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Feb 2021 Information Meeting for prospective families

Added Feb 04, 2021 •

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Parents of all applicants are encouraged to watch this informational video when applying.

Show Transcript

our parents thank you for your interest in Elevate School my name is Ryan Elliott I'm the executive director here and it's my privilege and honor to share a bit about our school with you today an important first question before I care about our school is the answer what is a charter school. Everyone is familiar with that so a brief overview is that charter schools are tuition-free public schools were authorized by our local District right here at San Diego unified and reappear the same academic standards as any neighborhood School up or down the state but we have more autonomy and what teaching and learning looks like our funding like any other public school is based on student attendance so we want students here every single day that they are healthy at eleve our mission what were passionate about is to equip tomorrow's Global innovators by inspiring students to be excellent in academics exceptional in leadership and extraordinary in creativity I've been in education for almost two States in when the founders first invited me to join our founding team for what would become Elevate that leadership piece was a part that got me really excited I always enjoy being a math teacher working with students giving them the mathematical foundations that they needed to be successful but the part that I really loved was seeing them collaborate with each other seeing them tackle difficult learning Concepts to persevere and grow in their confidence seeing their potential come out in a classroom setting up as a learner and as a leader and so sound of a bat was going to be a part of who we are at Elevate I was in I didn't know years ago everything that was going to go into becoming the school that we are today it has been quite a ride it's been exhausting and it's been exhilarating but it's been play worth it because we are able to do great work for our students were able to partner with great families and we're so proud of what we've been able to accomplish in our first seven years we've been recognized both as a California distinguished school as well as a leader in me Lighthouse school both of these honors recognize the amazing contributions and achievements of our hard-working students of the teachers and staff that care deeply for them and create the conditions each day for students to be successful as long as great family that we've had the opportunity to partner with both of these recognitions are significant for the entire Community another key part that I'm so proud of as we think about our growth from our first either way we are now is that the diversity of our stuff body and of our family has grown every single year we see and added witchness in each of our classroom the students from different backgrounds get to learn side by side as they get to dialogue with one another and they become better leaders we're going to make a big impact in this world that we live in as a result of that we also are really fortunate to serve a high military population that was actually one of the reasons that elevate was founded in the first place to provide another high-quality learning opportunity alternative for military in San Diego and we have seen our military students learn side-by-side with our civilian students were both benefit from being instead of fostering together from sharing their experiences as they go through their days so what is the education program that we have in place to serve and meet the needs of our students their five components them to share briefly about if we go to this next question the first part is our common core standards what's the academic Foundation that students are going to learn pain as I go to the elementary years the second part is the leader in me program that has been part of elevate since our very first day I'll share more about that a t learning vehicle is project-based learning so I'm going to share what that looks like in the classroom setting and how that benefit students any high-quality School needs to have a strong reading and writing program and that's absolutely the case at Elevate in this last component represents our commitment to serving the whole child bringing out that great potential it is in every single student on but that's going to look different from every single kid so as we think about standards the common core standards were built to set students up to be ready for college to be ready for career and Elevate we are passionate about working really hard about challenging our students to attain everything that they can so that they have lots of doors open to them when they get ready for college and so the common core standards are rigorous they're challenging kindergarten Iowa State appearance when I meet with him in person looks very different than it did when you are I are more attending years ago it's still engaging there still movement but even our youngest students have higher expectations of what they need to learn what they need to match so that they are ready to do high rigorous work if they go through the elementary middle school and high school grades every year the state of California Minister State assessments the smarter balanced assessment and I'll share beta. How Elevate Stevenson turn on that we don't just have high expectations for students however we have high expectations for teachers and in order for them to be the best that they can wear their students we need to provide high-quality professional learning and at Elevate are teachers in in a week and a half of learning before the school year begins and then every Thursday we have extended time for students to engage in individual learning and learning in their grade level and as a whole team on so that they are ready and parents provide the best learning opportunities for our students go take a look briefly at how Elevate students have done over the last couple years on the state test these are some tables that were actually pulled together by the district when we were renewed for our next five Farm a couple years ago and you can see was so proud on that our Elevate students were right at the top and bosart English language arts test as well as mathematics for each of the Last 5 Years in fact Elevate students scored in the top 15% all students in San Diego unified I'm during our first five years when the tests were administered just as important as students going as Learners is the importance of students growing at liters into that end Elevate has been a leader in me School incorporating Covey 7 Habits into our classrooms and whole school setting ever since our very first day that we were open at Elevate we believe strongly that every single child is a leader you can see it in the title of Cubbies book The Leader in Me the every single child every single person for that matter is a leader and we have students who are allowed leaders and we have students who are quiet leaders we have students who are super quick thinking in their leadership and others that need more time to process we have love to be at the front when everyone's attention on them and others