North Springs Elementary School
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Principal: Denise Barth |
Richland County School District Two
Telephone: (803) 736-3183
Fax: (803) 699-2732
1300 Clemson Road
Columbia, SC 29229
Welcome to our “Garden of Learning!” North Springs Elementary, which is nestled in the suburbs of northeast Columbia, opened its doors in 1982. Now in its 28th year, North Springs continues to provide a quality education for all of its 730 students in grades K-5. North Springs has been a training ground for teachers-to-be throughout its history and became an official USC PDS in 2005.
Our school strives to provide pleasant, positive, and safe learning environments for its students, teachers, and parents. We serve confident children who have lived all over the world, children who have had positive learning experiences, along with children who have very special educational needs. We have developed an educational program that celebrates this diversity and which is provided by an instructional staff who understand and incorporate the best practices needed for the core curriculum as well as for enrichment, such as Understanding By Design and Differentiated Instruction. The resources that we use address the specific need for direct instruction, small group instruction/activities, and individual instruction/activities. In addition, the school houses an expanded math/science gifted program called QuEST in grades 4 and 5, as well as a STEMS (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math/School) program in grades K-2 (expanding to K-3 in the Fall of 2010, K-4 in 2011, and K-5 in 2012). The magnet program is open to any student in the district by choice option and lottery.
Our Professional Development School relationship with the University of South Carolina has allowed us to participate in a number of meaningful projects that benefit teachers, teacher candidates, and students. Each year we have our “Celebration of Teaching” when candidates spend two days observing in a variety of classrooms at all grade levels and in all subject areas. The teachers meet with the candidates at the completion of the Celebration to answer questions and participate in a professional dialogue. In this way, all of our teachers demonstrate a commitment to the development of future teachers. In addition to the Celebration, we work to provide teacher candidates with an assortment of special activities to insure that they have a complete picture of teaching both in the classroom and beyond the classroom walls. Candidates are thoroughly trained to use a variety of technology resources. In addition, they attend professional meetings with faculty members and receive assistance in preparing for interviews as they graduate. The University of South Carolina has supported our professional development by facilitating presentations made by our school at the annual PDS National Conference, linking us with Professional Development Schools throughout the nation and in other countries. Membership in the National Association for Professional Development Schools also allows us to share and benefit from the publications of that organization. We are proud that our partnership with USC helped us earn the first-ever NAPDS Award for Exemplary Professional Development School Achievement in 2009 as an individual PDS site, and that the entire twelve-school USC PDS Network was similarly recognized in 2010. Our partnership has inspired teachers to participate fully in the PDS process.