Jennie K. Kolter Elementary School
         

Serving ice cream and lemonade at the Kolter Elementary School celebration were (from L-R) District V Board of Education Trustee Dianne Johnson, West Region Superintendent Scott Van Beck, Kolter Elementary School Principal Brenda Keith, Superintendent of Schools Abelardo Saavedra, and Office of Strategic Partnerships Executive General Manager Gasper Mir III.

Real-life lessons are what helped Jennie K. Kolter Elementary School students understand difficult concepts, which raised the school’s rating from “Recognized” to “Exemplary.” With the exception of writing, 97 percent of students at the Meyerland-area school passed in all subjects, including math, science, and reading. For writing, Kolter Elementary had a 100-percent passing rate. 

“In the West Region we have pulled several of our science teachers together to build common assessments based on the objectives for that grading period,” said Kolter Elementary Principal Brenda Keith. “Every six to nine weeks the teachers would administer the common assessment to measure how well the students have mastered the concepts that have been taught. We then set up tutoring groups for students who were behind.”

Keith said that a large group of students had a difficult time with earth science. Because the entire subject had to be re-taught, fifth-grade science teacher Ahlene Shong utilized innovative methods to help students understand and retain the lessons.

West Region Superintendent Scott Van Beck serves lemonade to Kolter Elementary School first-grade teacher Jeanette Roetzel.

“For example,” said Keith, “children were taught that ‘sound is created from the transfer of energy.’ But they didn’t retain the concept until they blew up balloons and then made the balloons ‘sing.’” Keith said science scores went up by three percentage points from the previous year.

Fifth-grade math teacher Jeff Silk used innovative teaching methods that resulted in a 99-percent passing rate (score for fifth-grade only) for his class. “We almost had 100 percent. We were so close,” said Silk, but he added that he was proud of all of his students.

Silk’s method of helping students understand the concept of “remainders” in simple division involved experiential math problems. For example, Silk presented the problem of 24 divided by five. Twenty-four students divided themselves into four groups of five and discovered there were four students remaining, hence the remainder, four.

“Our teachers have adopted a hands-on, real-life-experience way of teaching that has made a tremendous difference in our students’ ability to grasp difficult concepts,” said Keith, citing another real-life example. “Our students not only grew organic gardens, they also had to decide how many blocks of a particular size it would take to build a specific-sized garden bed. When you do that kind of activity, it makes it much easier to remember the concept.”

Kolter Elementary fifth-grade math teacher Jeff Silk, Principal Brenda Keith, second-grade math teacher Pam Minifee, third-grade reading teacher Camille Holm, second-grade math teacher Maria Carandas, first-grade teacher Cheryl Carr-Green, and fifth-grade reading teacher Jackie Mark.

Superintendent of Schools Abelardo Saavedra congratulated teachers for their work in raising the school’s rating from Recognized to Exemplary.

“It was an exceptional year for you here at Kolter and for the district,” said Dr. Saavedra. “You have every reason to be proud of the work that you have done.”

It was Kolter Elementary School’s fifth year to receive the highest rating from the Texas Education Agency. “I was not surprised to find Kolter on the Exemplary list,” said District V Board Trustee Dianne Johnson. “It’s almost expected. In fact, if I ever find that Kolter is not on the Exemplary list, I will immediately want to know what’s wrong.”

Johnson said Kolter Elementary has always had tremendous support from parents, who were always eager to help. “This is a school that lives in the solution,” she said. “Kolter has a system that works.”