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Astor Elementary sets high academic standards and has a focused plan to achieve them.
Literacy is the school's top priority. The bulk of Astor's Title 1 federal funding goes to boost reading in the primary grades. The Reading Recovery program gets extra help to struggling first graders.
Astor also took the tough choice to make do without art, music, or physical education teachers, or a school librarian, in order to maintain its commitment to smaller classes school-wide.
And rather than losing touch with retirees, Astor's "Teacher Emeritus" program brings back former teachers for training and mentoring, exemplifying the school's innovative approach to problem-solving.
With some 70% of students coming from Spanish-dominant households, Echo Shaw Elementary's two-way English/Spanish language immersion program ensures students get the best of both worlds.
The school is committed to teaching English, while bolstering literacy in students' native language. The innovative language program is informed by the latest educational research, but the key to its success is its teachers and aides. The school makes hiring bilingual/bicultural staff a top priority.
Echo Shaw's active family activities involve parents in the school and provide enrichment opportunities for students. An active SMART reading program brings in community volunteers.
A small, rural school, Lake Labish Elementary has turned around academic achievement.
A struggling school in the late '90s, the school adopted the Success for All program, which lays out a rigorous school-wide reading curriculum. The program's emphasis on teamwork and assessment has spread throughout the school, reshaping its approach to math, writing, science, and social studies.
There are only five classroom teachers at Lake Labish, but all are fully trained in reading and have ESOL endorsements to meet the needs of English Language Learners. Children wear uniforms to school, reducing distractions and putting all students on equal social footing.
Literacy is the cornerstone of academic success at Mountain View.
The Success for All reading program, in place for six years, establishes school-wide goals and teaching strategies to reach them.
The school is dedicated to constant assessment and data analysis to monitor student and teacher progress and to address any problem areas. Teacher teams shape professional development and academic goals and reach out to struggling students and their families.
The school invites its diverse community into the building through regular parent meetings and workshops and social events.
Russell Academy, a K-5 elementary school, prides itself on an academic, no-nonsense approach to education. Teachers work collaboratively, developing team goals and analyzing student assessment data. The daily schedule is built around reading and math blocks that promote small classes.
Detailed curriculum guides for teachers and parents set out goals and expectations at every grade level for students, who abide by a strict white-and-blue dress code. After-school activities provide academic support and enrichment, and include a partnership with the Boys & Girls Club.
At this diverse school, where one in three students is an English Language Learner, literacy is fundamental. The reading focus shapes not only the curriculum, but also student assessment, professional development, and the daily schedule, which is built around a 90-minute reading block.
West Powellhurst follows Guided Language Acquisition Design, a language immersion model, for its ESL students, who speak some 20 languages, mainly Russian and Spanish.
Many school outreach programs center around the school's emphasis on literacy and diversity, including family nights, breakfast book sessions, and native language read-alouds.
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