who would prefer to stay in the background but regardless of how each child is wired we believe strongly that each child is a leader and to that end the 7 Habits are Incorporated in the each of our classrooms the first three really focus on us leaving ourselves how can we be proactive begin with the end in mind and put first things first and so that is really focused on self-leadership as we think about habits for 5 and 6 that is where we're training and leaving students to be leaders of those around them how do they collaborate how do they listen how do they synergize was one of those habit 6 highlights how did 7 is all about the importance of being balanced how do we sharpen the saw to spend our time doing variety of things and realizing all of the components that each of us are made up of at Elevate we don't just keep the seven habits in lessons in the classroom that is a significant part but we also want to give authentic leadership opportunities to our students and all of their grades So to that end their classroom leadership will I know it's several classrooms there are scouts where students are paying attention to the behaviors and participation of their classmates and they get to recognize those that were modeling great choices at the end of a lesson we also have for school leadership roles our older students help younger students arrive and depart safely or student to a part of our student Lighthouse team that partners with adult staff members to plan for a school event assemblies in special events every year we have a leadership day where students are able to practice their leadership and welcome members of the community to our campus and they really take ownership as they share their classrooms as they share their project and welcome those from the community on to our campuses the next part of our learning program is project-based learning I often ask parents to attend in person information meeting if anyone learned by doing a lot of work books when they're in elementary school I remember years ago I had a workbook for math I had to work book reading and for Science and for social studies fact I thought that's all you did at school was you went and worked your workbook after work book after workbook I often followed that up by asking parents how many people think that that's the best way to learn I still have not had a parent raise their hand we know that students learn best when they get to apply their learning and that is a Hallmark of project-based learning they are learning to make a difference one of my favorite parts of project-based learning is that students had a public audience still there learning at the end of their units at the end of their project in fact each grade level in Elevate Works through five units over the course of the school year we begin the Year by learning about Community then character than service Justice and Dives today and Discovery and with each of those units each grade level has a unit one project that students are actively learning about at the end of each unit students have the opportunity to share their learning with others in a variety of ways one of my favorite projects in elevators when are 2nd graders put on a living wax museum each year each student selected in individual from history who is made a difference in the study that person's life they write a report they prepare it they come in costume and then present their learning to a bevy of parents who cannot wait to see that as well as their classmates and peers at our school and one of my favorite pieces about that is watching our younger students listen and learn from our older students about this individual who has made a difference in our younger students give all of their attention to our second grader as they share their knowledge as they make a difference by educating the younger members of our community with what they've learned during that unit that's one of the Hallmarks of of project-based learning as students are able to apply and make a difference with the learning that they have acquired the next part of our program is a strong reading and writing program every student needs develop a strong foundation and aptitude for reading so that they can do the higher-level thinking that is required as a progress to Upper grades a best practice in Reading is for teachers to take a running record when they sit next to each student individually and follow as a child reads A leveled reading passage that allows each of our classroom teachers to have a higher understanding of the strengths and areas of growth for each of their student individually so that they can then Target the specific skills that tile needs to develop as a reader students will meet in differentiated reading groups as they progress through the year so that each child is able to make significant growth from whatever their starting point is the upper grades with a program called Achieve3000 what is able to take the same article for an entire class but differentiate that a different reading levels so each student is able to learn at a level that is going to stretch their growth and help them develop as quickly as possible the last component our program at Elevate is educating the whole child letting this is one of the areas where we really shine we care deeply for every single student in a recognized that not every child is going to have the exact same interests are always ask them what is that in inches Jason meetings if you have more than one child How likely is it that your two children had different personalities almost across the board parents smile and Nod and raise their hand and that's the case in my family as well if you have more than one child they very likely are wired very differently in our school Community we are hundreds of students each of them a wired uniquely and it's our job as Educators to get to know our students to take an interest in them so we can see where they shine and see where they at various bro and when we have that knowledge when we have that depth of understanding we can build the relational context to bring out the very best in our students and I know that not every student is excited to go so that they can participate in the reading group each day but they might you really excited cuz they'll of PE with Coach Boo or they can't wait for their steam last in artcore makes them come alive whatever that part is that gets students really excited to come to school we want to offer a variety of learning spaces that bring that out so that as they experienced success in one of those that can then be linked to the work they're doing and reading that can be linked to what they're learning in mathematics and asked students feel successful in some areas they are able to be more confident to tackle the areas that might more difficult for them I doubt it will really fortunate to have a full-time counselor and a staff that is super caring for each and every child so that we get to know students and we get to know them what makes them tick so that we can create The Learning Experience the  bring out the very best in them as they put forth their best effort day-in-and-day-out appreciating the uniqueness that each child brings to our school community this year we've been fortunate to open our sixth grade and we've been Google take a lot of the Hallmark from our Kinder