On Tuesday, the appointment of Teresa Marshall as the new principal at Providence Elementary became official. Sitting at the desk in her office at the school last week, Marshall said she learned a great deal from former principal Thressa McClain, who retired at the end of the 2007-2008 school year in May.

“She spent the last year training me,” Marshall said. “I had an awesome situation.”

Marshall said she was “encouraged to seek a leadership position” several years ago by Jeanette Phillips, a former principal with the school. Marshall completed her master’s degree — 33 hours worth of tuition — in a single year — last year ­— and received her principalship certification last week.

“I’m ‘legal,’ I guess you could say,” she joked.

Marshall, who has a long history with Providence Elementary, going back to when it was known as Broadway Elementary as part of the former Providence Independent School District, said she was very excited to return to the school after having taught there for seven years. She left Providence Elementary (then known as Broadway) to teach at Slaughters Elementary, and later transferred to Dixon Elementary, where she taught for two years before becoming Providence Elementary’s assistant principal last year after Providence merged with the Webster County School District.

Marshall said she has had an affinity for Providence Elementary because of her connection to it.

“My heart’s always been here,” she said, later adding that she sees that connection as a strength for the school. “I feel good about that part. I think that will make a big difference.”

Marshall said she was also proud of the changes that have occurred in the school since it became part of the Webster County School District.

“I think a lot of people are going to be surprised when the (CATS) test scores come out,” she said. “A lot of great things went on last year.”

For example, the school joined other schools in the county in implementing the district’s Measures of Academic Progress, or MAP, testing. Tutors with the Webster County School District’s Trojan Academy also worked closely with students to help them improve in academics, and district administrators have worked with educators at the school to vastly improve state-mandated CATS test scores, which have been among the lowest in the state.

Marshall said that although she hasn’t seen the results yet, as they haven’t been compiled for release, she expects them to be much higher than they have been traditionally, and she said that opinion is based on a positive change in attitude at the school over the last year. She credited McClain’s leadership for that change, and said she intends to continue the practices McClain instituted last year.

“We had to set the expectations and be consistent all year long,” Marshall said. “We have to be up front and outright with the situation. I learned that from Thressa.”

Some changes Marshall expects this year include moving the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade classes (middle school) to the “open area” portion in the back of the building, and to move the younger classes into the traditional classrooms on the opposite side of the building.

She also expressed her enthusiasm for the recent decision to create an additional second-grade classroom due to an increase in student population at that grade level. She said she believes additional teachers will be needed as more time passes and more parents re-enroll their children at Providence Elementary.

She said consistency will have the “biggest impact” on continued improvement in student learning, something that will be important in attracting more students to the school.

“Knowing this is how things are going to be, and that they’re not going to change (is what it will take),” she said.

“We don’t need any more roller coaster rides,” she added.