POSEN — Superintendent and Principal Michelle Wesner credits recent school success to the teamwork of teachers and hard work of students.

Posen Elementary recently has been named a Rewards school by the State of Michigan. There are three school rankings in Michigan; Priority, Focus and Rewards.

“They look at different factors at determining a school’s ranking or status,” Wesner said. “A Rewards school status is what we have been named. It is a great accomplishment for us.”

To be given this designation a school must be in the top 5 percent of schools ranked. They also have to outperform their predicted rank, and must be in the top 5 percent of greatest gains in achievement.

One of the ways they look at things is the achievement gap ranking, Wesner said.

“This is in relations to other schools in the state,” she said. “It’s calculated by figuring the gap between the highest and lowest performing students. If you have a high gap, you need to find ways to support those students, and bring them up. We’ve been working hard with remediation. It’s helped us decrease the achievement gap.”

Posen is ranked at 92 percent, which means on a scale of 0-99 they’re ranked 92 percent above other Michigan schools.

“Our achievement gap is at 87 percent,” she said. “You want a low number.”

Because last year the state didn’t rank the schools, Wesner said, officials waited for these numbers for a long time.

Teacher and co-focus school leader Hollie Kuchnicki said the school focused on ways to help students.

“We added reading supports through modeling and close reading strategies,” Kuchnicki said.

This means teachers in all courses — including math and science– identify vocabulary words, words in italics, headings, pictures, tables and graphs. This is done prior to when the new chapter is read.

“It’s done to give them a guide to what they’re about to learn about in a lesson,” she said. “Often it’s taken for granted, especially with older students, that they’ve already internalized it. What we do is done through explicit instructions and guided modeling.”

Kuchnicki said these methods helped the students take ownership of their education. It provides them with a learning target prior to each lesson, she said.

“So they know the direction we’re going to take before we start each lesson,” Kuchnicki said. “It empowers them as well. That’s a huge part of the success.”

They’ve also started small group interventions for students who struggle and need more assistance. One math intervention program helps students with their basic math facts. This then leads to success in math programs with more stringent, procedural techniques, Kuchnicki said.

Wesner said the new designation does not open the school to more state funds. But, it does give them the opportunity to discuss the strategies and techniques they’ve used.

“At this point we’re working with other schools who’ve asked ‘what are you doing,’ because our student body isn’t unusual in its makeup,” she said. “Our students are the same students you find everywhere. We’re diverse in student needs and abilities. We’ve got students from every socio-economic background. These strategies help all students. It gives us a chance to showcase the new and great things.”

Wesner and Kuchnicki said they have a strong elementary school staff that works together as a team to improve things.

“We do an amazing job on building each other up,” Wesner said.

Positive affirmation works, Wesner said. School officials look at what they’re doing right and build on that, Wesner said.

“Positivity all the way,” Kuchnicki said.”

Jordan Spence can be reached via email at jspence@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5687.