June 1, 2005

Reading program success story

Sabin receives Outstanding Educator Award from Chamber of Commerce

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer

       How do you quantify years of effort, trace roots of tangible gains and measure organization-wide cohesion?
      Receiving an Outstanding Educator Award from the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce is one way. More important to the recipients, though, are thriving, learning students, an excited and eager staff on the same page about education and parents involved in the school.
      Staff at Sabin Elementary School took home the first ever team award granted to a whole school Thursday evening at the Outstanding Educator Awards ceremony, held at the Milliken Auditorium. Sixteen other teams and individual educators from Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska and Leelanau counties also received awards that evening (see sidebar.)
      In the case of the Sabin team, which was one of more than 300 nominations in five categories received for the 21st Annual Awards, a flood of nominations came in this spring from parents and community members. The award set a new precedent for the chamber.
      "We've always had a team category but this is the first time a particular team has been the entire school," said Laura Oblinger, senior vice president at the Chamber of Commerce. "Within their situation, the nominations that came in for the Sabin Elementary School team were numerous."
      Working at a school where other educators are calling or visiting to ask, 'What are you doing?' is it's own reward. Even with just a few short weeks left together, as Sabin Elementary School is slated to close at the end of the school year, the staff continues to hum like a well-oiled team. The 220 students in grades preschool through sixth and the 45 staff members at the school will be moving to other schools in the district.
      Sharon Alguire, principal at the school for seven years, credits three things for the school's success: the teamwork of her staff, an emphasis on reading and writing plus extensive involvement of parents.
      The teamwork includes a shared vision for their students and the best way to achieve it. Teachers also hold two staff meetings a month that focus on professional development and school improvement. Many times, teachers have put in their own time to learn and then share with their colleagues. Leaders among the staff are doers, Alguire noted, movers and shakers who keep themselves up on and promote best practices.
      "It has developed over a long period of time, I think that the chemistry among the staff is magical," Alguire said. "It takes everybody in the building to make it work, we're all so connected with a common mission and you know you can count on people."
      "I feel blessed and it has been a lot of blood, sweat and tears," she added.
      Embracing a district initiative of balanced literacy, Sabin staff members believe that competency in both reading and writing are the keys to success in all other subjects. The students are reaping the rewards as the school has logged rising MEAP scores while reading and writing competency extends into kindergarten. The school also just took down a literacy wall from the staff room that acknowledged each student's progress.
      "We do a lot of celebration of learning and they spend a lot of time reading and writing," said Waunita Waszak, a second-grade teacher at the school. "That's why we've made such gains on reading and writing scores, we are all on the same page. We believe very strongly in balanced literacy and that reciprocal process of reading and writing."
      "Many kids say, 'Can I stay in at recess and write,'­" she added. "Honest they do."
      An active Parent Teacher Organization is one facet of parent involvement while the other is an open-door policy that welcomes their participation at the school.
      "We all know the families very well, we love having the connection with the families," Alguire noted.