Ocean View Elementary Boasts Blue Ribbon Victory
Ocean View Elementary School is busy making waves- nationally!
Last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spelling named 320 schools as the 2008 No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon Schools, and Ocean View made the list. One of only 11 schools in Virginia to earn the top honor, Ocean View is the only school which boasts a Blue Ribbon this year in Hampton Roads. Norfolk’s Taylor Elementary School earned the honor last year.
“This just affirms for us that every member of our staff has a firm commitment to the mission of ensuring every child, in every grade, is proficient in every subject,” said Principal Lauren Campsen. “We take personal responsibility that all means all and it shows.”
The Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors public and private elementary, middle and high schools that are either academically superior or that demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement to high levels. And Ocean View has the numbers to prove they deserve such high honors.
There is virtually no achievement gap at the diverse elementary school. Special education and regular education students alike, score above 80 percent on every SOL test. So do African American, Caucasian and Hispanic students. Such numbers are a far different picture than what Ocean View had just eight years ago.
The reason behind such high numbers, Campsen said, is the dedication of her staff to always use data to guide their way.
“They are your kids whether they are gifted and talented, ESL, special education, or from different cultural backgrounds and they all have areas where you can help them improve,” Campsen said. “What we have done is changed our approach, what the adults in the building do, to see that no child is missed.”
In fact, at Ocean View, if a child’s name pops up as missing a skill, an “intervention” takes place. This could be done by the classroom teacher, a volunteer, another school faculty member, or even the principal herself.
Interventions involve work on a skill a student is weak in. Sometimes it is done in group rotations, in one-on-one sessions, or even by students in a higher grade as a chance to do a review.
Debbie Price, a third grade teacher at Ocean View since 2000, said that it is the data-driven interventions that have made a real difference in student achievement.
“The data is so important because it helps identify strengths and weaknesses and gives you a place to start,” Price said. “Even the students are getting involved and now they are not asking ‘Am I passing?’ but it is ‘Am I proficient?’ so their mindsets have changed too.”
