• Category 2

    Selected in 2019

  • Grades: k - 4
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 24,651
    Student Enrollment: 218
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 2%
    White/Caucasian: 53%
    Hispanic: 32%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 2%
    Native American: 1%
    Other: 10%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:22
    % Reduced Lunch: 65.1%
    % ELL Learners: 13.8%
    Founded: 1959
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Angela Baumann
  • CONTACT:
    1703 Phillip Ave.
    Norfolk, NE 68701
    402-644-2561
    angiebaumann@npsne.org
Westside Elementary School
Norfolk, NE
Teamwork and collaboration are what make Westside Elementary successful.
Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.
The Westside Elementary families are a vital piece in the success of our students. Our parent group, F.A.S.T., is always looking for ways to support our school. Parents are invited in for Family Reading Nights and interact with their children, while learning about great engagement ideas to use at home. The teachers all use SeeSaw, which allows for frequent communication with parents that can be initiated by the teacher or the student. Families are invited in throughout the year for events such as Grandparent's Day, Open House, Muffins with Mom, Book Fair, Kindergarten Round Up, SAT meetings, and a variety of F.A.S.T. sponsored activities. Monthly newsletters are also shared with parents, highlighting past activities and informing them of upcoming activities.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
Westside Elementary School and Norfolk Public Schools have outstanding community support. Our parent group, F.A.S.T. has worked with our teachers to hold a Fun Run to fund raise for our school for the past two years. We have received donations from within our community from private donors and businesses. In addition, our local paper, Norfolk Daily News, has a section titled The Panther Project. This section is a focus on the Norfolk Public Schools and their students. Westside has multiple opportunities throughout the year to include information about our school and our students. This is also available online.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
At Westside Elementary, staff work to help students meet their needs. This means change is necessary and important, in order for each student to reach their full potential. Staff are willing to change in order for students to find success academically and socially. Open communication and shared goal setting has helped the teachers to work together to improve in all areas of learning at Westside Elementary.
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
Although our goals for the next school year are not set, we currently are focusing on math fact fluency and continuous improvement. The Westside teachers have set grade-level goals for math fact fluency and students are working to reach those goals. As we move forward with the MTSS framework, imiprovements will be made in a variety of areas. Shared leadership within the building will contribute to our staff continuing to reach goals.
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
Teamwork and collaboration are what make Westside Elementary successful. The staff work together in Professional Learning Communities and focus on student needs. All staff are willing to help out other staff and any student in the building. They are invested in helping all students and look at all areas of need a student may have, including academic, social, emotional, and behavioral.
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.
In the Fall of 2017, Westside staff began working through the process of data analysis for continuous school improvement. This allowed staff the opportunity to look at where we were, how we got there, where we wanted to be and how we were going to get there. Through this process, staff looked at school processes, demographics, perceptions, and student learning. In the end, we determined some areas that were vital to the success of our students, including our six week data reviews, SAT process, homework room opportunity, grade level buddies, and several more. The following year, we fined tuned those specific processes and are now seeing the effects of this work.
Explain how ESEA federal funds are used to support your improvement efforts.
The Title 1 program is involved in the understanding of our district curriculum. The teachers provide support and intervention to our struggling students. They are involved in our reading and math intervention groups at all grade levels. The Title 1 teachers hold school-wide parent nights and meetings to promote parental involvement and to educate parents. Our Title 1 teachers participate in PLC meetings and discuss data and make curricular decisions based on that data. One of our Title 1 teachers is on our building SAT team and participates in monthly meetings, giving suggestions for ways our students can be successful. She also coordinates our after school homework room and assists students daily with homework completion. Our Title 1 teachers collaborate with our ELL and Special Education teachers, to team plan how to best serve our students.
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
At Norfolk Public Schools, teachers are part of a Professional Learning Community that meets weekly. During this time, teachers focus on Target Based Grading and Standards work. They dive into student data on common formative assessments and share ideas on how to improve student learning. Our school is utilizing the Multi-tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework to improve and organize, across our district. Teachers also participate in instructional rounds, learning from each other and opening lines of communication between staff.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
The staff at Westside Elementary School use a variety of formative and summative data to plan instruction and intervention. The teachers reevaluate the intervention groups and their focus every six weeks. This allows teachers to meet the changing needs of our students throughout the year. Staff has taken the time to dig into long term data and cohort data, looking for trends that could help us improve student achievement.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
Our positive school culture allows staff and students to have significant opportunities to learn. As principal, I set high expectations for all students and staff. A monthly Panther Pride assembly is held and a character trait is highlighted each month. Students are recognized in front of the student body for showing good character. The classes contribute to the teaching of those character traits with class videos, skits, and songs. Students are recognized daily as being Bucket Fillers. This is a way for our staff to take notice of those students that are doing the things we expect from our students. Each classroom has a buddy class. These classes are different grade levels that get together to build relationships and build a positive culture within our building.
Stats
  • Category 2

    Selected in 2019

  • Grades: k - 4
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 24,651
    Student Enrollment: 218
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 2%
    White/Caucasian: 53%
    Hispanic: 32%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 2%
    Native American: 1%
    Other: 10%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:22
    % Reduced Lunch: 65.1%
    % ELL Learners: 13.8%
    Founded: 1959
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Angela Baumann
  • CONTACT:
    1703 Phillip Ave.
    Norfolk, NE 68701
    402-644-2561
    angiebaumann@npsne.org