Patterson Elementary School in Washington D.C.’s Ward 8 has long been viewed as an underdog: in 2013 and 2014, performance on summative tests was among the lowest in the district. Student performance increased in SY14–15, when Patterson outperformed a quarter of district schools in math and ELA. This progress in the first year of the new PARCC summative has the staff feeling excited and proud.
![Principal Victorie Thomas](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5321dc4ae4b0c72ad0ceedfe/1455054020362-E9R37XILZUWZOEDK3C0Y/image-asset.jpeg)
Principal Victorie Thomas
The school’s principal, Dr. Victorie Thomas describes instructional changes that have helped boost student achievement: “We focus on item analysis, short-cycle assessments, student work protocols, classroom walkthroughs and feedback, reteach plans, and reflections. The teachers are constantly looking at various pieces of data to drive their work.”
“If I could be in their building every day to do the work of ANet alongside them, I would. They’re phenomenal. I just love the team, and the school community is amazing. ”
Patterson’s ANet coach Lysa Scott emphasizes the “amazing” community’s “all-hands-on-deck” culture. “From the minute you walk in the door, you sense they are a tight-knit community. Everybody in the building values everyone else’s role. Victorie and her AP were going into classrooms and doing small-group math instruction.”
Scott continues, “It’s about the vertical alignment: Teachers think about instruction a level below and above. They dig in and help each other plan lessons. It’s not ‘You just teach these kids;’ it’s ‘They’re all our kids.’ It makes you invested when you walk in.”