How GW Carver Elementary School tailors support for its exceptional students

For some, the mere mention of paper planes unleashes a myriad of fond memories from their — at times, unruly — experience in a classroom. For others, paper planes may have been integrated into instruction, such as in math or science experiments that tested contributing factors to flight time and distance. 

Recently, at GW Carver Elementary School in Pinetops, the pressure was on to craft a perfect paper plane, subject to a second grader’s approval. 

During an EdNC school visit in October, the school held its first kindergarten-through-second grade Problem Solving Team (PST) meetings for the 2026-27 academic year. Together, team members collaborate and use student data to problem-solve around students receiving intensive academic intervention.

At GW Carver Elementary, the PST consists of grade-level teachers, alongside staff like multiclassroom leaders (MCLs), literacy coaches, and members of the exceptional children team including the department chair, reading specialist, and the resource and inclusion teacher. When necessary, professionals such as speech, occupational, or physical therapists may also join team meetings. Within Edgecombe County Public Schools, GW Carver Elementary’s district, school psychologists and assistant principals are tasked with leading PSTs.

The morning of the visit, a teacher in a PST meeting shared that a student was experiencing heavy emotions in response to misplacing a paper plane that he possessed the day prior. Despite his teacher’s effort to calm him, the student — identified by school staff as a child on the autism spectrum — continued in that state going into the afternoon. 

Ryan Thorne, then GW Carver Elementary’s assistant principal, and I encountered the student along our path to the front office as we were preparing to conclude my visit. Thorne vowed to present her best paper plane model if the student could rejoin his class until her return.

Thorne grabbed two sheets of paper from the printer and Mission: Paper Plane commenced. She extended an invitation for me to contribute to the endeavor. An unspoken competition ensued as we both folded and creased our papers until we produced two planes that we deemed worthy enough. 

The time came for our creations to be tested. Like a dart, one plane — narrow and pointed — sharply glided across the hall. The second floated, its wings subtly flapping like a butterfly. The student watched, judging.

Ultimately, the student graciously accepted both offerings. Even if just for a moment, all was well with the world. 

The Problem Solving Team: ‘All chefs in the kitchen’ 

Paper planes can alter in appearance based on the type of paper used. The characteristics of a thin, white, college ruled, loose-leaf paper plane look drastically different than those of one made with heavy, gritty, colorful construction paper. 

Importantly, weight, size, and other factors immensely impact a paper plane’s ability — or inability — to fly. More specifically, different types of paper may need to be folded in different ways to fly well. 

The same goes for students, who have different needs at school, each requiring individualized interventions, accommodations, or scaffolds. Like paper planes, they all deserve to fly. 

The scenario of offering paper planes to support a student’s needs described above is a microcosm of the great care and collaborative effort that Thorne says GW Carver Elementary implements to address the needs of all students. 

At-large, each North Carolina public school district implements a multitiered system of support (MTSS) that, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, is “a school improvement framework that encompasses academic, behavioral, social, and emotional instruction and support.”

The framework features the following three-tiered instructional/intervention model:

• Tier 1 (Core) includes the instruction all students receive
• Tier 2 (Supplemental) includes additional instruction or intervention provided to students not meeting benchmarks
• Tier 3 (Intensive) includes intense, small group or individual interventions for students showing significant barriers to learning the skills required for school success

Thorne summarized the matrix for behavioral, instructional, and social emotional support as a pyramid becoming more tailored to individual students’ needs in transition from the base (core) level to the upper (intensive) level.

Stressing the value of the PST, Thorne expressed that having “all the chefs in the kitchen,” allows for a detailed, holistic view of a student’s academic history, patterns, and areas of need for intervention. 

According to Thorne, the PST specifically targets students in Tier 3 of the aforementioned MTSS framework. Together, the PST identifies students who fall at or below the 25th percentile of grade level academic performance data such as mClass, STAR, classroom assessments, work samples, or behavioral patterns.

When a student is identified as needing more intensive interventions, Thorne explained, the school involves parents and families.

“The goal is to look at what is happening, what has already been tried, how the student is responding, and determine clear next steps,” Thorne said.

Notably, given the transitional period needed for kindergartners to acclimate to a more structured learning environment, considerations for student support often remain at a monitoring status to provide time for more data collection. 

In the October meeting, student by student, the PST shared observations for targeted students’ performance and development, alongside any preexisting individualized education plans (IEP), followed by recommendations for interventions to support them moving forward. 

After the PST meeting, Thorne shared that student attendance is a common point of emphasis, stating that it factors “heavily into how the child shows up in the school building, how they show up in the learning environment, and how they’re accessing their academic work.”

On a journey

Thorne said a key goal is to “make sure that students are in the least restrictive environment possible.” To her, this means ensuring students’ needs are met while, whenever possible, they have the ability to remain in the general education learning environment. 

The most intensive support that GW Carver Elementary offers is a what’s called a self-contained setting: a space for students to receive specialized services in a single dedicated classroom throughout the majority of the school day. 

North Carolina’s Extended Content Standards (ECS) ensure instruction for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, providing alternate academic achievement standards adapted from the NC Standard Course of Study. 

As GW Carver Elementary’s ECS teacher, Barbara Scott currently serves 11 students, supported by four assistants providing care for students in the self-contained classroom.

According to Scott, her students’ disabilities range from moderate to profound statuses of autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

“Because our children have a more severe deficit, it doesn’t mean that they are not able to learn,” Scott said. “They have to learn on a different level, in smaller increments.” She emphasized the need to meet students where they are with patience, consistency, and purpose. 

According to Thorne, examples of other services include receiving up to 75 minutes of support in a content subject outside of their general education environment, or receiving less than an hour of support with more time in the general education classroom.

“The goal is always for students to be able to meet grade level expectations and be exited from the program,” Thorne stated. Thus, she said students’ service times are reevaluated each year.

GW Carver Elementary’s resource and inclusion teacher, Amanda Parisher, shared the priority of maximizing students’ time with their peers in their general education settings. She expressed that collaboration with general education teachers allows students to make connections to their lessons in a separate setting while tailored instruction can address things like vocabulary, understanding methods, and overall allowing repetitive practice to address learning gaps.

Parisher says that she approaches her work through a different lens as she navigates parenthood with a toddler who is going through their own medical experiences and diagnosis. 

“Regardless of the journey you’re on — and you know that you’re on this journey with your kid — it’s still a lot to hear,” she expressed. 

Parisher said there are misconceptions about what IEPs are, and whether they are useful. As part of her work communicating with parents, she hopes to dispel those misconceptions.

“We’re doing everything we can to support them,” Parisher stated, with hopes that families know that “the communication door is always open.”