South-Dorchester School
South Dorchester School is a Pre-Kindergarten through grade 8 school located in the Church Creek, Maryland area known as Golden Hill. The student body consisted of 221 students, one hundred thirty two males and eighty-nine females. Three students of the total population are African American. Fifty of the students received free or reduced meals. Eighteen percent of the student body received special education services including educational and speech services. One student was identified and received ELL services. Attendance for the 2005-2006 school year was 94%.
The professional staff consisted of seventeen certificated staff members. Fifteen percent of the teachers were male and eighty-five percent of the teachers were female. The average years of experience for administrators and teachers were twenty-one years. One hundred percent of the teachers were highly qualified in their subject areas.
The support staff consisted of one full-time secretary, one nurse, four instructional assistants, two cafeteria personnel, and two custodial staff.
South Dorchester is unique in that there is only one class per grade level. The staff members are dedicated, flexible, and experienced with most having ten or more years experience. Most of the elementary staff has taught in their current grade level for an average of ten years. Through creative scheduling and use of staff members more individualized small group instruction was continued. Eighteen percent of staff attended professional conferences and shared resource materials during professional development days and team meetings.
South Dorchester School continued to expand instructional programs. Small group instruction for reading remained in grades 1 through 6 using the classroom teacher, special education teacher, and professional development teacher. Students in grades 6 through 8 participated in differentiated instruction in math. A Gifted and Talented Program has been established in math to serve our gifted eighth grade students. Successful implementation of these programs resulted in South Dorchester School meeting AYP for the 2006 MSA administration.