iacrenter
Well-known member
Someone should cross post this for BK so he can wax poetic on his Santa Ana schools. It is very impressive what they achieved.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/school-284206-harvey-santa.html
Harvey Elementary: A meteoric rise to the top
By SCOTT MARTINDALE
2011-01-14 14:08:04
SANTA ANA ? The roadmap to college on kindergarten teacher Margarita Gest's classroom wall is simple, but powerful.
An arrow points from elementary to intermediate school, then to high school. The end point on Gest's handmade poster reads "Finally, college" and includes photos of Santa Ana College and UC Irvine.
"They get a nice picture of, 'This is my goal. I go here because I need to get to college,'" said Gest, who has taught at Carl Harvey Elementary School in Santa Ana for 13 years. "Otherwise, these kindergartners don't understand why they are here."
Harvey's willingness to meet pupils at their own level, to acknowledge the rough neighborhood they come from and then discard it as a poor excuse for why they can't achieve, has propelled this traditional public school not just into the top tier among Santa Ana's struggling inner-city campuses, but into the top tier of elementary schools across all of Orange County.
In a single year, Harvey shot up 147 spots in The Orange County Register's annual rankings of public elementary schools, from No. 156 to an extraordinary No. 9, cementing its place in the Register's elite top 10 ? a feat rarely associated with campuses that have such odds stacked against them. The Register's analysis is entirely numbers-driven, with no special considerations for disadvantaged schools.
Click here to see the data behind this year's Best Public Schools rankings.
Harvey Elementary is sandwiched between Valley High School to the south ? the lowest-ranked public high school in Orange County ? and Carr Intermediate to the north, the county's eighth lowest-ranked public middle school. Most Harvey pupils eventually end up at these schools.
More than 98 percent of Harvey's population is Hispanic, and almost as many ? 94 percent ? come from low-income families. The school primarily draws children from a working-class, immigrant neighborhood known as Valley West in southwestern Santa Ana and does not have the luxury of expelling kids who don't adhere to strict behavior guidelines, as Santa Ana's alternative, typically higher-performing "fundamental" schools do.
"We don't sit here admiring the problem," said Principal Teresa Stetler, who began working at Harvey as a resource teacher in 1995 and has headed the campus for five years. "I hold them to the highest standard as I would for my own children. Some of them don't agree, but they don't leave."
Buoyed by recent gains in its Academic Performance Index score ? up 27 points last year, to 828 out of 1,000 ? Harvey has worked diligently to apply a number of proven instructional strategies, including grouping children by skill level for targeted instruction, cross-collaboration among teachers of different grade levels and after-school homework clubs and one-on-one tutoring.
"They encourage us to learn new things, to make better choices," said fifth-grader Sharon Gomez, 11, a special-education student. "In the CSTs (California Standards Tests), I was below basic. I couldn't believe I could go up to advanced in math, and proficient in language arts, but it's true."
Almost every wall inside the school is covered floor to ceiling with student work, and at the entrance to each classroom, teachers post a chart called a "data wall" that sums up each child's progress on key academic benchmarks, allowing parents and teachers to visually track growth and pinpoint weaknesses of their scholars ? the preferred name for Harvey pupils.
"I knew this school was where scholars are," said fourth-grader David Merlin, 10, of Santa Ana, who transferred to Harvey two years ago from another Santa Ana school. "I like how the teachers help you with anything you need help on."
The secret to Harvey's success, teachers say, is an unwavering commitment to get parent buy-in, even from the ones who don't understand the American education system or insist they can't help their children in school.
If a child arrives late or has an unexcused absence, the parent gets a phone call and a stern lecture on the importance of daily school attendance.
If a child isn't turning in assignments, the parent is hauled into the principal's office, where Stetler explains that homework isn't optional and the parent must be vigilant about checking daily for completed assignments.
If parents complain they don't know how to provide discipline and structure at home, Harvey teachers offer a lesson on basic parenting skills.
