Oak Ridge Mission and Vision

Our Mission and Vision

Oak Ridge Elementary School will provide each child with a safe, caring, and engaging learning environment that enhances academic growth, creativity, and character
development.

Our Values

At Oak Ridge Elementary School, our moral purpose is to provide an effective learning environment for every student in order to demonstrate academic growth,
creativity, and character development. We believe:

• All students are able to learn. High expectations for student learning are evident in our work with all students. Teachers believe that it is important to engage the
whole child including their social development as well as developing the student’s level of responsibility, critical thinking skills, and problem solving skills. Students
benefit when they are active members of the classroom and when the parents and community are partners with the school. There is a shared desire to close
achievement gaps and to provide necessary intervention and inclusive learning environments.

• Classroom instructional practices that provide students with rigorous and high quality tasks create engaging learning environments. A focus on continued
implementation of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and Essential Standards using CKLA and Eureka Math Squared (K-5) for Core Instruction and
effective instructional strategies using the Gradual Release Model with a focus on quality tasks will guide our academic improvement efforts.

• Students benefit from uninterrupted instructional blocks. Engaging classroom instruction follows the Gradual Release of Responsibility and includes activation of
prior knowledge and stating purposeful Focus and/or I Can statements, explicit teaching and modeling followed by active student participation with quality tasks and
manipulation of the learning content culminated with checks for understanding and assessment of the learning.

• Formative and summative data provides us with information about each student’s progress and is used to analyze student learning and mastery level of the
NCSCOS. Teacher knowledge gained from assessments is used to provide additional instruction in the form of re-teaching, differentiated instruction, and individual
remediation or acceleration opportunities.

• Classroom instruction is more effective when teachers are reflective of their teaching practices and engage in the practice of working as a team in a Professional
Learning Community to assess student learning and coordinate long term and weekly lesson planning.