By: Natalie Wilson

HIGH POINT, N.C. — A Guilford County school once in jeopardy of being taken over by the state has made significant progress in less than a year.

Fairview Elementary located in High Point has improved its overall performance after being in the bottom 5 percent in the state with test scores.

“We were able to be in the top 10 percent in growth, we rose proficiency by 10 percent, and we moved from an F to a D on our school report card,” Principal Abe Hege said.

The improvements happened in 10 months.

Professional development and increasing the number of engaging activities contributed to the progress, but staff credits a change in attitude more than anything else.

“We all knew our children could succeed that maybe there were some things that we needed to change and the culture and the passion really ignited things in people that I think they were even shocked that they had it within themselves,” said Pam Greene, Communities in Schools student support specialist at Fairview Elementary.

Hege says the change in culture had a ripple effect when students and staff felt a new excitement.

Fairview Elementary is no longer on the takeover list.

“It was a sigh of relief, but I think it was also just, look what happens when people put their mind to something and put egos aside and say teamwork is what we’re going to do,” Hege said.

Parents are also getting more involved.

This is the second year Fairview has had a PTA under the current administration.

Last year was the first in seven years.

Link to Original Post: https://myfox8.com/2019/11/22/guilford-county-school-once-in-jeopardy-of-being-taken-over-by-state-has-made-significant-progress/