BROADWAY, NC - At Broadway Elementary School, Growing Academic Minds Everyday - better known as G.A.M.E.time - is more than a slogan. It’s a daily, schoolwide commitment to ensuring every student receives the targeted support they need to succeed.
G.A.M.E.time is an intensive 30-40 minute intervention period in math and reading, designed to strengthen foundational skills and accelerate growth for all students. Each day, teaching assistants, classroom teachers and ten tutors work in synchronized collaboration, leading small groups of five to six students organized by specific academic needs.
“Students leave their classrooms and we place them in skill-based groups for extra help in targeted academic areas,” explained Principal Wendy Perrell. “Coordinating this many moving parts can be a challenge, but constant communication, flexibility, and fluid groupings have helped make this program a success.”
The results speak for themselves. In just its first year of implementation, Broadway Elementary saw its overall score on the North Carolina School Report Card jump nine points - driven by notable gains in student proficiency and growth.
The program has been especially impactful for the school’s large population of English Learners (EL). Of the 500 students at Broadway, roughly 150 receive some form of ESL support. In 2023, seven students exited the ESL program. Following the launch of G.A.M.E.time, that number more than doubled, with 15 students exiting the program last year.
“For any student who is struggling - whether they are learning a new language, facing learning challenges, or just having difficulty mastering a concept - we aim to provide up to 90 minutes of structured intervention time per day,” Perrell added. “Those extra minutes, as hard as they are to protect, make all the difference.”
Literacy Specialist Courtney Lett, who helps coordinate the daily logistics of G.A.M.E.time, emphasized the teamwork behind the initiative. “Constant communication, flexibility, and data-driven adjustments are what make this work,” she said. “We look at assessment data and listen to teacher and tutor feedback to make sure every student is in the right group to get the skills they need to be successful.”
Perrell credits the success of G.A.M.E.time to the dedication and expertise of Broadway’s staff and tutors. “Getting the right people in the right places to support students has made a huge difference,” she said. “Many of our tutors are retired educators with a legacy of loving students and helping children grow. We invest in literacy training for tutors and TA’s, facilitate open discussions about student progress, and make sure students get the personalized help they need. That’s how we are preparing students, by giving them every opportunity to get the skills they need to thrive.”
