The principals of John Small Elementary School and S.W. Snowden School presented their plans to the Beaufort County Board of Education on Monday to continue efforts of school improvement.

In the latest school performance reports for the 2014-2015 school year released in September, John Small Elementary was given a ‘D’ letter grade and did not meet its expected growth.

S.W. Snowden received an ‘F’ letter grade, which was worse than the previous year’s ‘D’ grade, but did meet its expected growth.

At the Monday meeting, Principal Betty Jane Green of John Small Elementary and Principal Catherine Tahaney of S.W. Snowden asked the board to approve their game plans to encourage higher achievement and growth in their respective schools.

Green presented the board with a growth report for John Small Elementary, which showed substantial growth in math and science but only slight growth in reading. She said the school would be mainly focusing on reading improvement during this school year.

“Of course we know that this is not good enough,” Green said. “There are improvements going on. We just need to improve upon what we’re already doing.”

John Small Elementary has employed several reading programs to help its students, including the Hill Center’s intensive Reading Achievement Program (HillRAP), the online program Achieve 3000, which is tailored to each grade’s level of reading, and training teachers in guided reading, she said.

Green also said the school would continue plans to improve its other subjects, as well as capitalize on the programs it has already found to be successful.

She said the school has seen success with students in a transitional reading level between grades 3 and 4, and it has also seen a decrease in discipline referrals thanks to its Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support (PBIS) system.

“Many of these students are finally liking school and finally feeling a sense of confidence and a feeling of ‘I can do this,’” Green said of the transitional students. “As you know, we have a very diverse group of students at John Small. In order to make growth and in order to keep proficiency, we have to take those students and make sure to move them forward.”

The school has also set up a data wall, which tracks the success of students and teachers, she said.

“To be honest, when we started out with the data wall, they were shocked,” Green said. “However, as the weeks have gone by, the light bulbs have gone off. … I think that this is a good move in the right direction.”

“I know sometimes quite honestly that doesn’t always go over that great,” board chairman Terry Williams said. “We’re not here to point fingers.”

Tahaney was next to present plans for S.W. Snowden’s school improvement. She said the school has been labeled as “low performing,” as only 37 percent of students passed tests of reading proficiency and 22 percent passed in math proficiency.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Tahaney said.

She highlighted three main goals for the school this year: high achievement with a goal of at least 10-percent growth; building service-oriented relationships with stakeholders; and building mutually beneficial relationships with community groups.

Tahaney said achievement and growth are being encouraged at the school by creating incentives for good behavior and good grades. The school also set up its own data wall last year for accountability, she said.

Tahaney said S.W. Snowden is working to build relationships with stakeholders and community groups by rebuilding its Parent-Teacher Association, creating partnerships with the Beaufort-Hyde County Partnership for Children and the Aurora Fossil Museum and actively dispersing information about what is happening at the school.

She said the school has begun submitting news to local media outlets, as well as creating its own electronic newsletter.

“We’ve also sent out surveys to teachers to try to identify their specific needs,” Tahaney said. “There is already a whole different energy at our school.”

The school board approved John Small Elementary’s and S.W. Snowden’s plans for improvement and expressed its positivity about the outlook for the schools’ growth.

“We are here to help you and help the children, which is why we’re here in the first place,” Williams said.