Dogwood Elementary Reaches Important Milestone

Robyn Cochran, principal at Reston's Dogwood Elementary School, is visibly excited. Her phone is ringing, her staff is buzzing. The news is good.

After years of being so close, but not close enough, the teachers and staff at Dogwood Elementary School can breathe a sigh of relief.

Dogwood Elementary has made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), as defined by the No Child Left Behind criteria, based on last year's Virginia Standards of Learning testing scores.

Previous years saw Dogwood Elementary miss Adequate Yearly Progress in one or two categories, but this year Dogwood students tested strong across the board.

"Change takes time to build," Cochrane said. "We've seen growth every year, but now the scores reflect that growth".

 "Our focus has always been on how students are learning," she said. "We adjust to meet the needs of our students."

Cochrane credits her teachers and staff for the steady progress Dogwood has made over the years, through instructional practice and monitoring students, "child by child".

In addition to Dogwood, four other Reston elementary schools were determined to be making Adequate Yearly Progress (Aldrin Elementary School, Armstrong Elementary School, Terraset Elementary School and Sunrise Valley Elementary School).

Three Reston Elementary schools did not make AYP (Forest Edge Elementary School, Hunters Woods Elementary School and Lake Anne Elementary School).

As a Federal Title 1 School, making AYP is an important milestone for Dogwood. Title 1 Schools face sanctions when they fail to make AYP, including the option to transfer to a higher performing school or replacing administrators.

If a school does not receive Federal Title 1 funding, then not meeting AYP does not carry penalties, but does cause administrators to look even more closely at which areas may need improvement.

At Dogwood, Cochran knows that the challenge to reach and teach her students continues even before school begins in September. Dogwood, formerly a FCPS school with a modified year-round calendar, this year is on the regular calendar with the rest of the Reston elementary schools.

Nonetheless, the commitment to provide a top education to the students at Dogwood remains the same.

Teaching teams "will focus on the same mission and goals as before, with high expectations for all our students," Cochrane said.

She has programs and plans in place already to help her students meet and exceed those expectations.