Spotlight 4 Success
We're shining a light on education success stories and talking about current trends and topics of importance to the education community. Join us in conversation!
Spotlight 4 Success
We Came For Beignets, Stayed For Score Gains
A school doesn’t climb a letter grade by accident. We sit down with Richwood Middle’s Errika McBride to unpack how intentional coaching, aligned resources, and purposeful technology helped move the needle on state assessments—and why the work continues after the first big win. Errika’s philosophy is crisp: grow teachers to grow students. She describes what daily support looks like in classrooms, how to keep goals visible without creating burnout, and the simple systems that turn strategies into habits students can feel.
Website: spotlight4success.com
Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book Company. I'm Devin Pintozi, your host. We're here at uh Lacew in in wonderful New Orleans, here for the LACU 2025 celebration. Uh we are here with our special guest, Erica McBride. Erica McBride uh joins us from Richwood Middle at Wachita Parish, Louisiana, and we're so excited to have you here today.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. It's a pleasure.
SPEAKER_02:Erica, tell us a bit about your work there at uh at Richwood Middle.
SPEAKER_00:Well, at uh Richwood Middle School, I am an administrative assistant. I have an opportunity to work with my teachers to grow teachers that eventually grow students. So uh my job is kind of all inclusive. I get to work with teachers and students all day.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, wonderful. Yeah. And uh how has it been going this year in your school?
SPEAKER_00:Actually, it's uh been pretty progressive. Uh we've gotten some strategies in place. Our goal is to grow students to increase test scores, and uh, so we got plenty of initiatives in place right now that uh that they're working.
SPEAKER_02:Wow. And uh so did you use uh American uh book company last year uh with your students?
SPEAKER_00:I do believe we did.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, great. And y'all saw score improvements?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, sir, we did. We saw a significant increase in scoring. We went from a D school to a C school, so we're very excited about that. But uh we did realize that it's no time to get laxed in in our duties. Uh it's time to keep grinding.
SPEAKER_02:That's awesome. That's great. Well, I'm glad to hear that. And uh so can you tell me a bit about uh your journey? What what uh brought you here today to Lake U? Uh are there certain takeaways you wanted?
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for watching Spotlight for Success. I am Devin Pentosi, the Chief Operating Officer of American Book Company. We are located here in our headquarters in Woodstock, Georgia. All of our materials are printed in the USA. We have course books, ebooks, and online testing in grades. These materials are all designed to help students with higher scores on their state specific assessment. We guarantee score improvement. You can get free samples of our materials either in print or in electronic formats at abc12.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
SPEAKER_00:All the time, uh Lakue is probably one of the most exciting parts of my school year. Each year, I get to go learn more about the technology that's out there. Okay. Uh, one of my biggest initiatives right now is to teach our students how to use technology uh in a more positive manner. Uh there's always that um that negative vibe out there with technology. So, with all of the new technology that's that's inundating our system, we want to make sure that our students get the best part of it, know how to use it, know how to expand and succeed by using it. So LACU coming here, getting all that extra knowledge, getting all the educators together, and you know, just kind of vibing off each other, learning from each other, and being able to take that back to my school, back to my teachers, and back to my students is one of the biggest highlights of my leading.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, that's wonderful. Um, that's great. Is there uh anything you'd like to share with the LACU community?
SPEAKER_00:Man, just keep learning, keep giving out these, giving out the information, uh, keep growing, keep making it possible for our students to succeed in the best possible place.
SPEAKER_02:All right, that's awesome. Erica McBride, thank you for joining us today. Happy to have you here, and uh, hope it's a very successful conference for you.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. It's nice being in.
SPEAKER_02:All right.
SPEAKER_00:All right.