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Ed Pastor Elementary school is a student-centered school where students, faculty, parents and the community share a common vision for student achievement. Our school is a place where instruction, parental involvement, and professional development are strategically planned based on student, teacher, and parent need. This need is determined by data obtained by observation, testing, surveying and participation. We are dedicated to building on our students’ individual talents and providing them with exceptional experiences that make them successful in all academic and social areas.

Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.

Our school provides parent/community classes through a variety of venues - 21st century, title I funding, and community resources (Campecinos sin fronteras, First things First, Border Health, County Health, Yuma Regional Hospital). We offer classes in English, Parenting, Citizenship, Aerobics, Computers/Technology, and Crafts.
Through these programs along with our informational monthly PTO nights our parents and community partners our community is highly engaged with our school. We have between one hundred to one hundred-thirty parents/community members involved monthly at our school. We have monthly coffee with the principal meetings. Once a month, we invite student of the month parents to have lunch with the principal and teachers. We also have four special family events during the year - Math Night, Literacy-Parent Night, AIMS Parent Night, and Science Parent Project beside our fall festival, winter craft night and music performances.

Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.

To promote their Mexican heritage and build confidence in our musically inclined students, we have a mariachi group as part of our music program. Our school mariachi group, Flor Del Desierto, is composed of students 8 to 12 years of age. Every day, our gym is filled with the music of our students heritage as our young musicians practice. Seeing our students on performance day wearing embroidered jackets with silver buttons and performing with great pride as they demonstrate their talent is always a celebration. Our mariachi has become a great asset to our community as it performs around the state and outside the country. Our music program also joins the Mexican and American cultures together by our choir performances of English and Spanish songs. New this year is our Orchestra which will join in providing an avenue to enrich our students’ lives as well as celebrate both cultures through performance.

Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.

We are dedicated to building on our students’ individual talents and providing them with exceptional experiences that make them successful in all academic and social areas.

What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?

Our top two goals for next school year are to integrate technology into our instructional practices without sacrificing our instructional effectiveness and to continue to add to our parent and community support programs.

What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?

Our core academic programs have been in our school for many years. Instead of focusing our attention on adopting new core programs we have focused on elevating teacher effectiveness with their core programs. We us CBAM (Concerns Based Adoption Model) to assess a teachers LEVELS OF USE (LOU) and STAGES OF CONCERN (SOC) with our Core Programs. We then intervene accordingly. We have found a teachers effectiveness is more important than any material they may be using in the classroom.

Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.

In a continuous effort to increase student achievement and provide teachers with sustained professional development our school engages in the use of the TAP system, a teacher-advancement protocol that involves incentives and support structures that maximize teacher effectiveness. This system focuses on four interrelated key elements: multiple career paths, ongoing applied professional development, instructionally focused accountability, and performance-based compensation. A key part of the TAP system is a core of lead teachers who have demonstrated curricular knowledge and effectiveness in the classroom, the master teacher and mentor teachers who provide training and support for teacher learning in effective instruction.

Explain how Title I funds are used to support your improvement efforts.

We utilize our Title I funding to provide for a Master Teacher at our site who provides ongoing coaching and professional development for teachers. Funding is utilized to also provide for stipends to support two Mentor teachers who have their own classrooms but are freed up from classroom duties for four hours a week to also provide feedback to teachers on instruction and planning.
We support a part time Parent Liaison with our funding who organizes our parent volunteers, PTO meetings, community partners, and home-school communications. We utilize funding also to provide a school messenger system for further communications with our parents. Through Title Ic and d we provide a Migrant Advocate that provides intervention for our migrant students and does home visits for communication purposes.

Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.

The greatest contributing factor to our school’s success has been the comprehensive approach we have taken in focusing on the quality of teaching of students. All stakeholders are engaged in this process but most of all our teachers. Teachers participate weekly in the examination of student data, engage in collaborative planning, and learn instructional strategies that have been field-tested in our own school. Professional development continues into each classroom as teachers model lessons, observe classroom instruction, and support other teachers to improve their teaching. Our master and mentor teachers, along with the administrator conduct evaluations for formative feedback in one-on-one mentoring sessions and to guide planning for cluster-group meetings. We are consequently more prepared to strategically identify students’ needs and provide effective instruction. We are constantly monitoring, modifying, and intervening in classrooms, tutoring, parent support and peer coaching.

Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.

Teachers utilize quarterly benchmark data to assess whether they are providing the appropriate instruction in order to ensure that children are mastering the standards. They use weekly formative assessments to ensure whether their curriculum and instruction is meeting the needs of the students for the weekly focus target and they use ongoing instructional formative data to monitor and adjust their immediate instruction in order to intervene immediately.
Teachers are provided with substitutes at least 4 times a year in order to engage in half day uninterrupted data analysis and planning in order to ensure students are receiving in-depth intervention that is specific to individual needs. Weekly grade level and cross-grade level planning meetings are held in order to discuss student progress and move students in and out of tier 2 and tier 3 intervention groups.

Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.

Ed Pastor Elementary school is a student-centered school where students, faculty, parents and the community share a common vision for student achievement. Our school is a place where instruction, parental involvement, and professional development are strategically planned based on student, teacher, and parent need. This need is determined by data obtained by observation, testing, surveying and participation. We are dedicated to building on our students’ individual talents and providing them with exceptional experiences that make them successful in all academic and social areas.

• Category 2

  Selected in 2014

• Grades: k - 6
  School Setting: rural
  Town Population: 30,000
  Student Enrollment: 315
  Student Demographics:
  

  Black/African American: 0.4%
  White/Caucasian: 0%
  Hispanic: 99.6%
  Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
  Asian: 0%
  Native American: 0%
  Other: 0%
  

  Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:30
  % Reduced Lunch: 100%
  % ELL Learners: 78%
  Founded: 2003
• PRINCIPAL:
  Abby Pemberton
• CONTACT:
  985 N. 6th Avenue
  San Luis, AZ 85349
  928-627-6982
  apemberton@gesd32.org