the fifth grade program but then Iraq set that up or not to their students get older as they mature as they approach Adolescent and so in our 6th grade this year we've continued. Focus on leadership but we taking it a step further each of our sixth graders begins their day by participating in their first. Class we just called leadership in action we continue to think about those seven habits and apply them to our lives but now are sixth graders identifying real world problem they want to take specific action to address in our community was that be our school Community the San Diego Community or the world we also have been able to offer a wide range of elected wheel courses during this first year so still have an interest in theater or World cultures in World languages are able to develop their learning a bat and we're going to continue to build on that Foundation as we established the electives for a 7th and 8th grade we also have been able to continue the person instruction for each student in our sixth grade because our campus and the number of students we will serve is relatively small families don't need to be worried that your child is going to get lost in a sea of students as they go off to Middle School Chick-fil-A at such a critical time in their development and their growth we are fortunate to serve a smaller number of students so that we can continue to individualize that instruction we can bring additional support surround students and we can create those conditions for our Middle School the truly Thrive as we come back to a more normal time in the future we're also really excited to offer a number of clubs in extracurricular activities to create to provide additional spaces for students to interact with each other and to develop interest in town The Passion of the day may bring to our community so what does it take to bring that first mission of inspiring students to be leaders and Learners who are excellent academics exceptional in leadership and extraordinary in creative what does it take to bring that to reality it takes energy by all of the stakeholders in our community we have students who work really hard we have high performing High caring staff repeat families that we get to partner with a community men to care about students that invest in our school it's only take a minute to talk about each of those briefly first off the teachers in elevator top not everyone's going to have their couldn't so they're going to have those minimum requirement but so much more to teach Elevate requires a work ethic I care for students and an entrepreneurial spirit that is going to help teachers be successful so that more importantly each and every one of their students can be successful I care deeply and I'm so thankful for each and everyone that is a part of our community will not just to be a great teacher but our students are rockstars as well and we have high expectations for them we want students to be in school every single day so that they can do the maximum how to learn and grow to realize their potential we do have homework at Elevate was students will have the opportunity to practice skills that they learn during the day they should never be doing A New Concept at home but it is valuable to continue to practice some of those pecan we're looking to our students to practice the seven habits to be communicative to be respectful to others and we want them to take risks and that is only going to happen in a classroom setting for safety has been established where the teacher in the adults States had created an environment where students can be comfortable where I can be safe enough to take a risk but we've seen Time After Time students go a ton at Elevate or maybe they were left except for the previous school because of the sea I see that was established at the classroom level or at the whole school level and because they were more confident and using their voice our community the classroom community in our whole school became stronger and so as our students step out as a risk everybody benefits parents we also have high expectations for you we want to actively partner with every single family that chooses to send their child to elevate and there are a ton of ways that parents can be involved in the life start school on their way to volunteer in the classroom where to be on committees one of the things I often as parents as if they have it particular passion or interest area hey to let the school know cuz there may be a way to have that reflected in what we offer to when everybody brings their talents and abilities to our community that benefits every single child within our community a couple important Logistics as you consider whether Elevate would be a great match for your child on one school calendar because we know that families may have multiple children that attend multiple schools especially if you have a child in elementary or high school we have a lined our schools calendar without a San Diego unified so you need to worry about different vacations are brakes on if you have mold will children in your family you can see the schedule on the screen right here as we do have a different start and stop time for a 3 campuses I'm we have staggered those by about 10 to 20 minutes so that families with a child at two or more campuses able to navigate between those as they are relatively close to one another as I said before every Thursday is an early dismissal day where are teachers than additional time in professional learning and we do set a class maximum at rk5 level of 25 and 30 at our grade 6 and 7 so that students are able to get the individualized care and support that they need a couple other logistics are we our school that wears uniform and so every family every student has provided the uniform top at the beginning of each school year and you'll get more information on our website at The Uniform Store to our school lunch program is provided by Top Knots and thought they'd been great to partner with over these last couple years for families that are in need of before and or after school care we partner with champions in the more information on the website you can learn about their program and what they offer for family that used to participate in that next steps at this point if you haven't already completed an application for your child be a schoolman that application to be part of the library is open to end of February the lottery will take place on March 12th and then shortly thereafter the school will reach out to families whose children were selected the Alondra for one of our open spots we also will reach out to family to let you know if your child wasn't selected what number they are waitlist for the back and be part of your decision-making process in the months ahead as well and before we know it the first day of the 2122 school year will be here on August 30th and we will be off and Away on another great year of learning at elevate thank you for making time to learn more about our school there's a lot more information on our school website and I would invite you to take a look at that to learn even more about Elevate school thank you so much

Uploaded by Valerie Kurtz.

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Feb 2021 Information Meeting for prospective families

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