TOMÉ ELEMENTARY IS ‘WORLD’S BEST’
School one of 156 in U.S., Canada cited for overall performance
School is one of 156 in U.S. and Canada cited for student and staff performance for making strides with its use of Professional Learning Communities.
TOME — Tomé Elementary School is making strides with its use of Professional Learning Communities. Recently, the school was recognized as one of 156 schools and districts nationwide and in Canada that have model professional learning communities. The school was named “The World’s Best Elementary” and a model professional learning community by Solution Tree, a leading provider of educational strategies and tools to improve staff and student performance.
Principal Casey Ahner said that, in years past, Tomé elementary hadn’t been known as a highperforming school, but that, for a decade, staff members have worked to develop the school’s PLCs.
“It’s very humbling to me and it was exciting to see the results of our students and our teachers,” Ahner said of the award. “This is their work and it’s very validating to receive this recognition.
“It’s the way we do business,” the principal said. “We come together and we look at what we’re teaching, we plan out curriculum and student assessments and we look at student data to determine needs and next steps.”
Four questions guide PLCs: What do we want our students to learn? How do we know when they’ve learned it? How do we respond when they did learn it and how do we respond if they didn’t learn it? These are the questions asked during the PLC, then teachers share best practices, new strategies and breakthrough methods.