"Classworks starts

them where they need

to be, and takes them

where they can go,

keeping the entire

school on course,"

-Debi Pringle,
Endeavour’s magnet
coordinator

Endeavour Elementary is located in Cocoa, Florida, the heart of Brevard County. Its location is part of the Space Coast, a region famous for its proximity to Kennedy Space Center, where NASA’s ingenuity and innovation takes flight. True to its namesake, a space shuttle which exceeded NASA’s expectations, Endeavour Elementary has overcome a history of challenges to become one of Florida’s most improved schools.

Brevard County is host to some of the most impressive schools in the state, if not the nation. Based upon Florida’s A + Plan for Education, an impressive 96 percent of Brevard Public Schools achieve a grade of A or B on the state’s performance-based report cards. Yet in the recent past, Endeavour Elementary was one of those few schools struggling to make the grade. Due in part to a declining socioeconomic campus, Endeavour’s low FCAT scores led to an F grade for the 2001-2002 school year.

As a result of that wake-up call, a new course for Endeavour Elementary was set, highlighted by new technology including Classworks. Then in 2004, through Magnet Schools of America grant funds, Endeavour’s magnet coordinators, Jean Bartleson and Debi Pringle, purchased new computers and additional advanced technology, making Endeavour one of the most high-tech schools in the County.

According to Bartleson, one of the key ways Endeavour teachers use technology is by projecting Classworks mini lessons on the interactive SmartBoards to the class as a whole. “So when the students get time on the computer to work on their own, they’ve already been introduced to the lesson and have learned it.”

Another key to student success, say school officials, is the individualized instruction Classworks provides, which allows kids to work at their own personal level, regardless of whether that happens to be below, or above, grade level. “Classworks starts them where they need to be, and takes them where they can go, keeping the entire school on course,” says Pringle.

And “on course” is exactly where Endeavour Elementary Magnet School is positioned. For the past two years, Endeavour has improved to a C grade, and was named one of the top 100 most improved schools in Florida. The improvement was so great that in May 2008, Brevard Public Schools heralded Endeavour’s accomplishments.

“Particularly noteworthy were the improvements seen by students at Endeavour Elementary Magnet School,” said the district. “Endeavour recorded the largest improvements in reading and math scale scores of any school in the district - the biggest jump in test scores in the history of the school.”

In addition to improved FCAT scores and state grades, Endeavour students have achieved success across the board. In 2008, the school’s Odyssey of the Mind team advanced to the State Competition, the Math Team came in 2nd place at the County competition and a whopping 86 entries turned in for Quality Literacy Day, resulted in 8 first place, 7 second place and 3 third place winners. In addition, Endeavour Elementary Magnet School of Technology was a Florida winner for the coveted National Schools of Character Award.

As Pringle sums up, “We’ve finally become contenders – one of those things other schools might take for granted. Technology and Classworks have helped us reach that triumph. As technology has advanced, so have our kids and so have our scores.”

“On Our Way to an A” is truly the mantra that drives both faculty and students toward a common goal. And there’s no doubt Endeavour Elementary will continue to orbit into success.