Small class sizes and well-disciplined children helped lead to high test scores at St. Francis of Assisi School, its principal says.
The Catholic elementary school in Greenwood recently scored above average in every category of the national Stanford Achievement Test.
Sister Carol Seidl, principal of St. Francis, said the institution has worked hard to garner high scores.
“It helps that we have smaller class sizes and most of the instructors have master’s degrees,” Seidl said. “But we also put a lot into getting the kids to get ready for the tests.”
St. Francis goes from kindergarten to sixth grade and had an enrollment of 107 in September. Third through sixth graders took the tests.
Seidl said that the school spent a week before testing just getting the students excited for the exams.
“We tell the parents, and we do activities with them to let them know that we expect them to do their best,” Seidl said. “We will also do something for them now to celebrate doing so well.”
Seidl said many that visit the school are impressed by the calm, quiet and well-disciplined students.
“Teaching can’t be effective if you are constantly interrupted to discipline a child,” Seidl said. “If you are spending all of your time disciplining, you aren’t teaching.”
The school has also made improvements to the students’ access to technology in the classroom. Seidl said that computer programs have become a larger part of the curriculum at St. Francis.
Seidl said she attributes much of what the test analyzer for the Diocese of Jackson Catholic Schools described as “awesome” test results to the teachers.
“There has been a real concerted effort on behalf of our teachers to get the students to work hard and do their best all year,” Seidl said.
“Our goal here is to create diamonds in the Delta,” she said. “I think their test scores show that we are.”
