Bancroft-Rosalie Elementary has been nominated for the National Blue Ribbon School Award. An application form needs to be submitted to the Department of Education by March 20. I will share some of the narratives that are being submitted that show what makes Bancroft-Rosalie Elementary an exemplary school.
Describe the nature of the community
and students served.
Bancroft-Rosalie
Elementary School serves the communities of Bancroft (495 residents) and
Rosalie (160 residents) in rural Northeast Nebraska. The economy is primarily
agriculture related businesses. Rosalie is on the Omaha Indian Reservation.
Bancroft-Rosalie Elementary School has 164 students in grades P-6. The student
population is 83% white, 12.8% Native American, 1.8% African-American, 1.2%
Asian American, and 1.2% Hispanic. The free/reduced lunch rate is 40%.
Bancroft-Rosalie
Elementary is a unique learning environment. Twenty-one (21%) percent of the
student’s option into the district from nearby school districts. Many of these option students are from
families that attended Bancroft-Rosalie School or families that live on the
reservation and choose to send their students to a school off the reservation. Bancroft-Rosalie Elementary is a school
wide Title I school. The school has two school improvement goals- All students
will increase knowledge and skills in math concepts and reasoning and all
students will be provided a multi-tier system of supports.
The school has one classroom per grade level and two
special education teachers. Bancroft-Rosalie Elementary utilizes a “Walk to Read”
program with small group instruction in the subjects of reading, language,
spelling and math. Students move to the group that is working at their correct
level of difficulty. Placement is determined by triangulating data from three
sources- a universal screener (DIBELS), an in program placement test, and state
testing and norm referenced assessments (Nebraska State Assessment, NeSA, and
Measures of Academic Progress, MAP).
The staff is highly collaborative and meets at regularly
to review student data and plan strategically to accommodate students who may
not be mastering objectives, or to identify those who might benefit from more
advanced work. Students with disabilities are fully included. The school adopted
a set of scientifically based interventions that are enabling staff
to provide focused remediation for students experiencing difficulties,
especially in reading and math.
