OAKWOOD – Oakwood Elementary School students and staff are cheering the school's latest standardized test scores.

After failing to make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law for two years in a row, last year's scores show the school met the tougher state learning standards in 2010.

"We're really proud of what they have accomplished," Oakwood schools Superintendent Keven Forney said. "They made a systemic approach to instructional delivery and made remarkable gains."

According to the 2010 data, 87.8 percent of students met or exceeded state benchmarks in math, up 4.1 percentage points from 2009, and 79.7 percent of students met or exceeded the reading target, up 9.1 percentage points from 2009.

In 2009, students overall met the state targets for math and reading. However, the school failed to make adequate yearly progress because special education students scored below Safe Harbor targets and became a "school of choice," Principal Jean Henigman said.

Safe Harbor allows schools an alternate method to meet subgroup minimum targets on achievement.

In 2010, 69 percent of special education students met Safe Harbor targets in math – a 29-percentage point increase – and 53 percent met those targets in reading – a 21-percentage point jump.

"Those students did really well," Henigman said.

Henigman said all of the gains are the result of a plan to overhaul the curriculum and align it to state standards.

"We wanted to make sure we were teaching what the state expected," she said, adding staff reviewed instruction, analyzed student assessment data and identified areas that needed improvement. Then the school designated a block of time each day that allowed teachers to reteach math and reading material students weren't getting using research-based interventions.

"For example, if a child needs help with reading fluency or phonemic awareness, we'll design activities around those areas and give them special instruction during that block of time," the principal said.

Daily instructional time for reading – which also included writing, phonics, etc. – was expanded from 60 to 80 minutes a day to 160 to 180 minutes a day. Title 1 specialists and teaching assistants also provided extra instruction to students who weren't meeting benchmarks.

"Reading is so important because it's what's going to help children be successful in every area," Henigman said. "And we want children to be exposed to a variety of literature so that they learn to love reading."

In addition, teachers integrated more technology, such as Smart Boards, into their classrooms as another way of reaching more students.

"All of these changes have been teacher-driven," Henigman said, adding they worked in committees to improve everything from curriculum to student incentives. "They're the ones who came up with the great ideas, designed this and implemented it. They're professionals who know how to teach and know what's going to help children be successful."