2003-2004 No Child Left Behind—Blue Ribbon Schools Program
Cover Sheet
Name of Principal Mrs. Gayle Calhoun
(Specify: Ms., Miss, Mrs., Dr., Mr., Other) (As it should appear in the official records)
Official School Name Northwood Elementary School
(As it should appear in the official records)
School Mailing Address 2760 East Trimble Road
(If address is P.O. Box, also include street address)
San Jose CA 95132-1055
City State Zip Code+4 (9 digits total)
Tel. (408) 923-1940 Fax (408) 942-9032
Website/URL Berryessa.k12.ca.us 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.
Gayle Calhoun, Principal Northwood Elementary Date: 02/05/04
(Principal’s Signature)
Name of Superintendent* Mr. Jack Owens
(Specify: Ms., Miss, Mrs., Dr., Mr., Other)
District Name Berryessa Union School District Tel. (408) 923-1800
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
President/Chairperson Ms. Francine Davis
(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______
(SchoolBoardPresident’s/Chairperson’sSignature)
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 2003-2004 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 1998.
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: 10 Elementary schools
3 Middle schools
0 Junior high schools
0 High schools
__ Other (Briefly explain)
13 TOTAL
2. District Per Pupil Expenditure: $6383
Average State Per Pupil Expenditure: $6444
SCHOOL (To be completed by all schools)
3. Category that best describes the area where the school is located:
[ ] Urban or large central city
[ x ] Suburban school with characteristics typical of an urban area
[ ] Suburban
[ ] Small city or town in a rural area
[ ] Rural
4. 6 mons Number of years the principal has been in her/his position at this school.
3 years If fewer than three years, how long was the previous principal at this school?
5. Number of students enrolled at each grade level or its equivalent in applying school:
Grade / # of Males / # of Females / Grade Total / Grade / # of Males / # of Females / Grade TotalK / 38 / 31 / 69 / 7
1 / 34 / 42 / 76 / 8
2 / 42 / 33 / 75 / 9
3 / 29 / 31 / 60 / 10
4 / 30 / 32 / 62 / 11
5 / 31 / 33 / 64 / 12
6 / Other / 39 / 21 / 60
TOTAL STUDENTS IN THE APPLYING SCHOOL ® / 466
6. Racial/ethnic composition of 8.5% White
the students in the school: 4.4% Black or African American
24.3% Hispanic or Latino
62.6% Asian/Pacific Islander
0.2% American Indian/Alaskan Native
100% Total
7. Student turnover, or mobility rate, during the past year: 8.9%
(This rate includes the total number of students who transferred to or from different schools between October 1 and the end of the school year, divided by the total number of students in the school as of October 1, multiplied by 100.)
(1) / Number of students who transferred to the school after October 1 until the end of the year. / 13(2) / Number of students who transferred from the school after October 1 until the end of the year. / 25
(3) / Subtotal of all transferred students [sum of rows (1) and (2)] / 38
(4) / Total number of students in the school as of October 1 / 427
(5) / Subtotal in row (3) divided by total in row (4) / .08899
(6) / Amount in row (5) multiplied by 100 / 8.899%
8. Limited English Proficient students in the school: 39%
164 Total Number Limited English Proficient
Number of languages represented: 19
Specify languages: English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Tagalog, Filipino Other, Mandrin, Other Chinese, Burmese, Farsi, French, Hindi, Iiocano, Punjabi, Samoan, Thai, Gujarati, Tigrinya
9. Students eligible for free/reduced-priced meals: 44.7%
191 Total Number Students Who Qualify
If this method does not produce a reasonably 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: 7.3%
31 Total Number of Students Served
Indicate below the number of students with disabilities according to conditions designated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
15 Autism 1 Orthopedic Impairment
____Deafness ____Other Health Impaired
____Deaf-Blindness 12 Specific Learning Disability
____Hearing Impairment 25 Speech or Language Impairment
____Mental Retardation ____Traumatic Brain Injury
____Multiple Disabilities ____Visual Impairment Including Blindness
11. Indicate number of fulltime and parttime staff members in each of the categories below:
Number of Staff
Full-time Part-Time
Administrator(s) 1 0
Classroom teachers 21 0
Special resource teachers/specialists 2 1
Paraprofessionals 7 2
Support staff 1 9
Total number 32 12
12. Average school student-“classroom teacher” ratio: 20:1
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.)
2002-2003 / 2001-2002 / 2000-2001 / 1999-2000 / 1998-1999Daily student attendance / 96.86% / 96.82% / 96.78% / 96.83% / 96.83%
Daily teacher attendance / 1.60% / 2.52% / * / * / *
Teacher turnover rate / 0.0% / .30% / .12% / .16% / .06%
· not available
PART III: SUMMARY
We are the Northwood Bears and we couldn’t be prouder…in case you didn’t hear us, we’re going to say it a little louder!
