• Category 2

    Selected in 2019

  • Grades: k - 5
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 93,650
    Student Enrollment: 665
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 1%
    White/Caucasian: 70%
    Hispanic: 23%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 1%
    Asian: 1%
    Native American: 1%
    Other: 3%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:25
    % Reduced Lunch: 40%
    % ELL Learners: 10%
    Founded: 2002
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Sarah Christensen
  • CONTACT:
    6900 Birch Lane
    Nampa, ID 83687
    208-461-5960
    sarah.christensen@vallivue.org
Birch Elementary School
Nampa, ID
The most important issue to promote school change is developing a strong, highly qualified staff.
Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.
Birch Elementary takes pride in engaging families and the community in the school's activities. The school targets ways in which they can collaborate with families and community to mold successful college and career-ready students. By offering consistent family oriented events such as:
-PTO Carnival
-Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony
-Monthly Character Assemblies
-STEAM Night
-Literacy Night
-Plays
-Choir Performances
-Dances
-Talent Show
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
Birch has a strong character education program. We have the full support of our community. This makes our school a warm, inviting and friendly place for all who visit. The counselor goes into every classroom and teaches a lesson around the monthly character trait. Each week a teacher will recognize a student demonstrating that month's character trait. Then we celebrate these students in the library with an award and a special gift. We have monthly character assemblies and parents are invited to attend; each grade level is assigned to perform a song in front of the entire school and parents. The music teacher also teaches the students a few other songs to sing as well. We take the time to recognize the students who received character awards that month by displaying their photo.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
The most important issue to promote school change is developing a strong, highly qualified staff. The teachers are trained in explicit teaching for the demographics of our school. This includes best practice strategies for instruction, identification of at-risk students and implementation of interventions tailored to each student. Time is provided for planning and reviewing data. Staff members are passionate about meeting the needs of all students. They understand the dynamics of poverty and how it affects our students. All staff are highly qualified to recognize the basic needs of students to ensure each child reaches their fullest potential. Staff continues to learn how to be a trauma informed school, to identify students in need and build relationships with them to be successful.
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
Our first goal is to continue to improve in reading and math across all grade levels. We have great programs in place that will help us achieve this goal. We will continue collecting data from ISAT Interim scores and finding areas to improve upon to be successful for the Spring ISATs. We will continue to work on content standards and progress monitor our students throughout the school year.

Our second goal is to strengthen our connections with every student. School CARE Team is in place and a mentoring program is being established.
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
The single most important factor is making connections with our students. Our staff is always looking for ways to showcase our students’ successes. We promote learning by displaying student accomplishments around the school and praising students for their achievements. Teachers find ways to connect with their students, build trusting relationships and help build self-esteem by recognizing students' talents and successes.
Explain how ESEA federal funds are used to support your improvement efforts.
Title I funding is used to support the school-wide instructional model to impact all students kindergarten through fifth grade. The funds are essential to our success. This allows us to provide high quality professional development for our staff. Also, due to these funds we are able to employ five para assistants to help support interventions. We understand how vital it is for families to be involved in their child’s education, so we use Title I funds to support the learning by providing information to parents during open houses, STEAM and Literacy Nights.
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
Professional development is the catalyst that promotes change at Birch Elementary and in the Vallivue School District. Some of our critical professional development activities include:
-AVID Strategies
-AVID Summer Institute
-Trauma Informed Practices
-Culture of Poverty
-Tribes- Community Building
-Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol
-Jill Jackson- Standards Based Learning
-Direct Mathematical Thinking Institute -DMTI
-Universal Learning Strategies for Students with Disabilities
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
At the beginning of the school year, grade level teams meet with administration to review the State End of Year Assessments, RI Comprehension scores, CORE Phonics Survey and classroom assessments. This data is used to determine small group placement and immediate intervention needs. Progress monitoring data is reviewed each week during grade level collaborations with administration or district curriculum coaches.Teachers keep the data electronically and students set a personal goal. Re-teaching is done for students who were not able to achieve their goal. Additionally, all grade levels meet each week to plan and review curriculum and discuss best practices.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
The culture for Birch Elementary school can be described as inclusive, supportive and friendly with minimal staff turnover. The teachers have a terrific rapport with each other and do what they can to assist each other in meeting all students’ needs. The teachers create a great home-to-school connection by keeping up with classroom web pages, pod casts, sending emails, and monthly newsletters. The elementary staff is always seeking new ideas to make learning a positive and engaging environment for students.
Stats
  • Category 2

    Selected in 2019

  • Grades: k - 5
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 93,650
    Student Enrollment: 665
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 1%
    White/Caucasian: 70%
    Hispanic: 23%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 1%
    Asian: 1%
    Native American: 1%
    Other: 3%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:25
    % Reduced Lunch: 40%
    % ELL Learners: 10%
    Founded: 2002
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Sarah Christensen
  • CONTACT:
    6900 Birch Lane
    Nampa, ID 83687
    208-461-5960
    sarah.christensen@vallivue.org