Since 2014, Teach For America-Metro Atlanta has partnered deeply with a South Fulton school —Brookview Elementary — with a focus on improving language and literacy for grades PreK-3rd grade. This fall, Brookview released the following results:

• In the 2016-2017 school year, Brookview had an almost 11 point increase in its overall CCRPI score and saw marked improvement in almost every CCRPI category.
• In the 2016-2017 school year, Brookview gained more than 10 percentage points of students scoring at the proficient level in both language arts and math and showed double-digit gains in the percent of students scoring in the Proficient or Distinguished groups in 3rd grade English and Language Arts. 
• Teachers at Brookview are demonstrating 41% higher proficiency than this time last year when measured by the Rollin’s Center’s teacher observation rubric. 

This impact has been led by two Metro Atlanta Alumni, Chankyna Aribo (Metro Atlanta '08) and Myrna Cervetti (Metro Atlanta '12), who we are highlighting this month. 

Chankyna Aribo

K-3 Facilitator - Literacy & Language Coach

Atlanta Speech School: Rollins Center

After my corps experience, I remained in the classroom and taught 1st grade for five more years. During this time, I became grade level chair, wrote social studies and math curriculum for the district, and facilitated professional development workshops for teachers throughout APS. For several summers, I also supported incoming corp members during the Summer Institute.

I currently serve as the K-3 Lead Facilitator for the Atlanta Speech School’s Rollins Center for Language and Literacy. My time is spent managing a team of K-3 facilitators and serving as the on-site facilitator for Brookview Elementary through Teach For America’s partnership.

I collaborate with the literacy coach to create a comprehensive language and literacy plan, help design a summer enrichment program and directly support K-3 educators in becoming language and literacy experts, ensuring that they have the skills and resources needed to deliver robust language and literacy instruction and empower student voices.

My work with Brookview Elementary has resulted in the design and implementation of a comprehensive language and literacy plan for K-3rd grade in collaboration with Brookview’s literacy coach. Our 2016 BlastOff!Summer program resulted in 100 percent of Kindergarten students reading on grade level compared to 48 percent who began the summer on grade level.

Myrna Cervetti

Literacy Coach

Brookview Elementary School

After graduating from college, I joined the corps because I am passionate about our students in Title I schools. Even more than that, I’m determined to see our students living in challenging areas receive an incredible education so that they can be college and career ready.

After my two years in the corps, I remained in the classroom at my placement school. During my 4th year of teaching, I was contacted about an opportunity to work as a literacy coach at Brookview Elementary School. I was promoted in February 2016 and moved to Brookview as the literacy coach, developing the literacy curriculum for the entire school.

In my current role, I support teachers with implementing literacy instruction in their classrooms. In my coaching, I focus on modeling and co-teaching lessons, meeting with teachers, and supporting teachers with instructional planning. I meet regularly with teachers, providing them support to drive their instruction to effectively meet each of their needs.

In the 2016-17 school year, students grew an average of 1 year on their reading levels. Additionally, on the Georgia Milestones Assessment ELA data, our 3rd-grade students made double-digit gains between the 2015-16 & 2016-17 school years.