Best from the Beginning- Liza Jackson, Fort Walton Beach, FL

“I think it made a difference to have this one charter school that was excelling. It made everybody else want to do as well. And that’s when we saw the whole district really improve and skyrocket to the top.”

JULIE JENZEN, Elementary Education Assistant Principal

The Challenge

When Liza Jackson, a K-8 preparatory school in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, received its charter, school administrators started searching for a research-based curriculum with best practices that would provide teachers with a solid instructional framework. “We were just looking for something different,” said Julie Jenzen, elementary education assistant principal. “[SFA] had all the things we were looking for in a program.”

Jenzen, principal Mary Gunter, and other administrators knew that SFA’s cooperative learning strategies, built-in support systems, and rigorous standards would make it the ideal choice. “This program lends itself to every teacher being effective,” Jenzen says. “Whether they’re working in a low school or whether they’re working in a high school, it still works.”

The Results

Usually it takes a new school a few years to find its stride. But that wasn’t the case at Liza Jackson. After opening in fall 2001, the school marked its first year by meeting all the requirements to earn an A ranking from the state. That was only the beginning. Liza Jackson has received the A ranking each year since, and in 2012 ranked 18 out of 3,146 schools in the Florida Department of Education’s school ranking system.

After its first year, Liza Jackson was setting the bar for other schools in the Okaloosa County School District. “I think it made a difference to have this one charter school that was excelling, and everybody else wanted to do as well,” Jenzen says of the friendly competition that developed. “That’s when we saw the whole district really improve and skyrocket to the top.”

Since SFA places students at their own academic levels, teachers report that their fear of failure dissipates, creating “a very safe environment,” says Jenzen. “The thing I love about SFA is that each kid gets an individualized program.” The data backs that assertion: 84% of Liza Jackson fourth graders scored above average in reading on the 2011–12 FCAT.

Gunter adds that students are eager to learn. “When they leave in the afternoon, they all have smiles on their faces. Some of them don’t want to leave,” she says.

Success at school makes for happier children at home. Jenzen has found that they especially value SFA’s 90-minute block of uninterrupted reading time. The difference in reading skills is palpable, especially
among struggling readers. “It’s amazing how fast they start picking it up,” she says. “Their parents will come to me and say, ‘My child never read like this when they were in other schools!’”