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Batesburg-Leesville Primary School

Batesburg-Leesville Primary School, nominated by KnowledgeWorks, is a elementary school in Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina that describes itself as a public district school serving learners from a primarily rural area.

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Location Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina

Governance Public district school

Grades Prekindergarten, Elementary

Students 540

Locale Rural

Principal Mary Anne Tillman

Demographics

Percentage of students*

8%

English Learners

74%

Free/Reduced Lunch

16%

Students with Disabilities

African American or Black —

American Indian/Alaska Native —

Asian —

Hawaiian or Pacific Islander —

Hispanic or Latino —

White —

2+ Races —

Why Batesburg-Leesville Primary School was nominated

For the last 4 years, Batesburg-Leesville Elementary School has been on a journey to grow and sustain a personalized learning system. With a focus on an instructional shift to a more student-centered environment, flexible seating, choice boards, and student interests were targeted strategies. With the COVID pandemic in 2020, BLPS soon realized they would need to dig deeper into the development and implementation of learning pathways to support all learners. Concerned about learning loss when virtual school was the only option, teachers engaged in professional collaboration to address those learning gaps. Prioritizing standards in ELA and Mathematics was a first step in the construction of an equitable viable Learning Continuum, where progressions of learning and readiness assessments were developed for the standards. As teachers continued to collaborate in both grade level and vertical teams, it was clear the curriculum work they had done served a larger purpose than addressing learning gaps – it had in fact provided an opportunity to foster agency in all learners! Date tracking and goal setting soon belonged to the 4- and 5-year-old kindergartners, first and second graders, and progress monitoring and celebrations of learning soon followed, where the outcome was student ownership of the learning! Generative curriculum, where the youngest of learners bring ideas to school about what they want to learn taps into curiosity and has made room for projects that are truly learner-centered at BLPS. The school’s personalized learning footprint is strong and has informed district systems shifts across the K-12 system.

Student experience design

The BLPS learning environment vision is to empower learners to set goals that engage and demonstrate mastery at a pace that fits their needs with rigor and support.

Core Practices

Core Practices Length of Use

Assessments For Deeper Learning
5+ years

Competency/mastery-based Education
3-4 years

Individual Learner Profiles
3-4 years

Multi-tiered System Of Support (MTSS) In Academics
3-4 years

All Practices

Advancement On Mastery

Assessments For Social-emotional Skills

Family And Community Support Services

Competency Framework

Culturally Responsive Practices

Disaggregated Data On Student Participation

Grading Policies Focus On Mastery

All Courses Designed For Inclusion

Interoperable Data From Multiple Technologies

Mental Health Services

Multi-age Classrooms

Multiple Opportunities To Demonstrate Mastery

Project-based Learning

Performance Based Assessment

Physical Well Being Services

Reallocation Of Resources For Those Most In Need

SEL Curriculum

SEL Integration School-wide

Students Access Their Own Data

Student-led Goal Setting

Self-paced Learning

Trauma-informed Practices

Universal Design For Learning

Date Updated: 4/1/2024

*Canopy profile data is self-reported or sourced from NCES data, then verified by school leaders.