What does it take for a school to earn five stars?

Let's head to Darnell Elementary School, where students and staff went from being a one-star school to a five-star school in only two years.

(Jody Stenson) Go pick a spot wherever you want, wherever there's a question.

-Veteran teacher Jody Stenson-- -I think 22 years I've been at this school.

It's a long time.

- --teaches 3rd grade.

-It's called scoot.

It's a scoot activity.

(Luis) There's math equations, and we had-- And every time, like, the music played, we had to scoot over to a different table.

-Ready?

Scoot.

So instead of just doing problems at their seat, it's the kids are engaged, they're up, they're moving, they're laughing, we're listening to music, and we're trying to make it fun.

-And along with the fun-- -I like math a lot.

- --comes big strides, especially when it comes to stars.

(Ella) One star plus four stars equals five stars.

-Darnell Elementary School went from a one-star school to a five-star school in just two years, a huge jump.

(Christie Grandjean) Good job.

Okay, listen.

You're going to change one sound in "sat."

Make the word "bat."

-Powered by improved test scores in areas like English Language Arts.

-I think we all knew that we were never a one-star school to start.

-"Read by 3rd Grade" Literacy Specialist Christie Grandjean.

-Let's stretch it.

Ready?

Go.

[student sounding out a word] -I think our star rating increase started at the top.

It started with our administrators taking a really deep dive into the data that was telling us what we needed to do.

Our kids were telling us the whole time.

-I think we kind of were expecting to see that growth because we've really put the work in.

-4th grade teacher Kimberly Folle also credits teamwork.

(Kimberly Folle) We have really unwrapped the new curriculum that the district adopted.

We've worked really hard.

We are meeting the students where they are, helping them grow to their potential.

(Christopher Cunningham) What I think has changed since then is that the teachers have been given the resources that they need, and then they've been empowered to go solve the problems.

And then downstream of that, we're seeing some of these more positive results in terms of the increased attendance, increased test scores, things like that, that weigh into the star rating.

-Okay.

So you did 7 times what is 21?

-What's happened here is a lesson in improvement.

-All kids are different, and they're going to learn at different rates.

And I, as much as I love teaching and training to do it, I'm not a miracle worker.

But I can help every single child grow.

-And for students like Ella, it all adds up to a school they love.

-We have great principals.

We have lots of good teachers, lots of good kids, and I love the school so much.

It's fun.

-Congratulations to students and staff at Darnell, and keep up the good work.