Oak Grove Elementary Wins Georgia School Bell Award

ACWORTH, GA -- The Cherokee County School District continues its Georgia School Bell Award-winning streak, with Oak Grove Elementary School Fine Arts Academy earning the prestigious honor for 2017!

The Georgia Association of Elementary School Principals presents the distinguished Award to 10 schools in Georgia each year in recognition of outstanding curriculum and organizational leadership initiatives. This marks the seventh consecutive year that at least one district school has been honored.

The selection committee chooses exemplary initiatives that result in positive change and demonstrate strong involvement of staff, students, parents and community.

Oak Grove ES Fine Arts Academy earned the award for its Anchor Standards initiative, a school-wide program through which teachers identified specific learning goals for each grade level, subject and grading period to be prepared for, tracked and updated through collaboration within Professional Learning Communities teacher groups. Administrators, community partners, volunteers and parents all play a role in the program’s success, and a Data Room provides a place to review results and talk strategy.

“We continually analyze the impact of prioritizing standards and aligning the targeted content and language objectives to show student mastery of key concepts and skills,” Principal Penny Valle said. “So far, the results indicate significant student achievement growth in math and reading due to the implementation and focus on anchor standards.”

The school will be formally recognized and presented with the Award at the Association’s Fall Principals’ Conference in Savannah, and they will be recognized by Superintendent Dr. Brian Hightower and the Cherokee County School Board at the board's Aug. 17 meeting.

“We’re so proud of Oak Grove and Principal Valle for earning this impressive recognition in honor of their work to continuously improve classroom instruction,” Dr. Hightower said. “Digging into data gives our teachers a better understanding of each individual child’s learning needs -- where each needs more help or more challenges -- and this impressive initiative does just that. Congratulations to the entire school community, as everyone played a role in this success, and their efforts and care are much appreciated.”

Recent past CCSD winners are: 2016, Bascomb ES; 2015, Holly Springs ES STEM Academy and Woodstock ES; 2014, Canton ES STEM Academy; 2013, Free Home ES; 2012, Liberty ES; 2011, Oak Grove ES.

Photo: Penny Valle, principal of Oak Grove Elementary School Fine Arts Academy. Credit: Cherokee County School District