Okoboji Elementary School - Milford, IA

Okoboji Elementary students attend school everyday where the expectation is to collaborate, communicate, create and contribute in the 21^st century. The dedication and teamwork of the Okoboji Elementary staff and meeting the individual needs of our students is the key to our success.

The instructional staff is a member of one of the 3 leadership teams, Literacy Leadership Team, Math Leadership Team and Technology and 21^st Century Leadership Team, that meets throughout the year to stay up to date on the latest research based teaching and learning strategies, provide ongoing data analysis to determine our instructional needs and plan our professional development accordingly. In addition to the students’ academic needs, we meet their creative needs and emotional needs through our counselor or at-risk coordinator. Students’ academic needs are met with a school-wide Response To Intervention program where all students participate in school-wide screenings in math and reading. After analyzing the screening assessments, all students receive small group instruction in an area where they need additional support and staff can provide ongoing progress monitoring to determine their continued success. With the constantly changing demographics of the students at Okoboji Elementary we have been able to maintain and improve our excellent academic achievement. We have not adjusted our expectations for our students and in many cases we have set higher expectations for our students.

Technology plays a big part in the teaching and learning process in our elementary school. Technology is utilized as an instructional tool to assist in providing opportunities to enhance the curriculum beyond the classroom walls and allows our staff to demonstrate the importance of communication, collaboration and student contributions in the 21^st century.