Northwestern University Settlement Association - Rowe Elementary School

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OPENING DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY

• Ron Manderschied, President

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Rowe Elementary School

• The mission of Rowe Elementary School is to
  prepare all of our K-8 scholars to succeed in and
  graduate from college. We will do so by
  cultivating the expectation that all scholars can
  and will go to college and by delivering an
  academically rigorous curriculum infused with
  unique social and emotional programming led by
  the Northwestern Settlement.

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Rowe Elementary School

• Opened September 8, 2009
• Prepare all K-8 scholars to succeed in and
  graduate from college
• Deliver an academically rigorous education
• Provide social and emotional support with
  Settlement wrap-around services

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Rowes Vision

• Cultivate the desire and expectation to go to
  college
• Create college-like experiences from day one
• Deliver an academically rigorous education
• Focus on literacy and math during an extended
  school day and year
• Provide social and emotional support
• Meet scholars basic needs so they can focus on
  academics in a safe and supportive learning
  environment

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Rowes Academic Goals

• At Rowe, we set ambitious and feasible goals for
  all scholars
• We expect all scholars will make 4 levels of STEP
  growth (equivalent to approximately 1.5 years of
  reading growth) and will demonstrate 80 mastery
  on the end of year English Language Arts and
  Mathematics TerraNova
• Our current results demonstrate
• 92 of K-2 scholars started below grade level
  benchmarks in September 2010
• Nearly 100 of K scholars are now on track to
  meet/exceed grade level benchmarks
• Over 50 of 1st and 2nd graders have demonstrated
  more than 1 year worth of academic reading growth
  in only 5 months of instruction

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Distinguishing Rowe Features

• Longer school day (800am-400pm)
• Longer school year (184 instructional days)
• Dedicated teachers recruited from across the
  country
• A safe, supportive environment
• A focus on literacy (2.5 hours a day) and math
  (1.5 hours a day) skills
• College preparation beginning in grammar school
• Rowes unique culture
• Instruction based on students assessment
  progress
• Daily enrichment both during school and after
  school
• Social and emotional learning program
• All programs of Northwestern Settlement are
  available to provide services to families

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Rowe Culture
Classroom Management Culture
Professional Development and Instructional
Programming

• School-wide mindset and approach embellished with
  teacher individuality
• Consistency with common language
• Integrated college expectation
• Culture artifacts and displays
• Discipline College with dignity
• Routine based
• Logical consequences

• Teacher leadership Lead grade-level teachers and
  mentor
• Formal and informal observations
• Strategic lesson planning

• Scope/ sequence and assessment development
  Literacy blocks consistency, leadership
  involvement, group rotations

Community Involvement

• Integrated parent involvement
• Family Learning Communities
• Monthly Coffee with the Principal

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K-12 Education and Youth Development as Economic
Drivers. 

• Context for examining and establishing relevance
  for the work of settlement houses and
  neighborhood centers in the 21st Century.
• Understand concerns and recommendations from
  private industry and education that may be a
  catalyst for bridge building across sectors.
• Deliberate skills training and identify the
  appropriate future orientated skills should be
  taught. Education .. Education .. Education
• A quality, world class education, is a
  fundamental pre-qualifier for anyone to
  participate in the current or new economies and
  be able to reap economic rewards for themselves,
  their families and communities
• Our public education system is failing too many
  of our children and we need to step up and
  participate
• Demand school reforms not just more money
• Participate with charters, vouchers and other new
  ventures to make our schools provide a real
  education for our children

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Income By Education Level
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There is a very strong positive correlation
between income and test scores
Source College Board
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National assessment of educational progress US
Dept of Education

• Many urban school districts are in crisis, often
  failing to graduate even half of their students.
  In Detroit the graduation rate is just 42
  percent. In Cleveland it is 45 percent. In
  Sacramento it is 48 percent.
• Minority children consistently score much lower
  on tests of student achievement than white
  children do, and the differences are huge. On the
  2004 National Assessment of Educational Progress,
  for example, African American 17-year-olds scored
  at about the same level as White 13-year-olds in
  both math and reading.
• For the nations students generally, NAEP scores
  indicate that achievement growth during the past
  30 yearsa very long timehas been modest, and
  that most of our children simply do not know what
  they need to know.
• Compared to students in other developed (OECD)
  countries, American students score well above
  average in the early grades, but they lose ground
  by the middle school years, and by high school
  they are near the bottom of the rankings.

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THANK YOU
The failing public school system is not only in
financial disarray, but is the moral and civil
rights issue of our times and we as community
based organizations, are positioned to play a key
role in addressing the challenges head on.