Mountain City Elementary School
Mountain City, TN
With a recent federal designation as a Blue Ribbon School and nearly 100 percent of its students reaching proficiency in every assessed subject, Mountain City Elementary, located in the far reaches of rural northeastern Tennessee, is hardly recognizable as the school it was just a few years ago. Gay Triplett, who was beginning her tenure as the school's principal nine years ago, recalls bracing for a very different designation: a "school in need of improvement"...
Nashua School District
Nashua, NH
Just six years ago, Janet Valeri faced one of the biggest challenges of her career as an educator. Named principal of Amherst Street School in Nashua, N.H., Valeri had been chosen to lead this elementary school in its third year as a "school in need of improvement." As a result, the school was forced to offer choice as well as supplemental educational services after school and was teetering on the brink of having to develop a plan for restructuring...
Dennis-Yarmouth School District
Yarmouth, MA
Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District in Cape Cod, Mass., may not be one of the country's largest school districts, but this district serving 3,500 students in seven schools is a microcosm of the challenges facing all school districts today. Located in the heart of one of the nation's most popular tourist regions, the district serves a community that is somewhat transient, with a wide variety of income levels - nearly 40 percent of all students are eligible for free and reduced lunch. In addition, Dennis-Yarmouth is grappling with educating a growing population of English Language Learners (ELL) - a situation that nearly every district in the country seems to be facing....
