Meet the CMS school ‘making dreams come true’ — and surging up NC’s rating system
There are some descriptors you might expect when you ask teachers what it’s like to work at their school. “It’s like Disney World,” probably isn’t one of them.
LaToya Wright, assistant principal at Paw Creek Elementary School in northwest Charlotte, says it really is the most magical place on earth.
“You can sit in a class and see a light bulb come on for a child you’ve been working with right in front of you,” she said. “Seeing them grow… we really are making dreams come true.”
It also has its fair share of characters, Wright says. Though they’re typically not in costume.
The school is a feather in CMS’ cap when it comes to accountability grades from the state this year. Paw Creek Elementary climbed two letter grades over two years in the State Department of Public Instruction’s accountability ratings — from a D grade in 2022 following the pandemic to a B for 2024. It’s on target to achieve an A rating in student math proficiency by next year.
The school also received a score of 100 for learning growth in 2024, the highest score possible. It ranked first in CMS for growth and in the top 1% of schools in the state for growth in 2023.
Overall, the district saw slight improvement, with about 53% of CMS students scoring as proficient on statewide exams— just under one percentage point better than last year.
Principal Danielle Belton, who has been at the helm of Paw Creek for 11 years, credits the school’s progress to a strong system for developing teachers and monitoring student performance. And good, old-fashioned belief.
Educator coaching
Every educator at Paw Creek Elementary, from administrators to first-year teachers, has a more senior teacher or administrator assigned as their coach. They meet weekly to talk about each child’s progress and make a plan for how to improve.
“We’re looking individually at students to see exactly where their strengths are, where their gaps are and looking for a plan to intervene,” Belton said. “We’re very data-driven in our approach.”
Teachers have access to data for each student and assessment, which they monitor throughout the week. The idea is, by catching where a student struggles early on, teachers can help them before learning gaps grow wider.
“As soon as we see a student is struggling with an assignment, we can look and see what’s going on,” said Stevie Roper, a multi-classroom leader at Paw Creek.
Belton, who was CMS’ 2022 principal of the year, implemented the strategy after seeing students fall behind during the pandemic — when it became clear the school needed a coordinated approach.
“Many students had significant gaps, not just at our school or in our district but across the nation, and we set very ambitious goals to rebound from the pandemic,” she said. “That looked like us coming together and putting particular systems in place to be able to monitor individual students’ growth and achievement.”
Teachers meet in larger groups with coaches three to four times a week to focus on particular areas of instruction like literacy or math. Meanwhile, Belton, Roper and other leaders regularly visit classrooms around the school and give feedback.
Paw Creek has been what CMS calls an “advanced teaching roles” school for five years as part of the district’s Teacher-Leader Pathway, which allows schools to reallocate resources to focus on developing teachers at high-need schools. Teachers receive additional professional development opportunities and up to $18,250 more than their regular salary.
Brenda Berg, president and CEO of education advocacy organization Best NC, says it’s likely a large part of the improvement at Paw Creek.
“When we see this type of surge, we can almost always tie it to a strategic staffing effort that starts with a great principal and focuses on better aligning teacher talent with student needs,” Berg told The Charlotte Observer. She says Paw Creek “is now reaping the benefits of a school structure that better supports their teachers with embedded professional development.”
‘Kids believe it’
When Belton started at Paw Creek 11 years ago, she coined a refrain every student and teacher knows by heart: “Paw Creek students are SMART.” That’s studious, motivated, ambitious, respectful and talented.
She sets an expectation that every staff member believes in every child’s ability to learn and succeed.
“We know part of our success is kids believe it,” she said. “Students will meet our expectations when we invest in them and set them up to be confident learners not just here, but later on as well.”
When end-of-grade tests rolled around, Paw Creek students were greeted by a red carpet and balloon arches as they entered the classroom. Some students wore eye black to gear up for “the big game.”
“Our teachers really put a lot of effort into making kids feel excited and pumped up about showing how smart they are,” Belton said.
She already has her sights set on next year.
“We’re looking at those areas where we can continue to grow because we’re not going to stop,” Belton said. “We know that all kids can learn, and it’s up to the adults in the building to make it happen.”
This story was originally published September 16, 2024 at 12:00 AM.
