Since September, Tilles Elementary students have been learning and recording Christmas music which is being used to produce a traditional Christmas CD. The Christmas CD is part of an economics project in which the entire student body of Tilles Elementary School is participating.

Mrs. Lana Neumeier, Tilles instructor, has developed learning modules for every grade level, Kindergarten thru 6th. She has incorporated state educational standards in every lesson which include vocabulary, creative writing, math, critical thinking, social studies and technology.

Principal, Mrs. Pam Siebenmorgen, will be following and measuring the attendance and increased performance abilities of these students throughout this project.

The real story behind this project is not the selling of CDs, but the real world applications every student at Tilles is learning. Business partners throughout the Fort Smith area have come together to work cooperatively in hopes of showing these students that this community supports and applauds the efforts and goals of Tilles School.

Also, this helps the students see learning is important to achieving goals. Because, students come in all shapes and sizes with different backgrounds and from different cultures, our hope is also for the education community to recognize that benchmarks can be achieved through innovative learning methods rather than teaching to a standard test which fits only one size.

Tilles Elementary has fallen below expectations of the No Child Left Behind legislation. Their standard test scores have failed to meet the national norm; even though they have improved annually. Tilles Elementary has a mobility rate of 38% and 94% of their student body is on free or reduced lunch. These students face real world challenges daily; however, they truly believe they possess the power to believe and the power to succeed.

At the conclusion of this project, the Tilles Everyday Angels (their economics company name) will contribute half of their proceeds to the Community Services Clearinghouse Back Pack Program (which provides non-perishable foods for students on Friday afternoon, who would otherwise not have enough to eat over the weekend) and the remaining half will be used to purchase books for their library and book room.