If you ever find yourself at our Northwood Elementary School assembly on a Friday morning this is what you’ll hear, and it couldn’t be truer! We are all proud of Northwood! Who wouldn’t be? We are a caring and committed community school with a partnership of “passionate for quality children’s education” staff, parent, student, and community involvement. Even though 44% of our children are Title 1, qualify for the free and reduced lunch program and are considered “disadvantaged,” all staff works hard at Northwood to give each child individually what is needed to make him academically and socially successful.
Northwood is an urban school containing 466 pre-K through 5th grade students.
Built in 1965, Northwood is located in a culturally, linguistically, and socio-economically diverse neighborhood consisting of apartments, condominiums, townhouses, businesses, parks, and new and old residential homes. Over time our school population has changed to become approximately 62% Asian and 24% Hispanic. Nineteen different languages are now spoken by children attending Northwood. Thirty nine percent of our children are English language learners. Seven percent of our students qualify for special education services. Northwood’s campus includes not only our regular education Kindergarten through Fifth grade classrooms, but also a State Pre-school, a Federal Pre-school, several autistic classrooms, and a Child Development Center. Because our population is so diverse and includes so many early childhood and special education programs, our students develop an appreciation and respect for children of all abilities and backgrounds.
Northwood’s principal and staff are a dedicated mix of both veteran and new teachers who collaborate weekly and give Northwood a feeling of being at “home.” You will daily see teachers and staff actively engaged in conversation and problem solving with students of all ages and with their parents, making our school feel like an extended family. Staff development takes place monthly where the latest research is reviewed for the best and most comprehensive teaching strategies, and student work samples are studied to improve our standards-based curriculum.
Northwood has been totally renovated over the last three years, sparkles with new white and turquoise paint, and has Internet accessible computers in every classroom. All Northwood staff communicates through district e-mail, has access to the Berryessa Union School District student data information system (SASI), and has instant Internet accessibility through their individual classroom computers.
The Berryessa Union School District Northwood mission statement is published each month in the Northwood Times, is part of our school site council minutes, and is reviewed annually by all Northwood Staff. Everyone at Northwood works to “ensure that all students have the skills necessary to reach high levels of academic achievement, respect self and others, and become life long learners.” At Northwood Elementary, we believe that every child has the right to a challenging and rewarding standards-based education in a nurturing and safe environment that prepares children for a positive future role in society. The focus of our staff and community is to provide a diversified, comprehensive, and integrated curriculum using the California Standards as our guide along with state approved standards-based textbooks. We seek to empower students through enhanced learning experiences and through positive and lasting relationships.
PART IV: INDICATORS OF ACADEMIC SUCCESS
1.The Meaning of Northwood’s Assessment Results in Language Arts and Mathematics.
Every year in May, California assesses all public school children in grades 2 through 11 for academic progress as part of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program. The STAR program consists of a series of criterion-based tests called California Standards Tests (CST), and norm referenced tests, which recently changed from the Stanford 9 norm-referenced achievement test to the California Achievement Tests, 6th edition (CAT6). On the whole comparisons between the CAT/6 results and the Stanford 9 are difficult because of different structure, content emphasis, and difficulty levels. However, it is appropriate to compare CAT/6 and SAT 9 results by the percentage of students scoring above the 50th percentile. The state of California has established an accountability system called the Academic Performance Indicator (API). The API is a score on a scale of 200 to 1000 that annually measures the academic performance and progress of individual schools in California. On an interim basis, California has set 800 as the API score that schools should strive to meet. Northwood’s 2003 API was 803.
In 2003, California began to align its expectations on the API with the expectations of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, resulting in a new scoring system called the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). The AYP is a new federal mandate for all Title 1 schools and districts that receive federal money. 2003 AYP expectations were: an API of 560 or higher for all California Schools, 13.6% elementary students proficient or above on state standards test in all subgroups for English language arts, and 16.0% elementary students proficient or above on state standards tests in mathematics. NCLB mandates that all students in all grades meet the state achievement standards for English language arts and mathematics by 2014 and that all schools and districts demonstrate AYP toward achieving that goal.
Northwood has been selected to apply for Blue Ribbon status because it has made noteworthy progress each year in its API scores, both school wide and in its significant subgroups. The data to support this is displayed in tables at the end of this narrative, but a beginning basis for judging Northwood’s progress can be extrapolated from our school’s continually increasing API scores: 1999: 695 API; 2000: 735 API (growth 40 points); 2001: 776 (growth 41 points); 2002: 787 (growth 20 points) API; 2003: 803 API (growth 34 points). More important than Northwood’s progress school wide in both language arts and mathematics each year, has been Northwood’s API progress in all significant subgroups 2001 to 2003: Asian (800-859); Hispanic (598-721), and economically disadvantaged (646-749).