South Side Elementary School - Worland, WY

South Side Elementary School is a K-5 school in Worland, Wyoming. Worland is located in the Big Horn Basin, which is in north central Wyoming. The success of South Side is rooted in the commitment and dedication of a high performing staff. The staff functions within a Professional Learning Community model, focused on continuous collaborative efforts, resulting in job embedded professional development opportunities, maintaining focus on the mission and vision. The model has produced a strong commitment to fidelity of instruction among grade level teams, as well as to programs utilized for instruction. Instructional decisions are team based, data driven, and are implemented through research based best practices. Data regarding growth and achievement, is considered for each individual student, and is at the heart of South Side's continued success. By reviewing detailed information regarding students' strengths and areas of concern, South Side is able to provide explicit, meaningful, targeted instruction for each student. Through outstanding staff communication to parents regarding their individual student, an active Parent Teacher Organization has emerged, and continues to grow parent engagement through a variety of activities throughout each school year. The benefit of such an active PTO has been the family atmosphere, leading to caring, thoughtful, and meaningful relationships with parents and students. However, the foundation to what currently exists, is clearly the dedicated, professional and caring staff that is in place at South Side. Their belief that every student matters, and can succeed, drives them to provide the best for each student every day.