Angel Hunter: At King Elementary School, student success begins with our ‘starting lineup’
When DC Public Schools first administered the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exams in 2015, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School was significantly behind in both English language arts (ELA) and math, with only 6% of our 135-student cohort proficient in ELA and 5% proficient in math.
These data points sparked a fire inside of my academic leadership team to be bold about student achievement. We recruited teachers who had a proven track record for increasing student achievement and who believed that black students and students from lower-income backgrounds can perform at the same pace and measure as their peers.
From PK3 to second grade, our teachers provide our youngest students with the foundational skills they need to thrive, and our teachers in grades three through five are the “starting lineup” responsible for ensuring that they reach their full potential. King’s educators are the reason we have been recognized as a 2019 “Bold Performance” School by EmpowerK12, an education nonprofit in DC. Our starting lineup carries out the school vision and believes that we will achieve that vision despite the obstacles that may come — from tardiness to chronic absenteeism to students being two to three grade levels behind. King’s starting lineup is tasked with powering through those obstacles and turning them into stepping stones.
All of our teachers have demonstrated their ability to persevere in a variety of ways, setting high expectations for students by providing them with grade-level curriculum and standard aligned instruction on a daily basis, participating in weekly data meetings to review standards, and identifying areas where students need additional support. Our teachers also have participated in voluntary home visits, worked with students to improve their attendance, and visited similar school programs to learn from their peers. These strategies have allowed for the students to flourish and have provided a deeper and meaningful investment from our parents.
Our growth as a school shows that their efforts are working. When the starting lineup made it to the end of the school year, our students were able to demonstrate 19% proficiency in ELA and 29% proficiency in math — a far cry from the 5% and 6% proficiency rates from the past.
Are we where we need to be? Not yet. But we have quadrupled achievement rates in both ELA and math. King is a school that is on the rise, with committed staff and students who are resilient and who persevere in the face of obstacles. We will continue to be bold about student achievement and hope other schools can learn from our growth as a school community.
Angel Hunter became the principal of Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Ward 8 in June 2015. A former special education teacher, she joined DC Public Schools in 2006 as an Individualized Education Program Developer for the Office of Specialized Instruction. In 2009 she was promoted to a program manager of the Non-Public Unit and in 2012 was selected to participate in the inaugural cohort of the Mary Jane Patterson Fellowship, a 30-month program to train future principals.
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