Education Excellence

Kristina chats with Michelle Fleming, principal at Lake Park Elementary School in the Palm Beach School District in Florida, the 10th largest school district in the country, although the Lake Park Elementary School (which Burt Reynolds attended) is relatively small.  The school is 98 percent minority, including with 33 percent of the student body being Haitian Creole, she notes. The school has implemented iReady to overcome its literacy proficiency of only 25 percent. Now, the school is off of the state’s list of low-performing schools. According to Fleming, the iReady books and the data produced by iReady, a product of Curriculum Associates, have been a game-changer for the school. In need of funds to purchase iReady, Fleming engaged in a GoFundMe campaign — very successfully. In a Title I school, “you’re your own marketing agent,” Fleming notes. iReady really pushes students and has a wide range of offerings, she adds. This episode was sponsored by NWEA, www.nwea.org, Better Lesson, https://betterlesson.com