If you ask Jeri Jackson why her school enjoyed a significant surge in student performance last year, the Lakewood Elementary School principal will tell you that it’s all about focus. Focus on purpose, setting goals, and following through by doing great work.

“I think it starts with our school’s overall theme. Our School Improvement Team chose ‘One Path, One Purpose’” for last year, said Jackson, who has led Lakewood since 2022.  “It really exemplifies our building, so much so that when we met at the end of last year we decided to continue with that theme for this year. We really moved the needle through all of us working together with cohesion.”

A shared purpose drives remarkable academic gains

Keeping “One Path, One Purpose” led Lakewood to realize some stellar gains in student performance for the 2025-26 school year, per accountability data recently released by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, including: 

• Exceeding expected growth for the school year;

• An overall grade performance level (GPL) that increased by 12.8 percentage points;

• An astounding leap of 30 percentage points in fifth-grade math performance;

• Moving from a grade of D to a grade of C; and

• Exiting Low Performing status.

Empowering teachers to lead and innovate

Principal Jackson credits empowering her teaching staff, plus a strong level of community support, for the school’s progress last year. 

“One of the big moves I made when I came to Lakewood was to empower teachers to be the professionals that they are and the experts that they are,” said Jackson. “‘Empowering them to take that liberty to really try new things. To allow teachers to say, ‘This really worked and this is something I’m going to do again.’”

Jackson has employed the “explicit teaching model” as part of her professional development support for teachers. 

“We really dove into the explicit teaching model, which is, ‘I do, we do, you do,’” said Jackson. “It’s a release of control. Instruction starts first with the teacher modeling what we want students to do, then releasing it to students to rise to the challenge and meet the standard.”

Supporting teachers with solid professional development and encouraging them to become leaders in their own right has proven to contribute to student performance success.

“Ms. Jackson has consistently done a phenomenal job with growing our school because she believes in teacher leadership,” said Assistant Principal Kewanna Riley. “Every major decision that is made at Lakewood goes through our teachers and our parents. When you have that type of buy-in you know that she is making decisions that are best for our students.”

Lakewood employs a “vertical alignment team” approach, where teachers of a particular grade share their knowledge of current students with the teachers who will have them the following year, offering guidance on where the new teacher will need to focus regarding each student.

“Everybody takes ownership and accountability. That is because of inclusive leadership, and that is empowering for our teachers,” said Riley. “We know that we don’t have all the answers, but there have been consistent gains over the last several years to the point that so many of us have returned to Lakewood after having left to teach at other schools.”

Building strong relationships with students and families 

Lakewood is a Capturing Kids’ Hearts school. CKH provides character curriculum and leadership coaching and training.  

“We don’t choose between relationships and rigor,” said Jackson. “We definitely utilize the CKH model in making connections with students and how they speak and relate to others. Their families feel it. That relationship is really important.”

Lakewood is also a Community School, in partnership with Student U, which offers resources to help the school with academics and personal resources. The school is rich with community partners, including businesses, nonprofit organizations, and individuals who provide everything from tutoring to gardening to swimming lessons. A Family Resource Center at the school collects and distributes clothing, food, and other supplies.

The school also offers a number of clubs in which students can participate once a week. They include soccer, flag football, basketball, a hair-care club, and Science Olympiad. They also partner with Durham School of the Arts for drama and chorus clubs. DSA students mentor Lakewood students in drama and music.  

Riley added that parents also are returning their children to Lakewood after having tried other educational options. 

“We had a parent who told us just today that she’s so excited her son is back here after two years at another school because she knows we have what he needs academically and that he will also be safe and loved here,” she said.

A community united around every student’s success

Kacey James teaches fifth-grade math. Her methods were invaluable to the phenomenal 30-point rise in fifth-grade math student performance.  

“My kids know that they are accountable for learning,” said James of her students. “We do work that’s important, not just busy work. I am a big advocate of standards-based instruction. It is important that I understand exactly what will be taught and if there are learning gaps I need to know about.”

“Kids learn in many different ways,” said James. There are so many different ways to teach math, whether it be hands-on manipulations or other methods. Kids are not all on the same level, but all of them can grow. They love to learn, they love to show what they can do.”

James added that her students get so excited when they have built the confidence to know they are able to do math well that they sometimes ask for extra homework.

Principal Jackson said that these and many other examples indicate the positive trajectory Lakewood has taken and will continue to take for years to come.

“Our whole community has this focus,” said Jackson, who points to a family from another school visiting a recent Lakewood block party who inquired about how Lakewood does such a good job of making events inclusive for all.

“I told them that it’s just who we are in this building,” said Jackson. “When you come to our events they’re for everybody. We are just a place that no matter who you are, we’re going to find a way to help in whatever way we can.”