Parker Whitney Elementary School

Parker Whitney Elementary School’s Mission Statement
The mission of Parker Whitney Elementary, a California Distinguished school and a key component of a diverse learning community, is to ensure each student will experience meaningful and measurable academic growth and build a strong, active connection to his or her community as a dynamic life-long learner by:
[Providing quality instruction through collaboration, evolving technologies], and high expectations
Recognizing and addressing academic challenges
[Building vital partnerships with our families] and the community
Creating and maintaining a physically and emotionally safe learning environment

Strategic Planning

[Providing quality instruction through collaboration, evolving technologies]
[Building vital partnerships with our families]


We will design instruction based on state standards that includes [collaborative learning, maximizes evolving technology,] [addresses individual student needs,] and consistently reflects high learning standards.

Plan 3.1

Adopt a uniform “school-to-home” communication system.

Address Individual Student Needs:
Effective communication is essential for building school-family partnerships. It constitutes the foundation for all other forms of family involvement in education.

-Select a communication system from the existing District options (Google Docs, Schoology, Microsoft FrontPage, Catapult)

-Must be intuitive, easy to use for any level


-Should be used schoolwide or K-3
and 4-6

-Select a communication system from the existing District options (Google Docs, Schoology, Microsoft FrontPage, Catapult)

-Must be intuitive, easy to use for any level


-Should be used schoolwide or K-3
and 4-6

Plan 3.2

Implement school wide collaborative learning lessons that include Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for California Public Schools.

Collaborate

Tom Wujec presents some surprisingly deep research into the "marshmallow problem"- a simple team-building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. Who can build the tallest tower with these ingredients? And why does a surprising group always beat the average?

Build a tower, build a team.

Science: NGSS Collaborative Learning
-Must include collaborative learning
-Identify two lessons per grade level
-Establish format and calendar when NGSS is adopted by the District for a school wide science fair

Plan 3.3

Adopt and implement curriculum that teaches and provides instruction for keyboarding, basic user skills and knowledge of desktop applications.

Engage Students with Technology, but teach them to use it proficiently!

Basic skills using software & keyboarding:
-Pilot two instructional keyboarding programs and implement one
-Can be used on both a desktop and a Chromebook
Have an assessment element that assesses speed and accuracy (automaticity)
-Identify specific basic user skills and software applications to be taught per grade level

Strategic Plan

• Building partnerships with our families (3.1)
• Providing quality instruction through collaboration (3.2)
• Engaging students with technology (3.3)