Revised March 17, 2005
OMB Control Number: 1860-0745
2004-2005 No Child Left Behind - Blue Ribbon Schools Program
U.S. Department of Education
Cover Sheet Type of School: X Elementary __ Middle __ High __ K-12
Name of Principal Ms. Christine Cassidy______
(Specify: Ms., Miss, Mrs., Dr., Mr., Other) (As it should appear in the official records)
Official School Name Park Western Place Elementary School
(As it should appear in the official records)
School Mailing Address___1214 Park Western Place (If address is P.O. Box, also include street address)
San Pedro California 90732-2220
City State Zip Code+4 (9 digits total)
County Los Angeles______School Code Number* 19647336018675
Telephone ( 310 ) 833-3591 Fax ( 310) 833-6413
Website/URL www.lausd.net E-mail ____
I have reviewed the information in this application, including the eligibility requirements on page 2, and certify that to the best of my knowledge all information is accurate.
Date______
(Principal’s Signature)
Name of Superintendent* Gov. Roy Romer
(Specify: Ms., Miss, Mrs., Dr., Mr., Other)
District Name Los Angeles Unified School District Tel. ( 213 )241-2450
I have reviewed the information in this application, including the eligibility requirements on page 2, and certify that to the best of my knowledge it is accurate.
Date______(Superintendent’s Signature)
Name of School Board Mr. Jose Huizar
President/Chairperson
(Specify: Ms., Miss, Mrs., Dr., Mr., Other)
I have reviewed the information in this package, including the eligibility requirements on page 2, and certify that to the best of my knowledge it is accurate.
Date______
(School Board President’s/Chairperson’s Signature)
PART I ELIGIBILITY CERTIFICATION
[Include this page in the school’s application as page 2.]
The signatures on the first page of this application certify that each of the statements below concerning the school's eligibility and compliance with U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) requirements is true and correct.
1. The school has some configuration that includes grades K-12. (Schools with one principal, even K-12 schools, must apply as an entire school.)
2. The school has not been in school improvement status or been identified by the state as "persistently dangerous" within the last two years. To meet final eligibility, the school must meet the state’s adequate yearly progress requirement in the 2004-2005 school year.
3. If the school includes grades 7 or higher, it has foreign language as a part of its core curriculum.
4. The school has been in existence for five full years, that is, from at least September 1999 and has not received the 2003 or 2004 No Child Left Behind – Blue Ribbon Schools Award.
5. The nominated school or district is not refusing the OCR access to information necessary to investigate a civil rights complaint or to conduct a districtwide compliance review.
6. The OCR has not issued a violation letter of findings to the school district concluding that the nominated school or the district as a whole has violated one or more of the civil rights statutes. A violation letter of findings will not be considered outstanding if the OCR has accepted a corrective action plan from the district to remedy the violation.
7. The U.S. Department of Justice does not have a pending suit alleging that the nominated school, or the school district as a whole, has violated one or more of the civil rights statutes or the Constitution's equal protection clause.
8. There are no findings of violations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in a U.S. Department of Education monitoring report that apply to the school or school district in question; or if there are such findings, the state or district has corrected, or agreed to correct, the findings.
PART II DEMOGRAPHIC DATA
All data are the most recent year available.
DISTRICT (Questions 12 not applicable to private schools)
1. Number of schools in the district: _432_ Elementary schools
__77_ Middle schools
_____ Junior high schools
__ 60 High schools
_ 144_Other
__713 TOTAL
*Multilevel, Magnet, Continuation H.S., Special Ed., Community Day, Opportunity H.S., Community Adult
2. District Per Pupil Expenditure: _$6533______
Average State Per Pupil Expenditure: __$6822_____(2002_$6719)____
SCHOOL (To be completed by all schools)
**Please note that our statistics include one magnet school on our campus. We have 264, 1st – 5th graders in the Gifted/High Ability Magnet. We have incorporated the data wherever possible.
3. Category that best describes the area where the school is located:
[X ] Urban or large central city
[ ] Suburban school with characteristics typical of an urban area
[ ] Suburban
[ ] Small city or town in a rural area
[ ] Rural
4. 6+ Number of years the principal has been in her/his position at this school.
If fewer than three years, how long was the previous principal at this school?
