• Category 2

    Selected in 2018

  • Grades: 1 - 5
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 1
    Student Enrollment: 642
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 8.6%
    White/Caucasian: 25.9%
    Hispanic: 38%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 5.6%
    Asian: 12.6%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 9.4%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:24
    % Reduced Lunch: 56.5%
    % ELL Learners: 14.6%
    Founded: 2002
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Amy Yacobovsky
  • CONTACT:
    1155 E Richmar Ave
    Las Vegas, NV 89123
    702-799-6899
    yacobas@nv.ccsd.net
Roger D. Gehring Academy of Science and Technology
Las Vegas, NV
On-going targeted professional development is a key component to our success.
Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.
Gehring Academy encourages meaningful communication with parents, families, and the community through a weekly parent newsletter entitled The Gecko Gazette, a school website, a Twitter account, a PTA Facebook page, an active parent volunteer program, and a committed Parent Teacher Association (PTA) that meets monthly. Fun-filled PTA events such as Trunk or Treat, Friendship Dance, Bingo Night, Movie Night, and Spring Carnival are scheduled throughout the year. Parents are involved in all aspects of school life that include: Family Academic Night, STEM Night, Magnet Informational Night, Meet and Greet, Book Fairs, Fun Run, and Field Day. In addition, parents regularly support extracurricular activities that include musical performances, assemblies, and field trips.

Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
Roger Gehring Academy acknowledges the importance of strong community partnerships in offering quality educational programming for all of our students. Community stakeholders assist in classrooms, participate in student clubs, and attend special events. We are very grateful to our many community partners that include: UNLV, Tortoise Group, Green Our Planet, KB Homes, Nike, Las Vegas Raiders, and the Las Vegas Natural History Museum. These partnerships significantly enrich the educational experiences and the unique opportunities we provide for our students.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
As a leader, I believe that having a well-developed and clearly communicated vision is vital to creating a culture committed to continuous improvement. The combination of consistently implemented structures, extensive teacher collaboration, skill-focused targeted instruction, and the development of authentic common assessments has proven to directly impact student growth. Building capacity is increased through the identification and expansion of teacher leaders. I have learned that change is best embraced and has the most impact when introduced in strategic incremental steps.

What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
Our school's top two goals for next year are:
1. To refine and expand our implementation of project-based learning though the Project Lead the Way program and develop a school leadership team with expertise in Project Lead the Way.
2. To refine and extend teachers' ability to use student data to further individualize instruction in reading and mathematics.
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
Teachers collaborate extensively to unwrap and understand all of the components for each of the content standards (target skills/concepts, vocabulary, essential questions, vertical alignment, ELL considerations) to align and plan daily instruction in all content areas. In addition, they work together to develop authentic common formative and summative assessments.
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.
Gehring Academy is a highly collaborative environment where teachers work together to identify the most effective instructional strategies and develop standards-based grade level instruction with specific, clearly-communicated learning targets in all content areas. This collaborative environment has been extended to students through their productive academic discourse using Kagan structures.
Explain how ESEA federal funds are used to support your improvement efforts.
Title I funds were used to acquire a variety of resources to improve individual student outcomes and close the achievement gap. These resources included: three certified temporary tutors and one instructional aide to provide additional support in reading, writing and mathematics; MyOn digital library for continuous access to reading materials/e-books; Tier II and Tier III Reading Intervention materials; Renaissance Learning AR and STAR Reading, MAP benchmark assessments for fourth and fifth grade students.
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
On-going targeted professional development is a key component to our success. Teachers are encouraged to continuously refine their instructional practices. Professional development is differentiated and tailored to the needs of the entire instructional team, small groups, and individual teachers. Specific examples of our professional development include: Project Lead the Way, Kagan Cooperative Learning, blended learning, data analysis, the use of student data to plan and provide differentiated and targeted instruction, goal setting (teacher and student), vertical alignment of standards, Response to Instruction, project based learning, metacognitive strategies, productive student discourse, and best practices for English Language Learners.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
With high expectations for all of our students to succeed, Gehring Academy creates a challenging data-driven academic environment. Teachers use actionable data to drive instruction and students track their individual progress toward achieving their goals. Through blended instructional programs, students are provided individual learning paths in reading and mathematics. At Gehring Academy, students take ownership of their individual goals which they are able to articulate and use to further their own learning. Through an elaborate incentive program, students are recognized and are celebrated for their accomplishments on a frequent basis.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
Roger D. Gehring Academy of Science and Technology engages students in an academically rigorous curriculum. Students participate in interdisciplinary, hands-on projects which incorporate standards-based learning in the school-created community gardens, tortoise habitat, science and engineering labs, and technology and media rooms. As students participate in these activities, they become collaborative problem solvers who are ready to take on any challenge. We are a diversity-focused elementary magnet school that strengthens the entry to exit outcomes for families of all racial and socio-economic backgrounds. Goal setting is an everyday part of our students’ mindset and purpose for learning. Students are taught to discuss their goals and how to achieve them. Students’ hard work, focus and perseverance are celebrated school-wide.
Stats
  • Category 2

    Selected in 2018

  • Grades: 1 - 5
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 1
    Student Enrollment: 642
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 8.6%
    White/Caucasian: 25.9%
    Hispanic: 38%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 5.6%
    Asian: 12.6%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 9.4%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:24
    % Reduced Lunch: 56.5%
    % ELL Learners: 14.6%
    Founded: 2002
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Amy Yacobovsky
  • CONTACT:
    1155 E Richmar Ave
    Las Vegas, NV 89123
    702-799-6899
    yacobas@nv.ccsd.net