Leavelle McCampbell wins Pacesetter Award, implementing Ron Clark Houses this school year

Stephanie Hill, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·3 min read

Aug. 13—Leavelle McCampbell Middle School is starting the school year with a new award.

The school received the 2022 Gene Bottoms Pacesetter School Award from the Southern Regional Education Board at SREB's Making Schools Work conference last month.

"Pacesetter School Awards recognize schools that are implementing one of SREB's Making Schools Work school improvement frameworks and are achieving success in meeting bold goals related to graduation rates, readiness for college and careers, and credential attainment," according to a press release from SREB.

Dr. Tiffany Hall, principal at LMMS, said the school had to apply for the award. She added there are 10 best key practices of SREB. When applying, the school had to define what it is they believe they have in regards to the practices and turn in evidence and a written statement.

LMMS is implementing Making Middle Grades Works, which is the school improvement design for middle grades from SREB. This means the school is providing support to make sure that each student meets high academic standards. This support includes Saturday school, personalized learning, free after-school tutorials, and intervention classes, according to SREB.

"Students actively explore their interests and discover their strengths, aptitudes and natural abilities with the help of career interest assessment tools," the press release stated. "The goal is for every student to begin with the end in mind and know whether they want to enroll in postsecondary education, enlist in the military or gain employment after graduating. An advisory committee works with students to instruct them on entering and succeeding in these three paths."

Students in eighth grade are evaluated to determine their talents and strengths. Career and technical education lessons are worked into assignments which allows students to explore different career interests online, SREB said.

"Each eighth grader and their parents or guardians work with school staff to develop individual graduation plans, review career assessments and make plans for the course work they will complete in high school," according to the press release.

This was a busy summer for LMMS, as teachers from the school attended HOUSE CON 2022 last month at the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta.

HOUSE CON is a national conference about the RCA House System and participants attended workshops that focused on RCA's methods for creating a positive culture and climate for staff and students through the House System. The conference is immersive and a hands-on experience for teachers and administrators that allows them to learn strategies to help engage students, foster meaningful relationships and create an environment that promotes achievement for the LMMS community, according to a press release about the Ron Clark Academy.

There are several benefits to the Ron Clark Houses, with Hall saying it allows the school to continue improving how it helps students.

"We're merging the idea of Ron Clark House with Leader In Me, and what it does is helps not just kids, but staff members," Hall said. "We have six houses, but one family, so at the end of the day we're still one Leavelle. But it helps them have a sense of belonging."

With the houses, Hall said the students will learn the traditions of the house, which include having hand signals from ALS, certain colors for each house, a mascot for the houses, and an association with certain cultures.

"So each one of the houses, the teachers will plan cultural events about they represents," Hall said.