Special Features of EVCS
The Responsive Classroom and Cooperative Discipline Models
EVCS implements the Responsive Classroom Model (developed by the Northeast Foundation for Children in Greenfield, MA) to help maximize student achievement. The Responsive Classroom approach combines the teaching of academic skills with the teaching of social responsibility as part of everyday classroom life. Students can successfully develop academic competencies because of the context of cooperation, responsibility, empathy, and self-control that the Responsive Classroom creates. EVCS also adopted the Cooperative Discipline classroom and school reform model derived from the philosophy of psychologist Rudolph Dreikurs. According to this approach, students excel when they feel like they are active participants in the learning process rather than its passive recipients. This creates a school culture where social responsibility fuels academic excellence and where students help each other thrive in the context of the various communities to which they belong.
Multi-age Instruction
Certain learning activities at EVCS are organized in multi-age groupings, which means that students are placed in groups by developmental need rather than by grade, with two age groups together in one activity. This allows students to master the curriculum at a rate appropriate to their developmental abilities. Reading and math are taught at grade level, while activities in learning centers; reading, writing, and math workshops; science; and social studies may be multi-age when it is determined to drive quality instruction.
Connections with the Broader Community
The Elmwood Village Charter School partners with community organizations to provide stimulating and engaging learning experiences for students. Partnerships include Folkloric Productions, the Boys and Girls Club, AmeriCorps, Medaille College, Theatre of Youth, the Buffalo Museum of Science, Tifft Nature Preserve, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Science Firsthand, the International Center for Creative Studies Institute.
Intimate School Community
Elmwood Village is designed to be a small K-6 community. The school opened with 125 students in grades K-4 in 2006-2007, and now has 175 students in grades K through 6.
Low Student to Teacher Ratio
The class size at EVCS is 25 students. Each classroom has one certified teacher and one teaching assistant, and many of our teaching assistants are certified teachers. The school has four full-time special education teachers; two full-time Title I reading and math teachesr; a full-time health and physical education teacher; a full-time school nurse; a part-time library/media specialist; and part-time art, music, dance, and Spanish teachers. The adult to student ratio is approximately one adult to every six students.
More Instructional Time
EVCS has a longer daily schedule and school year. The school day runs from 8:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with after-care available until 6:00 p.m. The longer school day provides students with approximately one extra day of instruction per week.
Community Service Connections
All classes at EVCS have a community service partner. Partnerships have included: Meals on Wheels, Christian Ministries, Hope Refugee Services, the International Institute, the Lexington Co-op, AIDS Community Services, the Blind Association of WNY, Friends of the Night People, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Roswell Park Hospital, Children's Hospital and the SPCA.
Library/Media Center
Elmwood Village Charter School’s library/media center is staffed three days each week by a certified library/media specialist and a parent volunteer. The center houses over 3,500 books, periodicals, and resources; 20 computers; and an interactive SMART Board. In addition to the library/media center, each classroom has its own classroom library and 1-3 computers for student use. Grades 3-6 have a permanently mounted SMART Board in the classroom, and grades K-2 share a portable unit.
Special Subjects
All students at EVCS study Spanish, art, music, cultural dance, and physical education every week. Every class also has regularly scheduled health and library classes.
Arts Integration
In the first year, Elmwood Village Charter School was able to offer weekly classes in music, art, and cultural dance. In the second year, the teaching artists collaborated and developed a curriculum that integrated music, art, and dance together. Students worked in all three classes to create a final project that incorporated these three art forms. In years three and four, thanks in part to a matching-funds grant from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), the teaching artists are working alongside of the classroom teachers to more fully integrate the arts into the core curriculum.
Athletics
EVCS offers fifth and sixth graders the opportunity to participate in a charter school basketball league.
Parent Volunteers
Parents, guardians, and other significant family members enrich the program at EVCS by sharing special talents, skills, interests, and hobbies with students. This is done either as a classroom presentation or an after school enrichment program.
Reading, Math, and Writing Programs
The Open Court reading program is a scientific research-based program that is proven to build solid reading skills in all students. EVCS is one of the only schools in the area to have implemented Open Court in fulfillment of our commitment to help all students become competent and lifelong readers.
Everyday Mathematics is a researched-based curriculum developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project. Everyday Math uses real-life concepts to teach math skills using a cycling technique that allows students to master skills more completely.
At EVCS, we use the “writing workshop” approach developed by Lucy Calkins and the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project to teach writing. This approach holds that writing is a process, with distinct phases. Students collect ideas, develop those ideas, write first drafts, revise, edit, proofread, and finally publish with the expectation that their writing will be read by others. By involving children in this process, they become more active in their own education and see themselves as writers. Students receive instruction in narrative, expository, informational, poetic, and procedural writing.
New York State Assessment Results
EVCS continues to show gains and is recognized as one of the highest performing schools in Buffalo, exceeding both District and State Performance Outcomes. From our start up year, 2006-2007, students scoring at or above proficiency on New York State Assessments increased by 23% in English Language Arts, 25% in Mathematics, and 36% in Science.
NYS ELA Assessment Results for Students Enrolled at EVCS for Three Years:
Gr. 3 85% at or above proficiency
Gr. 4 87% at or above proficiency
Gr. 5 100% at or above proficiency
Gr. 6 93% at or above proficiency
NYS Mathematics Assessment Results for Students Enrolled at EVCS for Three Years:
Gr. 3 92% at or above proficiency
Gr. 4 100% at or above proficiency
Gr. 5 100% at or above proficiency
Gr. 6 86% at or above proficiency
NYS Science Assessment Results for Students Enrolled at EVCS for Three Years:
Gr. 4 96% at or above proficiency
Parent Reviews of Elmwood Village Charter School