakeup.
Mifflin Elementary School was recently chosen as a National ESEA Distinguished School. The award recognizes high-poverty schools across the country that demonstrate high academic achievement and student progress for at least two consecutive years. Only two schools per state receive the honor each year.
In Ohio, schools qualify by earning at least four stars on the achievement and progress metrics of the Ohio Department of Education’s school report cards, which are based on standardized test scores of third and fourth graders.
Mifflin earned the maximum five stars in both categories on its 2021-2022 report card.
Stump believes the lessons learned from COVID helped the building get there.
“I think (the shutdown) caused us to kind of have to go into reset mode,” Stump said. “We came back the following school year and we started asking ourselves these really tough questions.”
Stump said he and the school’s building leadership team heard the same thing from parents, community members and students. They didn’t want to focus on the difficulties.
“We found that commonality that we didn’t want to lower our expectations,” he said.
“Refusing to lower our expectations has allowed all staff to effectively communicate what students need to be successful, and parental stakeholders underlined the desire that they wanted their children to be held to high standards.”
Keeping high standards for students didn’t mean returning to business as usual. Instead, Mifflin emphasized individual supports for students and the important role of non-teachers in the building.
“I do believe its a team effort,” Stump said. “In this building we have no egos. One person is not better than another.”
Paraprofessionals, classroom aides and Title I aides, who provide intensive reading support, worked with teachers, administrators and parents to identify and address student needs. The school purchased iReady, an online assessment tool that helps identify a student’s strengths and areas of needed improvement.
They also involved students in the setting goals for themselves.
“Personal goal setting and progress monitoring allowed students to understand the purpose of learning and their growth that was evident throughout the school year,” Stump said.
Stump said the school has benefitted from a daily intervention block — a 30-minute period each day where students work on different projects based on their academic needs.
During this time, a group of students struggling with a math or reading concept may work in a smaller setting while a group of identified gifted students works independently. Stump said the building instituted intervention blocks about four years ago.
Staff at Mifflin have also participated in numerous professional development sessions, primarily focused on techniques for teaching literacy and meeting the needs of all students.
Madison Supt. Rob Peterson said the award was an honor that reflected the hard work of Mifflin’s staff, students and families.
“It’s clearly a reflection of a full team effort from the students to their parents and families to the teaching staff, and as well as the support staff there at the school and Mr. Stump’s leadership as principal,” he said.
“The staff at Mifflin do a great job. They work really hard at their craft. It’s nice for them to be able to be recognized for what they do.”
Stump said he felt a mix of excitement, shock and awe when he found out Mifflin had been selected.
“I had to read the email multiple times for the message to sink in,” he recalled.
“I am not surprised that the effort of our students, staff, and parents have merited this award, but to be recognized nationally for our efforts is something that a principal can only imagine.”
Stump wasn’t the only one excited. He said he’ll never forget announcing the news to staff and students during a building-wide, town-hall meeting.
“The reaction was a core memory, something that I will never forget,” he said. “The students cheered and celebrated while many of the teachers stood in disbelief and may have shed a tear or two.”
Despite its progress, Mifflin hasn’t been immune to impacts of the pandemic on early literacy.
One review of reading scores from 400,000 American elementary students found more than a third of K-3rd grade readers need intensive reading intervention. In Ohio, less than 46 percent of schools “met expectations” on the state report card’s early literacy metric last year.
At Mifflin, just over 40 percent of students in kindergarten through third grade were determined to be “not on track,” according to a state reading diagnostic administered last school year. The school earned two stars on its early literacy metric, with 63.6 percent of third grade students testing proficient or higher in reading.
Stump said part of having high expectations is acknowledging that reaching the finish line doesn’t happen overnight.
“You have to have a growth mindset,” he said. “You have to wrap your mind around the fact that yes this takes time.”
All National ESEA Distinguished Schools have a minimum poverty rate of 35 percent. Mifflin’s was 40 percent during the 2021-2022 school year. The award is presented by the National Association of ESEA State Program Administrators.
