Claxton Elementary Claxton, Georgia State Solution Claxton Elementary was not widely expected to educate students to high standards. And it generally did not -- until recently. It was tucked away in rural Evans County, Georgia, down Highway 301 from a Claxton poultry processing plant, an hour west of Savannah. Most of the school's 768 students (339 African Americans, 320 whites, 109 Hispanics) were from low-income families. Academically, it was one of Georgia's weakest schools when the Georgia department of education made the America's Choice School Design available to the school three years ago. "We were doing everything we could, but we only got a 1 percent rise in test scores a year," recalled Principal Angelia Jones, who has been a teacher and administrator at the school for 34 years. Today, the picture is very different at Claxton. Seventy-seven percent of the school's 4th graders met or exceeded state expectations on the Georgia Criterion Reference Competency Test in reading in 2003, compared to 54 percent in 2001, the year the school adopted the America's Choice design. The percentage of students meeting or exceeding the state's standards in math increased from 41 percent to 79 percent during the same period. Says teacher and literacy coach Joy Adams: "America's Choice gave us a plan and we've executed it." The school is particularly proud of the performance of its 160 special education students, who make up 20 percent of Claxton's student body. America's Choice, Adams and others say, raised Claxton's expectations for its special-education students, and the program's engaging but structured teaching strategies have given the school an effective strategy for helping students meet the higher standards. "It's not just work sheet after work sheet," says teacher Kelly Stephens. That is true even in one of the few Claxton classes of self-contained special-education students, where teacher Becky Morgan began an hour-long period of writing instruction that all America's Choice students take part in every day. "What is another way to say, 'bad?'" she asked her students, five very emotionally troubled 4th and 5th graders. "Dreadful," "horrible," "terrible," "awful," they responded enthusiastically. After Morgan solicited synonyms for several other words, the students dispersed to their desks to work on stories that they were writing, including one about a magic carpet ride to Florida, as Morgan worked with students one-on-one. In addition to making learning fun, America's Choice teachers follow daily routines in the teaching of reading, writing and math that give specialeducation students a sense of structure that they value, Stephens and other Claxton teachers say. They know exactly what is expected of them. So do all of Claxton's students. As a result, behavior has improved throughout the school. "The sense of order that the America's Choice design brings to classrooms results in kids being better behaved in the hallways and in the lunchroom, says school system staffer Sheila Tilman. Teachers are also happier. Teacher attendance, an important bellwether of school success, has risen from 80 percent in 2001-02 to 94 percent today. Back to Results