5. Number of students as of October 1 enrolled at each grade level or its equivalent in applying school only:
Grade / # of Males / # of Females / Grade Total / Grade / # of Males / # of Females / Grade TotalPreK / 7
K / 47 / 27 / 74 / 8
1 / 46 / 56 / 102 / 9
2 / 57 / 55 / 112 / 10
3 / 69 / 52 / 121 / 11
4 / 67 / 55 / 122 / 12
5 / 73 / 48 / 121 / Other
6
TOTAL STUDENTS IN THE APPLYING SCHOOL ® / 652
[Throughout the document, round numbers to avoid decimals.]
6. Racial/ethnic composition of 25 % White
the students in the school: 11 % Black or African American
47 % Hispanic or Latino
17 % Asian/Pacific Islander
% American Indian/Alaskan Native
100% Total
Use only the five standard categories in reporting the racial/ethnic composition of the school.
7. Student turnover, or mobility rate, during the past year: 5%
(This rate should be calculated using the grid below. The answer to (6) is the mobility rate.)
(1) / Number of students who transferred to the school after October 1 until the end of the year. / 12(2) / Number of students who transferred from the school after October 1 until the end of the year. / 19
(3) / Subtotal of all transferred students [sum of rows (1) and (2)] / 31
(4) / Total number of students in the school as of October 1 / 653
(5) / Subtotal in row (3) divided by total in row (4) / .047
(6) / Amount in row (5) multiplied by 100 / 4.74
8. Limited English Proficient students in the school: ____8_%
____54_ Total Number Limited English Proficient
Number of languages represented: ____5____
Specify languages: Spanish, Japanese, Farsi, Thai, Korean
9. Students eligible for free/reduced-priced meals: ___53__%
Total number students who qualify: ____342__
If this method does not produce an accurate estimate of the percentage of students from lowincome families or the school does not participate in the federallysupported lunch program, specify a more accurate estimate, tell why the school chose it, and explain how it arrived at this estimate.
10. Students receiving special education services: __6___%
__42__Total Number of Students Served
Indicate below the number of students with disabilities according to conditions designated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
__2_Autism ____Orthopedic Impairment
____Deafness __2_Other Health Impaired
____Deaf-Blindness _16 Specific Learning Disability
____Emotional Disturbance __4_Speech or Language Impairment
____Hearing Impairment ____Traumatic Brain Injury
18__Mental Retardation ____Visual Impairment Including Blindness
____Multiple Disabilities
11. Indicate number of fulltime and parttime staff members in each of the categories below:
Number of Staff
Full-time Part-Time
Administrator(s) 2 ______
Classroom teachers ___32______
Special resource teachers/specialists ____1______
Paraprofessionals ____7______3____
Support staff ____8______6____
Total number ____49______
12. Average school student-“classroom teacher” ratio: _24:1_____
13. Show the attendance patterns of teachers and students as a percentage. The student dropout rate is defined by the state. The student drop-off rate is the difference between the number of entering students and the number of exiting students from the same cohort. (From the same cohort, subtract the number of exiting students from the number of entering students; divide that number by the number of entering students; multiply by 100 to get the percentage drop-off rate.) Briefly explain in 100 words or fewer any major discrepancy between the dropout rate and the drop-off rate. (Only middle and high schools need to supply dropout rates and only high schools need to supply drop-off rates.)
2003-2004 / 2002-2003 / 2001-2002 / 2000-2001 / 1999-2000Daily student attendance / 96% / 96% / 96% / 96% / 96%
Daily teacher attendance / 92% / 90% / 91% / 91% / 92%
Teacher turnover rate / 15% / 10% / 3% / 3% / 0%
Student dropout rate (middle/high) / % / % / % / % / %
Student drop-off rate (high school) / % / % / % / % / %
PART III SUMMARY
1.
Park Western Place Elementary School is in San Pedro, overlooking the working harbor of Los Angeles. At the southernmost tip of the sprawling Los Angeles Unified School District, it is located on a hillside next to a public housing project. Many of the students reside there or come from nearby urban areas and residential communities. In addition to our regular educational program comprising three/fifths of our student population, our campus includes two special education classes, and a gifted magnet focusing on math and science. We are a Title I school with 53% of our population classified as economically disadvantaged. Our student population of 652 reflects the wide ethnic diversity of our city with a blend of 47% Hispanic, 24.7% White, 17.3% Asian and 11% Black. Five different primary languages are represented and 8% of our students have limited English. Most English learners achieve proficient levels of English fluency within three years.