"I had a girl whose mother said she couldn't get her to read because she would start crying," said second-grade teacher Stephanie Tyree, who has been at Harvey for 14 years. "I told her, 'She reads just fine when I ask her to take out her book in class. You can't let her cry to get out of doing something. No more excuses, no more video games if she won't read.'"
With its uncharacteristic successes working with disadvantaged children, Harvey is quickly gaining state and national attention. The school last year was named a California Distinguished School, its second time receiving the honor in the past four years. The same year, Harvey also earned a Blue Ribbon, the nation's top honor for individual campuses.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education spotlighted Harvey in a special write-up on its website, crediting a "faculty of experienced teachers" with blending "intuition with analysis of ongoing test results to determine students' needs."
"Those secrets we're sharing with other schools, so rest assured it's going to get out and benefit all students in Santa Ana Unified," Herman Mendez, the district's assistant superintendent for elementary education, told trustees at a recent school board meeting.
Harvey's parents are beginning to take notice.
"Before, I didn't care about education; I was just working," said parent Maria Perez of Santa Ana, who has a fifth-grader at Harvey and a ninth-grader who went to another Santa Ana elementary school. "I was disappointed because my older son didn't do very well; they just patted you on your back and sent you home. Here, they work with you and identify the problems early on. You feel welcome, respected. They find solutions right away."
Added parent Shaerolt Mendez, who has a fifth-grader at Harvey: "When a student needs help, it doesn't matter ? the teachers don't mind staying after school. They focus a lot on getting the children to advance."
Refusing to accept the myth that poor children can't be successful in school, Harvey Elementary lives by the mantra of "Yes, I can!"
At its morning assembly on the school blacktop, children are required to recite a 17-line creed each day that begins: "I am polite and courteous; I am respectful; I am responsible; I am safe; I am prepared."
"The ones who are going to be successful need to have goals set for them now," Stetler said, explaining the importance of drilling such sentiments into the children.
"We don't have a lot of kids coming from homes where both parents are professionals, but we make them believe they can be the best school. We show them they have to work hard at this, and it's not going to be easy."
Contact the writer: 949-454-7394 or smartindale@ocregister.com
http://www.ocregister.com/news/school-284206-harvey-santa.html
Harvey Elementary: A meteoric rise to the top
By SCOTT MARTINDALE
2011-01-14 14:08:04
SANTA ANA ? The roadmap to college on kindergarten teacher Margarita Gest's classroom wall is simple, but powerful.
An arrow points from elementary to intermediate school, then to high school. The end point on Gest's handmade poster reads "Finally, college" and includes photos of Santa Ana College and UC Irvine.
"They get a nice picture of, 'This is my goal. I go here because I need to get to college,'" said Gest, who has taught at Carl Harvey Elementary School in Santa Ana for 13 years. "Otherwise, these kindergartners don't understand why they are here."
Harvey's willingness to meet pupils at their own level, to acknowledge the rough neighborhood they come from and then discard it as a poor excuse for why they can't achieve, has propelled this traditional public school not just into the top tier among Santa Ana's struggling inner-city campuses, but into the top tier of elementary schools across all of Orange County.
In a single year, Harvey shot up 147 spots in The Orange County Register's annual rankings of public elementary schools, from No. 156 to an extraordinary No. 9, cementing its place in the Register's elite top 10 ? a feat rarely associated with campuses that have such odds stacked against them. The Register's analysis is entirely numbers-driven, with no special considerations for disadvantaged schools.
Click here to see the data behind this year's Best Public Schools rankings.
Harvey Elementary is sandwiched between Valley High School to the south ? the lowest-ranked public high school in Orange County ? and Carr Intermediate to the north, the county's eighth lowest-ranked public middle school. Most Harvey pupils eventually end up at these schools.
More than 98 percent of Harvey's population is Hispanic, and almost as many ? 94 percent ? come from low-income families. The school primarily draws children from a working-class, immigrant neighborhood known as Valley West in southwestern Santa Ana and does not have the luxury of expelling kids who don't adhere to strict behavior guidelines, as Santa Ana's alternative, typically higher-performing "fundamental" schools do.
