Green Street Elementary School recognized as one of two Title I Distinguished Schools in the state, one of 60 across the nation

PHILLIPSBURG | Unity, persistence and a concentrated focus on improvement are just a few of the attributes setting Green Street Elementary School apart from others in the state, district officials said.

The hard work has garnered recognition for the school in capturing the honor of a Title I Distinguished School. The designation is shared by only one other school among the 616 districts in the state -- the Dionne Warwick Institute in East Orange, N.J.

"Green Street has really achieved something phenomenal," said Margie Markus, Title I coordinator in the Phillipsburg School District.

Schools that qualify as Title I receive federal and state funds based on the number of children in the district who receive free or reduced-cost lunches.

The Green Street School was selected for the honor after displaying enormous strides in closing the gap between general education students and other subgroups such as special education, said Markus.

The elementary school is among 60 schools honored nationwide for such an accomplishment.

Credit where it's due

Up to 60 percent of students at Green Street School qualify for free or reduced lunches, said John Finken, the principal.

Several subgroups exist within the school, including special education students and English language learners.

These students and the rest of the school's population, met the adequate yearly progress requirements for 2008, according to state testing results.

Assistant Superintendent George Chando said the school has made tremendous strides from even as recently as two years ago.

"It's gone from a frustration level to a success level," he said.

Impressive advanced proficiency numbers in math, as high as 50 percent for fourth-grade special education students, left administrators in a pleasant state of shock.

"These numbers are what is new to us," said Marian Trapani, director of planning, research and evaluation. "We've never seen anything like this."

Finken is in charge of a school of 304 students in third, fourth and fifth grades. He said the recognition was a stunning cap to years of working to improve curriculum and test scores.

The school's success comes from the classroom, according to Finken.

"Staff works really hard," he said. "You can say what you want, but it really comes down to the teachers that are out there in the trenches."

New perspective

Anne Marie Ball and Darlene Noel have been teaching at Green Street for a collective 31 years. Both are third-grade teachers and both have observed a 180 degree turn in the attitude of test-taking within the school.

"The problem was they weren't doing well ... because they were psyching themselves out. So we started psyching them up," Ball said of the students.

Noel donned the alias of DJ Noel during test days, pumping up the students with positive tunes like "Simply the Best" and "High Hopes" over the loudspeaker.

"We wanted to ease the tension," Noel said.

Ball's classroom includes some special education students, and Noel has a handful of English language learner students. The key to high achievement for students facing unique challenges is to keep standards high, they said.

"It's amazing when you give them these tools what they can do," said Ball.

The consulting firm Ed Sol Consul, formerly known as Ed Solution, has been working in the district for three years to help teachers with strategies for test-taking.

Ball said incorporating the firm's strategies into everyday teaching throughout the school made for fewer surprises on standardized tests.

"They found that when it was time to take the test, it was easy for them since it had been embedded every day," she said. "It had become second nature."