• Category 2

    Selected in 2012

  • Grades: pre k - 5
    School Setting: suburban
    Town Population: 500
    Student Enrollment: 380
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 7%
    White/Caucasian: 65%
    Hispanic: 20%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 7%
    Native American: 1%
    Other: 0%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:9
    % Reduced Lunch: 58%
    % ELL Learners: 25%
    Founded: 1967
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Heidi Penke
  • CONTACT:
    5959 Oak Hills Dr.
    Omaha, NE 68137
    402-715-8345
    hrpenke@mpsomaha.org
Sandoz Elementary School
Omaha, NE
The single most important factor in the success of our school is our positive school culture. Staff and students enjoy coming to work every day because they have built relationships that make Sandoz a special place. We take pride in helping our students reach their fullest potential.
Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.
Sandoz Elementary and the surrounding community work hand in hard to ensure a secure, nurturing learning environment for our students. Parent volunteers wear many hats at Sandoz. They can be seen reading with students in the hallway, tutoring in the after-school study centers, or serving food during the all school family events. Our Parent-Teacher Association is very visible and active in our school. The Parent-Teacher Association helps our school host many events throughout the school year for students and families to enjoy. The Fall Dinner Night is a well-attended event that is a like a carnival atmosphere for Halloween. Our Movie Nights are free to everyone and many families attend. Often times our movie nights are the only opportunity for our students to see a movie on a big screen like at the movie theater. We also host Back to School Night, Nature Night, Reading Night, Fine Arts Night, and much more so our families can be involved in the success of our school and students and excitement that new experiences bring.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen the ties to your community.
Each November, we partner with the Southwest Kiwanis Club to do a school-wide food drive. Through our efforts we help provide over 50 meals to needy families at Thanksgiving. We believe this is a very valuable activity that benefits our students and our community in many positive ways.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
Our philosophy of school change starts at the top in our District. We have a Strategic Planning process that we use at the District level and at the individual building level. We have a day-long data retreat and a day-long planning day that help us determine our strengths and opportunities. We write action plans based on our building needs which are implemented over four years. We update and monitor our plan many times throughout the year in order to sustain our school improvements.
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
Our top two goals for next year are Response to Instruction and Intervention and Math: Utilizing Tier I Best Practices.
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
The single most important factor in the success of our school is our positive school culture. Staff and students enjoy coming to work every day because they have built relationships that make Sandoz a special place. We take pride in helping our students reach their fullest potential. One example is we have a system in place to “catch” our Sandoz stars doing good deeds. If a student or staff member is “caught” doing something great, we hang up a star in their honor in the main hallway. The recognition builds us up and the positivity in our school is contagious.
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement.
The initiative that has recently had the greatest positive effect on student achievement is Response to Instruction and Intervention. Teachers have focused a great deal on Tier 1 instruction over the past few years and have implemented both guided reading and guided math. Strengthening our Tier I instruction allows us to provide a solid core curriculum to all students. We also have become effective at looking at both data and interventions in the other Tiers to determine if our interventions are successful.
Explain how Title I funds have supported your improvement efforts.
We have used Title I funds for ongoing staff development in the areas of culturally responsive teaching, Response to Instruction and Intervention, and data driven decision making. We have also attended and presented at local and national conferences through the use of our Title I funds.
Identify the professional development activities you use to improve the teaching portion of the teaching and learning process.
We utilize our Professional Learning Communities, which meet bimonthly, to do the majority of the staff development at Sandoz. In any given PLC, you would observe grade level teams and the specialists who work with them talking about students who are struggling and those who are successful. Teachers look at data and assess the value of the interventions given to each student. The principal and building facilitator attend these meetings to provide additional professional development on the Response to Instruction and Intervention process and support for Professional Learning Community goals.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
We have a variety of teams at Sandoz that analyze data on a regular basis. For instance, grade level Professional Learning Communities meet bimonthly to discover trends in data that will help with instruction and learning. Our building specialists meet monthly to discuss student data in their interventions. Our benchmark data teams meet three times a year to discuss student baseline data and progress throughout the year. Data is used regularly to make sound instructional decisions. We also use data as a way to communicate progress to parents during parent/teacher conferences.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
Sandoz has a wonderful, positive culture that impacts all that walk through the doors. The adults in the building work hard to provide a safe, caring environment conducive to learning. At any given time, you will see adults interacting with students, building the relationships that make Sandoz a unique place to learn. Every year we measure our engagement of students, parents, and staff through the Gallup engagement survey. We analyze the data and write action plans to celebrate our strengths and to decrease our weaknesses. We provide recognition to staff and students on a weekly basis through our Sandoz star program. Working hard and celebrating small successes help develop and sustain our positive school culture.
Stats
  • Category 2

    Selected in 2012

  • Grades: pre k - 5
    School Setting: suburban
    Town Population: 500
    Student Enrollment: 380
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 7%
    White/Caucasian: 65%
    Hispanic: 20%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 7%
    Native American: 1%
    Other: 0%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:9
    % Reduced Lunch: 58%
    % ELL Learners: 25%
    Founded: 1967
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Heidi Penke
  • CONTACT:
    5959 Oak Hills Dr.
    Omaha, NE 68137
    402-715-8345
    hrpenke@mpsomaha.org