"We don't sit here admiring the problem," said Principal Teresa Stetler, who began working at Harvey as a resource teacher in 1995 and has headed the campus for five years. "I hold them to the highest standard as I would for my own children. Some of them don't agree, but they don't leave."
Buoyed by recent gains in its Academic Performance Index score ? up 27 points last year, to 828 out of 1,000 ? Harvey has worked diligently to apply a number of proven instructional strategies, including grouping children by skill level for targeted instruction, cross-collaboration among teachers of different grade levels and after-school homework clubs and one-on-one tutoring.
"They encourage us to learn new things, to make better choices," said fifth-grader Sharon Gomez, 11, a special-education student. "In the CSTs (California Standards Tests), I was below basic. I couldn't believe I could go up to advanced in math, and proficient in language arts, but it's true."
Almost every wall inside the school is covered floor to ceiling with student work, and at the entrance to each classroom, teachers post a chart called a "data wall" that sums up each child's progress on key academic benchmarks, allowing parents and teachers to visually track growth and pinpoint weaknesses of their scholars ? the preferred name for Harvey pupils.
"I knew this school was where scholars are," said fourth-grader David Merlin, 10, of Santa Ana, who transferred to Harvey two years ago from another Santa Ana school. "I like how the teachers help you with anything you need help on."
The secret to Harvey's success, teachers say, is an unwavering commitment to get parent buy-in, even from the ones who don't understand the American education system or insist they can't help their children in school.
If a child arrives late or has an unexcused absence, the parent gets a phone call and a stern lecture on the importance of daily school attendance.
If a child isn't turning in assignments, the parent is hauled into the principal's office, where Stetler explains that homework isn't optional and the parent must be vigilant about checking daily for completed assignments.
If parents complain they don't know how to provide discipline and structure at home, Harvey teachers offer a lesson on basic parenting skills.
"I had a girl whose mother said she couldn't get her to read because she would start crying," said second-grade teacher Stephanie Tyree, who has been at Harvey for 14 years. "I told her, 'She reads just fine when I ask her to take out her book in class. You can't let her cry to get out of doing something. No more excuses, no more video games if she won't read.'"
With its uncharacteristic successes working with disadvantaged children, Harvey is quickly gaining state and national attention. The school last year was named a California Distinguished School, its second time receiving the honor in the past four years. The same year, Harvey also earned a Blue Ribbon, the nation's top honor for individual campuses.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education spotlighted Harvey in a special write-up on its website, crediting a "faculty of experienced teachers" with blending "intuition with analysis of ongoing test results to determine students' needs."
"Those secrets we're sharing with other schools, so rest assured it's going to get out and benefit all students in Santa Ana Unified," Herman Mendez, the district's assistant superintendent for elementary education, told trustees at a recent school board meeting.
Harvey's parents are beginning to take notice.
"Before, I didn't care about education; I was just working," said parent Maria Perez of Santa Ana, who has a fifth-grader at Harvey and a ninth-grader who went to another Santa Ana elementary school. "I was disappointed because my older son didn't do very well; they just patted you on your back and sent you home. Here, they work with you and identify the problems early on. You feel welcome, respected. They find solutions right away."
Added parent Shaerolt Mendez, who has a fifth-grader at Harvey: "When a student needs help, it doesn't matter ? the teachers don't mind staying after school. They focus a lot on getting the children to advance."
Refusing to accept the myth that poor children can't be successful in school, Harvey Elementary lives by the mantra of "Yes, I can!"
At its morning assembly on the school blacktop, children are required to recite a 17-line creed each day that begins: "I am polite and courteous; I am respectful; I am responsible; I am safe; I am prepared."
"The ones who are going to be successful need to have goals set for them now," Stetler said, explaining the importance of drilling such sentiments into the children.
"We don't have a lot of kids coming from homes where both parents are professionals, but we make them believe they can be the best school. We show them they have to work hard at this, and it's not going to be easy."
Contact the writer: 949-454-7394 or smartindale@ocregister.com