Park Western Place is an extraordinary learning environment with a shared vision. “All students can and will advance their learning in an engaging and challenging environment.” It is our belief that students, regardless of ethnicity, primary language, socioeconomic status, or gender, are capable of attaining proficiency in their learning. We all embrace this goal: the teachers, the parents, the principal, the support staff, and, most significantly, the students. Everyone in our school community is encouraged to be a role model to this purpose. Our goal is that all students advance; no student slips through the cracks; all students are supported and offered a full spectrum of opportunity. We have constructed a rigorous, systematic curriculum of depth and scope that is based on standards, appropriate assessment, and clear expectations of achievement.
Our students have made noteworthy gains, the most significant in our lower achieving student population. In the last five years our level of student achievement has gone well beyond the expectations of the state of California, and surpassed the schools in our area, including many schools in other more affluent areas.
We have achieved a school culture of teamwork through positive and open communication between parents, teachers, administration, staff, and students. Our staff is highly committed and supportive. With a pervasive willingness to go beyond expectations, teachers have shared their talents to create such traditions as a school-wide Heritage Pageant celebrating diversity, a Colonial Faire, chorus presentations and musicals, an overnight learning experiences at Catalina Island Marine Institute, Astro Camp, and Cabrillo Museum. A literature anthology, The Bridge, is published yearly to encourage student authors. Extensive parent volunteers make valuable contributions such as teaching folk dance, organizing our classroom Resource Room, assisting in special programs such as Math and Science Fun Days, and Land Conservancy Nature Hikes. We have written grants to fund such things as our beautiful student library provided by Wonder of Reading; the Arts Prototype program taught by trained experts to reinforce learning in the curriculum areas using a variety of learning modalities; acquisition of appropriate classroom materials for our Resource Room which stocks materials in all curriculum areas for students at all learning levels; books, and technology for the classroom; a new playground from a Kirk Douglas grant; and advanced professional development for teachers.
Our educational vision is to provide students with strong learning tools and skills, and a broad range of experiences and information to help them understand and engage fully in the world in which they live. We know students can be accomplished learners and at our school they are.
PART IV – INDICATORS OF ACADEMIC SUCCESS
1.
The State of California mandates that all schools will participate in the California Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program. Since 1999, the State requires language arts and mathematics assessments to measure the grade-level skills of each student based upon the adopted California Academic Content Standards. This assessment is called the California Standards Test (CST). Students grade 2 to 11 take this test. This nationally norm-referenced multiple choice achievement test known as the California Achievement Test, Sixth Edition (CAT/6) has been administered since 2003. The Stanford 9 (SAT/9) was used from 1998 to 2002.
Since 1999, California rates all schools with a numeric score, the Academic Performance Index (API). API reflects a school’s performance on the STAR which includes the California Standards Test and to a smaller degree the CAT/6. Scores range from 200 to 1000. 800 is the statewide target score. Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals are set to continue to make advancement in student achievement to ensure that “No Child is Left Behind.” Every sub group at our school has exceeded the goals.
Our school has shown impressive and consistent growth in all areas. We have exceeded our AYP in all categories including Special Education. The current API score for our school is 910; in 1999 it was 793. All subgroups currently have API scores that exceed 800, with our most impressive gains made in our underperforming subgroups as shown below:
# tested / 1998/1999 / # tested / 1999/
2000 / # tested / 2000/
2001 / # tested / 2001/
2002 / # tested / 2002/
2003 / # tested / 2003/
2004
API Score / 349 / 793 / 355 / 821 / 366 / 864 / 401 / 878 / 436 / 888 / 467 / 910
Sub Groups
Socioeconomic
Disadvantaged / 160 / 670 / 168 / 697 / 174 / 786 / 209 / 816 / 201 / 820 / 211 / 860
Hispanic / 134 / 659 / 137 / 689 / 139 / 767 / 159 / 801 / 186 / 818 / 230 / 847
STAR results are aligned to the California State Standards for reading, language arts, and mathematics. It generates scores for each student, classifying achievement as advanced, proficient, basic, or below basic. In reading, our student proficiency level in 2004 is 77%, with 40% advanced, from 63% proficient and 25% advanced in 2001. The gains are especially impressive since our regular educaton population which is primarily low income is growing and comprises half of the students tested. Our greatest gains were made in our socio-economically disadvantaged and Hispanic subgroups. 64% of our disadvantaged students scored at or above proficiency and 23% were advanced, an increase from 40% proficient and 13% advanced in 2001. 61% of our Hispanic population scored at or above proficiency and 22% were advanced, up from 31% proficiency and 7% advanced levels in 2001. Results in math are even higher. CELDT, The English Language Development Test is given twice a year with a higher pass rate than both the local district and the school district as a whole.