• Category 2

    Selected in 2020

  • Grades: k - 6
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 3,967,000
    Student Enrollment: 230
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 1.7%
    White/Caucasian: 7.1%
    Hispanic: 53.9%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 25.7%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 10%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:24
    % Reduced Lunch: 62.7%
    % ELL Learners: 13.7%
    Founded: 1898
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Jorge Parra
  • CONTACT:
    615 Solano Avenue
    Los Angeles, CA 90012
    323-223-4291
    jxp2054@lausd.net
Solano Avenue Elementary School
Los Angeles, CA
SAES promotes a culture of leadership utilizing the ‘Leader in Me’ approach where students learn to be responsible for their actions and learning.
Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.
We are a diverse learning community. Within our diversity, our student population comes from different socio-economic backgrounds. This creates an opportunity for our families to work with one another through our Parent Teacher Association (PTA) to support educational equity by providing funding for curricular trips and the integration of arts and other learning opportunities. We also provide our parents multiple opportunities to be active participants in making school-based decisions. Our councils and committees always have a parent representative. In order to work with our parents on the Leader in Me, we host multiple programs during the academic year; 7 Habits Literacy Night and Math/Science Night that are facilitated by a teacher and students.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
Project LEAD has evolved into a school-wide initiative that at its core, is centered around students. It is a Common Core State Standards-aligned model consisting of three major components: academics, leadership, and personal well-being. Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People are used as a foundation to create a school climate that focuses on developing the entire school community: students, teachers, staff, and parents. Students build capacity in self-directed learning, collaboration and discourse, developing healthy living habits, while setting and tracking personal and academic goals. Our teachers alike continue to increase their capacity to create learning opportunities that are aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the Leader in Me. As a result, we have several community-based partners; City National Bank, Chinatown Firecracker Run Committee, and the LA Dodgers, whom we work with directly to provide additional resources to Solano and our students.
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
Solano Avenue Elementary School utilizes the Leader in Me, based on Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, to promote a culture of leadership where students learn to be responsible for their own actions and their own learning. As a result, students are taught to work together and encouraged to participate in evidence-based discourse, while engaging in real-life leadership scenarios.

Solano Avenue Elementary School’s Project LEAD is an extension of the Leader in Me that was developed during the 2012-2013 academic Students build capacity in self-directed learning, collaboration and discourse, developing healthy living habits, while setting and tracking personal and academic goals. Our teachers alike continue to increase their capacity to create learning opportunities that are aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the Leader in Me. Furthermore, our staff and parents also engage in learning opportunities to increase their knowledge of the Leader in Me.
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.
The Leader in Me serves as the foundation for Solano Avenue Elementary School’s Project LEAD. Project LEAD supports the district’s goals of Proficiency for All; 100% Attendance; Parent, Community, and Student Engagement; and School Safety. The major distinction between the implementation of Project LEAD and our district’s LCAP is a focus on leadership development and the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The CCSS are the basis of the academic component of Project LEAD. It focuses on providing students with a rigorous academic curriculum that includes opportunities for collaboration, arguing from evidence, academic discourse, and mathematical inquiry. Habit 1: Be Proactive; Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind; and Habit 3: Put First Things First are considered “private victories,” because they are instrumental in guiding students to create and track academic and personal goals. Our teachers utilize Habits 1-3 to design and facilitate rigorous lessons across the curriculum.
Explain how ESEA federal funds are used to support your improvement efforts.
As we engage in data analysis to evaluate our instructional program, we simultaneously, reflect to make necessary changes to assist students needs. We utilize our funds to provide our at-promise students with additional learning opportunities when we see patterns of learning gaps. The intervention that is provided is based on the need of the students. We also use monies to provide our teachers with trainings and professional development that are aligned to the CCSS and in turn, is evaluated from their implementation in the classroom. Prior to the school closures, our teachers were conducting peer observations, looking at student work, and sharing best practices to improve student outcomes. We utilize our funds to purchase a Title One coordinator to provide our entire school community with additional resources; instructional and social-emotional. Our Community Representative plays a vital role to ensure that our parents continue to be trained and part of the learning process.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
We collect a variety of data to evaluate the effectiveness of our model on student achievement. Data is publicly displayed on our Wildly Important Goals (WIGs) bulletin board. Patterns are identified, and learning gaps are viewed as an opportunity to improve our school program. Our professional development, Lighthouse Team foci, and parent engagement topics are determined by the outcomes of our data-analysis. The result is improved classroom practices, teacher efficacy, increased student achievement, and greater parent participation as partners. Additionally, students monitor and track academic and personal goals using their Leadership Notebook. The traditional parent-teacher conference has been replaced with student-led conferences, in which our students use their Notebook to explain their learning. The students state their goals in an “X to Y by when” format, and develop strategies called “lead measures” that aid in tracking progress and lead to meeting their goals.
Stats
  • Category 2

    Selected in 2020

  • Grades: k - 6
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 3,967,000
    Student Enrollment: 230
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 1.7%
    White/Caucasian: 7.1%
    Hispanic: 53.9%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 25.7%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 10%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:24
    % Reduced Lunch: 62.7%
    % ELL Learners: 13.7%
    Founded: 1898
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Jorge Parra
  • CONTACT:
    615 Solano Avenue
    Los Angeles, CA 90012
    323-223-4291
    jxp2054@lausd.net