Radium Springs Elementary School has come off a list of underperforming schools, state officials announced Tuesday.

Radium had previously been on the state’s “Focus” list – a grouping of schools who are in the lowest 10 percent of Title I schools in the state in terms of achievement gap based on a three-year average.

“We’ve worked hard to do what’s best by our students,” Radium Principal Bruce Bowles said. “When I first got here as principal, we identified those students who needed some additional help…and got them into school earlier so that we could focus on areas where they needed that help.”

Bowles also said that they've increased opportunities for students to take advantage of Saturday school and have collaborated with the Regional Educational Services Agency or RESA to develop educational strategies meant specifically to target achievement gap. 

With Radium Elementary coming off the list, it leaves the system with just one school on the focus list and administration officials are confident that next year that school will come off the list as well.

“There’s a concerted effort by our principals, our teachers and our students to improve academically. That is our focus,” Dr. Ufot Inyang, Associate Superintendent and Chief Academic Officer said. “We continue to reduce the number of schools on the state’s needing improvement lists. We will continue to work extremely hard until all of our schools are off the state’s lists. The state has said that our schools are beating the odds compared to other schools in the state with similar demographics and challenges. It is our intention, given our focus, commitment and direction that, come this time next year, all of our schools will be off the state’s list.”

Bowles said that he and his staff continue to work on setting high academic expectations for students and changing the culture and climate of the school.

“The biggest strength that Radium has is that we have great people working here,” Bowles said. “They are people who are self-motivated and who will go out of their way to help our students succeed.”