Banner graphic for Swain County Middle School titled “Rowing the Boat Together.” Maroon Devils students row a boat in unison across a lake at sunrise, symbolizing the school’s motto, “We Are All Rowing in the Same Direction.” The design features the Swain County Middle School seal, Maroon Devils logo, Golden LEAF Foundation and Marzano Resources logos, and a visual summary of the school improvement journey. Year 1 highlights building a strong foundation through 100% staff participation in professional learning, shared ownership of student success, and a focus on urgency, ownership, and understanding. Year 2 focuses on increasing student ownership through Student Proficiency Notebooks, helping students track progress, set goals, lead meaningful conversations, and take ownership of their learning. The banner concludes with the message: “Stronger Together. Stronger Tomorrow. One Team. One Mission. One Future.”

Rowing the Boat Together: What Our Golden LEAF Grant & Marzano Partnership Means for Your Child

Swain Middle School

June 18, 2026

Rowing the Boat Together: What Our Golden LEAF Grant & Marzano Partnership Means for Your Child

If you have walked through our halls or talked with our teachers or students recently, you might have heard two phrases quite a bit: the Golden LEAF Grant and Marzano Resources. We know educational jargon can sometimes feel like a different language! Because you are our most valuable partners in your child’s education, we want to share exactly what these programs mean, celebrate what we accomplished in Year 1, and preview the exciting changes coming in Year 2.

Our guiding motto is simple: “We are all rowing the boat in the same direction.” Here is how we are doing just that to support your student.

What are the Golden LEAF Grant and Marzano Resources?

Simply put, these are incredible tools that help us become the absolute best school we can be for your children.

  • The Golden LEAF Grant: This is a special educational grant that provides our school with funding and resources to accelerate student growth and improve learning outcomes.

  • Marzano Resources: This is a nationally recognized network of educational experts. They provide our teachers with top-tier training, strategies, and a proven framework called Proficiency-Based Education. Instead of just giving a letter grade and moving on, this method focuses on making sure every single student truly masters a concept before advancing.

Year 1: Building Our Foundation & Beating the Clock

In the first year of our implementation, our focus was entirely behind the scenes with our staff, focusing on Urgency, Ownership, and Understanding.

Our entire staff stepped up to the plate—achieving 100% participation in intensive professional development with Marzano experts. Our teachers worked incredibly hard through this school-wide training, dedicating themselves completely to mastering this new initiative.

Thanks to that incredible hustle, we actually moved ahead of schedule! Rather than just learning the theory, our teachers jumped right in and began implementing proficiency scales early to better help guide their daily classroom instruction. Because of this early start, students were already actively using the common language we want to implement school-wide.

The biggest takeaway from Year 1? Shifted mindsets. Our school adopted a powerful team mentality: "These aren't your scores; they're our scores. These are our students." All of that hard work from our teachers and our students truly paid off, laying a rock-solid foundation for our next steps.

Year 2: Putting the Power in Your Child's Hands

Now that our teachers have the tools and a shared vision, Year 2 is all about shifting that ownership directly to the students! Our biggest goal this year is Increasing Student Ownership.

To do this, we are introducing Student Proficiency Notebooks.

What is a Student Proficiency Notebook?

Every student will receive a personalized notebook containing "proficiency scales" for all of their subject areas. A proficiency scale is essentially a clear, step-by-step roadmap for a learning goal. Instead of guessing what's on a test, your child will know exactly what skills they need to master.

With these notebooks, your child will:

  • Track their own progress and monitor their learning throughout the year.

  • Set personal goals and reflect honestly on their academic growth.

  • Lead meaningful conversations with teachers about where they currently stand and what they need to work on next.

We are moving proficiency scales from being just a tool for teachers to a powerful tool owned by the students themselves.

Why This Matters for Your Family

We want our students to leave Swain Middle School not just knowing how to memorize facts for a quiz, but knowing how to learn. By teaching them to track their own progress, we are helping them build confidence, independence, and real-world goal-setting skills.

We are incredibly proud of our teachers for working alongside one another to build this foundation, and we are so excited to watch our students take charge of their own futures this year.

We Aren't Done Growing Yet! While Year 1 was a massive success, we are not done yet. We have so much more to accomplish, and we want to rise up even higher for our students, our families, and our community. We are committed to reaching new heights every single day.

Thank you for trusting us with your children and for rowing the boat with us! If you ever have questions about your child's Proficiency Notebook, please reach out to their teachers—we love talking about our students' growth.