Columbus Elementary rated ‘outstanding’

With more than half of its students hailing from non-English-speaking households and 78% qualifying for free and reduced-price lunch, Columbus Elementary School has some of the toughest demographics in Glendale Unified.

But staff members there are too busy helping students succeed to consider what others might deem excuses for failure. This month, the school was one of 14 nationwide to receive the Excellence in Urban Education Award, bestowed by the National Center for Urban School Transformation, an education research center based at San Diego State University.

“It feels great,” said teacher specialist Anahit Arutyunyan, who was among the two dozen staff members feted at the school board meeting Tuesday. “All the hard work is recognized — so many hours were put into lesson planning and reaching every single kid. So much was done, and it is an ongoing process. It is just wonderful.”

School officials began thinking about applying for the recognition last spring and began compiling the components of the application in earnest in the fall, Principal Beatrice Bautista said.

In order to be eligible for the award, a school must enroll high numbers of low-income students and demonstrate strong attendance, as well as low suspension and expulsion rates. The school must also have high graduation rates, exceed state averages on standardized test scores and demonstrate no achievement gap between student subgroups.

Among the focus areas at Columbus — which logged an Academic Performance Index score of 859 during the 2011-12 school year — has been carefully identifying the core elements of lesson plans, and making sure those elements are evident throughout, Bautista said.

“One of the things we had to do for the [award] was actually turn in videotaped lessons of teachers,” Bautista said.

Other best practices include monitoring student performance data to improve reading comprehension instruction, and actively engaging parents through parent education classes and volunteer opportunities.

“It is a lot of collaboration; we could not do this in a vacuum,” said teacher specialist Jill Firstman. “We talk to each other all the time and we are always trying to improve. We never tire of learning.”

The award comes with a $2,500 prize, money that will be invested in professional development at Columbus, Bautista said.

The recognition speaks volumes about the efforts of the school community, school board member Mary Boger said.

“We are so incredibly proud that our own Columbus Elementary School is one of the outstanding schools featured in winning this award,” Boger said. “It is a result of the commitment of their teachers and administrators to continue to set and pursue even more challenging academic goals.”