• Category 1

    Selected in 2017

  • Grades: k - 5
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 864,816
    Student Enrollment: 530
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 0.6%
    White/Caucasian: 4%
    Hispanic: 4.6%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0.6%
    Asian: 72.4%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 17.8%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:22
    % Reduced Lunch: 60%
    % ELL Learners: 43%
    Founded: 1948
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Carol Fong
  • CONTACT:
    2650-42nd Avenue
    San Francisco, CA 94116
    415-759-2841
    fongc1@sfusd.edu
Ulloa Elementary School
San Francisco, CA
Collaboration is the cornerstone to Ulloa’s success as a school.
Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.
Parent workshops are offered four to five times a year to educate our parents about the ongoing work at Ulloa. These workshops include: digital citizenship, common core math, social emotional learning, school wide data analysis, and school wide goals and budget.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
We have regular parent workshops to educate parents on the shift to the National Common Core Curriculum and on the importance of Social Emotional Learning and its impact on student success. These forums provide a baseline of knowledge we feel families need to be better connected to the work we are doing at school. These opportunities foster strong relationships and trust. It also strengthens our home to school connections.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
Decisions on changes made in a school must be based on student needs. If this is clearly articulated, it becomes the base for all other decisions to follow. It is important to set clear expectations and identify the nonnegotiable terms for students and staff to succeed. Supporting your staff with resources and collaboration opportunities are critical in the implementation phase of any initiative. Finally, be transparent on how you will measure and monitor success with fidelity.
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
The first goal is to continue our work to ensure all students, especially English Learners and students with IEPs/504s, are given equal access to successful learning. The second goal is to look at expanding our STEM curriculum and providing staff with professional development opportunities to deepen their skills in this area.
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
Building infrastructure to sustain collaboration between staff is the singular factor that can greatly impact school wide success. How and when does staff meet to plan and to look at student work? How and when does staff have cross grade level collaboration? How and when does the administration meet with grade level leaders to assess progress? What mechanism is in place to provide additional collaboration time to launch a new school initiative?
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.
Using data to drive our instructions, we identify areas of need for school wide focus. As a staff, we calibrate on areas that are nonnegotiable for student success. We hold ourselves accountable in ensuring we implement these strategies with fidelity in our classrooms. The Grade Level Leaders and the Instructional Leadership Team monitor implementations and review progress on a regular basis. Having the same set of standards of excellence provides clarity in our daily work.
Explain how Title I funds are used to support your improvement efforts.
Title 1 funds are used to hire a Literacy Teacher to work with our at-risk population. Funds are also used to hire paraprofessional helps with small group instructions in the classroom.
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
At the start of each school year, using data, we set goals for training to support our areas of need. At Ulloa, literacy is our focus–especially with our English Learners. We are supporting this work by working closely with the district’s ELA department. We have a designated ELA coach who conducts professional development in Readers’/Writers’ Workshop on a monthly basis. This coach also attends grade level meetings and provides expertise in how to use effective strategy groups such as guided reading and utilizing student conference data. Additionally, staff attends as grade level teams at district professional development training on calibrating writing and on guided reading.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
Analysis of data is a norm at Ulloa. We examine data as a faculty and it is dissected at the Instructional Leadership Team level and further disaggregated at the weekly grade level planning meetings. The data helps us to identify areas of need and provide additional support to focal groups. It further informs of instructional practices that we may need to re-examine and identify areas for further professional development. Data is also shared with the School Site Council and at Back-to-School Night meetings.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
Collaboration is the cornerstone to Ulloa’s success as a school. Each week the staff meets in grade level teams to further develop their skills in math and in Readers’/Writers’ Workshop strategies. We use the time to review student work and to calibrate our standards and expectations. The collaboration allows the school to move its academic focus and student priorities much faster and in a more cohesive way.
Stats
  • Category 1

    Selected in 2017

  • Grades: k - 5
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 864,816
    Student Enrollment: 530
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 0.6%
    White/Caucasian: 4%
    Hispanic: 4.6%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0.6%
    Asian: 72.4%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 17.8%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:22
    % Reduced Lunch: 60%
    % ELL Learners: 43%
    Founded: 1948
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Carol Fong
  • CONTACT:
    2650-42nd Avenue
    San Francisco, CA 94116
    415-759-2841
    fongc1@sfusd.edu