South Fulton Academy is located close to the junction of Cleveland Ave. and Interstate 85. The school is at the end of a street lined by small houses that are for sale. The parking lot is being repaved, so for now cars are parked on the street in front of and besides the school building. The school is made up of one building and has no mobile classrooms. From the outside, the building looks like a two-story rectangle. Most if not all of the windows in the building are covered with curtains or paper. Therefore people are unable to see from the outside in. As you walk through the front doors, painted with a red, orange, yellow, and blue flame, the schools mascot, a gymnasium is on the right and a set of double doors is on the left. Once through the double doors, you are standing in a long hallway adorned with bulletin boards and pictures. The first door on the right is the schools office and the first door on the left is the computer lab. The classrooms are located throughout the rest of the hallway. At the end of the hallway is a staircase. More classrooms are located up the stairs on the second floor. The lunchroom and some storage areas are located down the stairs in the basement. 5th and 6th grade are located on the main floor and 7th and 8th grade is located on the second floor.

History South Fulton Academy is a charter school. It is not steeped in tradition, as they have only been open for seven years. The school separates the different grades by colors. Since the flame is the mascot for the school, the grades have been separated into red, orange, yellow, and blue. 5th grade is red, 6th grade is yellow, 7th grade is orange, and 8th grade is blue as these are the layers and colors of a flame. This really helps created the schools identity. Students take pride in their colors and the mascot. Students wear uniforms at the school. The shirts that the students wear coincide with the grade level and color. They wear khaki pants and tennis shoes. Sweatshirts are also given to the students for the cooler months. The school does have one tradition that I find amazing. From the time that the students enter South Fulton Academy in 5th grade, college is the focus. To help the students understand that the goal of school is to graduate from college each student is issued a jacket. Written on the arm of each student’s jacket is the year that he or she will graduate from college. This definitely helps to motivate the students at the school.

The only demographic change that I was able to find is that the income in the area may be on the rise. I say this because the school has gone from 95 percent free and reduced lunches to 85 percent free and reduced lunches over the last seven years. The ethnicity at the school has remained the same over the schools seven years. Community Most students at South Fulton Academy live in some form of low-income housing. If anyone has driven around the neighborhoods close to South Fulton Medical Center and around the South Atlanta area, these are the types of communities that the students come from. In general it seems that the economic base for the community is mainly industrial. Most parents of the students that I have spoken with work in some type of factory or manufacturing plant. Despite the parents long hard working hours they seem to be involved in the children’s academic life. I think that this is one of the many areas that South Fulton Academy excels. Although not amongst high rises and subways, this is an urban school.

South Fulton Academy is an amazing school. The students arrive at the school in 5th grade at an average of two years behind in grade level. Regardless of this deficit, the majority of the students are there to learn. South Fulton Academy is a public school that operates more like a private school. This is evident in the uniforms and structure that the school enforces. At SFA they have a high level of discipline. They also have a school wide reward system. This helps both the students and the teachers. At the end of each week the students receive a check. The check reflects the amount of SFA dollars the students has earned or lost throughout the week. The students can use thus money to purchase items at the school store or safe the money to spend on out of school field trips. It seems to work great. Make no mistake about it, the school’s focus is education. The school day last from 7:30 am to 5:00pm and twice a month on Saturday. This is partially because of the deficit when the students arrive and partly because of the teacher’s dedication to the students. Watching the students and the teachers interact it is obvious that the teacher have earned the respect of the students. They are able to create an environment that is conducive to learning.

The school has consistently met the AYP requirements. They have exceeded the requirements for this past year. They have nearly 100 percent test participation for 2007 and 2008 and 100 percent participation for 2009. Out of the 311 students, 263 student exceeded requirements for test scores. SFA shows no signs of slowing down. The teachers are constantly preparing the students for the standardized test. Not only do the teachers prepare the students for the test, they are able to tech the students in creative and fun ways. This proves to me that it does not matter what neighborhood a child come from, if you have a school that cares about the students and wants to see them succeed, they can. SFA proves this everyday. If as teachers we can show students how important it is to learn and do it in a creative and exciting way, we will be successful. One last thing that I have learned so far from this experience is that it is incredibly important to be prepared for anything on any given day.

Type and Economic Level of nearby housing / Single Family Homes, Apartments and Section 8
Distance to and type of nearby retail establishments / TJ Max, Big Lots, RackRoom Shoes,
Distance to nearby Hospital / .7 miles
Closest Supermarket / Kroger on Cleveland Ave
Half Gallon Mayfield 2% Milk / $2.66
Half Gallon Silk Vanilla Milk / $2.71
Dozen Eggland Eggs / $3.89
Sara Lee 100% Soft and Smooth Wheat Bread / $3.25
28oz. Jif Natural Creamy Peanut Butter / $4.52
17.2 oz. Honey Nut Cheerios / $2.79
4.4 to 5.5oz Uncle Ben’s Brown Rice / $2.88
11.25 Barilla Whole Grain Linguine / $2.39
24oz. Barilla Garden Vegetable Sauce / $3.69
Pound Ground Beef / $2.29 per lb.
Cut Whole Fryer / $3.21
6-pack domestic beer / $5.88
Distance and Closest Mall / Greenbriar Mall
4.0 miles
Distance to closest fast food / Less than 2miles
McDonalds, Wendy’s, Popeye’s
List services on three billboards / Lawyers
Mortgages
Adult Entertainment
Distance and closest white table cloth restaurant / The Tasting Room
4.1 miles
Distance to branch name of closest library / East Point Library
.7 miles