Lynn school rewarded for recent MCAS performances

LYNN – The Sewell-Anderson Elementary School family is celebrating a distinct honor in 2008 as the only public school in the state to be named a Title I Distinguished School as part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.In just her second year as school principal, Patricia Mallett and her staff have overseen vast improvements in the school’s MCAS scores since 2006, which have closed the achievement gap among students and improved the overall Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) of both the school and the district.As a reward for the honor, Mallett and two staff members recently represented Massachusetts at a 3,500-person convention at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, featuring schools from 46 states that have achieved the honor of Title I Distinguished School. While Sewell-Anderson joined a charter school from Boston as award winners from Massachusetts, only the representatives from Lynn attended the event, making them the sole representatives for the state of Massachusetts.Mallett carried the Massachusetts flag in the parade of states prior to the event, which featured speeches and seminars by nationally recognized educators.”I embrace this award with excitement, yet I am humbled also because it is not just me, it is our teachers and our families that make up our team,” she said. “Before we went to Nashville I went to every classroom and told them that we are a team, and I was bringing everyone with me in my heart. My parents, teachers and students are very much aware of this award. I have only been here two years, that’s why I say I humbly accept this award, because the bar was already set high when I got here.”Mallett said she could not credit one specific program or addition to the staff that has helped improve scores; rather it is the training of teachers and the dedication of her staff that helps transfer classroom learning to success on the standardized tests.Funded through the administration, teachers attend Research for Better Teaching training that helps introduce new and successful concepts to bring to the classroom each day.”My teachers believe that our students can do anything we ask of them, and they offer safety nets of support when needed,” she said. “We believe that this is important, and we will never give up on a student. Students feel motivated, like they are part of a team.”While Mallett is proud of the school for receiving this distinction, she says it would be inappropriate to ignore the other schools in the district that are working hard under the same curriculum and with the same dedication and support from the administration.”I am also humbled because I know my peers at other schools in the city hold the same high standards and are working just as hard as we are,” she said. “But I am thrilled to be the leader of the Sewell-Anderson School at this time and place. With that said, the challenge is not over. We still have work to do. We need to keep moving forward and keep working hard.”