Elementary School Profiles -- Lake Stevens District -- Skyline Elementary

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__ THIS MATERIAL WAS NOT PUBLISHED IN THE SEATTLE __

__ TIMES NEWSPAPER. IT WAS PUBLISHED IN A BOOK __

__ EDITED BY LINDA SHAW: THE SEATTLE TIMES GUIDE __

__ TO SCHOOLS - ELEMENTARY, MIDDLE AND JUNIOR HIGH. __

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Skyline Elementary 1033 91st Ave. S.E., Everett (425) 335-1520

The numbers: 613 students (2% African American, 3% Asian American, 3% Hispanic, 1% Native American, 92% white). Highly capable students (26) are clustered in selected classrooms and receive extra instruction from trained teachers. Special-education students (72, including preschoolers) and ESL students (2) served in regular classrooms.

Highlights: Teachers work together and coach each other by meeting regularly in teams to plan lessons and enrichment activities, share ideas and materials and talk about how to improve instruction. Every Wednesday morning in the summer months, staff and PTA offer reading incentive program for students in grades K-5. All students participate in one or more of the following reading programs: peer tutoring, book buddies with middle-school students, reading partners (high- school students mentor elementary students), or PAL (Parent Assist Learners), an at-home reading support program.

Special features: 42% of classes include students of more than one grade level and 42% have fewer than 25 students.

Teacher/parent survey:

Resources include: Computer lab. Music and PE teachers; part-time librarian.

Computers used for: Creating multimedia presentations for social studies, science, health and other reports. Doing research using e-mail and CD-ROMs. Writing stories, reports and other assignments.

Parent/community support: Trained volunteers serve as art docents who teach monthly lessons about the work of famous artists. Northwest artists visit after-school Reflections class to inspire students in their work in visual arts, photography and music. PTA provides volunteers for summer reading program; local businesses provide incentives for students who reach reading goals. Parents serve on site council that advises principal on policies/programs. One parent conference/year, 15-30 minutes.

Achievement measured with: Report cards (some without letter grades), teachers' written comments, portfolios, student self-evaluations, informal reading inventories and reading records. Writing assessments and standardized tests used in some grade levels.

Teacher experience:: 1-5 years (39%), 6-12 years (31%), 13-19 years (19%), more than 20 years (11%).

Before/after school: Photography, choir, arts and crafts, Odyssey of the Mind (creative problem-solving teams), Reading Strategies, Art Murals.

What's new: New principal in fall '97. Two portables added in fall '97 to accommodate fast-growing student population; growth rate has been 7 percent/year for the five years the school has been open.