About Our School

Palo Verde has a positive and supportive learning environment with clear and consistent standards for behavior. Through the cooperative learning environment, the school helps students develop leadership responsibilities, problem solving, and teamwork skills necessary to be successful and productive members of the larger community.

The Palo Verde curriculum program provides an engaging instructional setting and a cooperative learning environment in which students are challenged academically and encouraged to develop leadership responsibilities, critical thinking, problem solving and independent learning skills.

Palo Verde maintains a staggered schedule for literacy instruction in grades 1-3, four days each week reducing class size to approximately ten students at the beginning and end of the school day. Class size reduction has been implemented in kindergarten, first, second and third grades with a maximum class size of 20 per room. Fourth and fifth grades average 21 students per classroom. Average daily attendance exceeds 95%.

Hands-on activities, guest speakers, field trips and special projects all help to broaden the classroom experience. Students receive lessons in art, science, music and physical education through district and community programs.

The highly qualified faculty at Palo Verde has 24 classroom teachers including three pairs of teachers who job share; an 80 percent resource specialist for identified special education students; a 35 percent English Language Development teacher, 80 percent librarian, 50 percent reading specialist, 40 percent school psychologist, and a 50 percent language/speech specialists. Instructional aids assist in all classrooms. District Physical Education and Music instructors meet with students in grades 1 - 5 on a weekly basis.

Palo Verde teachers are leaders in district-wide curriculum and staff development efforts. The staff has a wide range of teaching experience; ten staff members hold masters degrees.

Parents are an important part of the Palo Verde education program. Parent volunteers assist with classroom activities, field trips and special projects. Community members also volunteer their time to tutor students in reading and math. On-going communication with parents is established through the weekly Palo Verde Voice newsletter, classroom newsletters, parent conferences, curriculum meetings, the annual Spring Open House and PTA meetings and coffees.

The Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) coordinates volunteer activities and school-wide events and raises funds to supplement district programs at the site level. Parent-teacher committees have enhanced technology at the site and have promoted traffic safety, art programs and science and book fairs.

Parents and teachers work in partnership at Palo Verde to provide a positive and supportive learning environment and the best educational setting possible for students.

Palo Verde is a great place to attend elementary school!

Vision and Mission

Mastering academic skills, developing intellectual capacity, enjoying and participating in the arts, applying human relation skills, and increasing physical abilities, are vital to the full development of each child.

Palo Verde teachers, administrators, parents, and students provide a unique collaborative setting to develop minds and a love of learning, enrich experiences, solve problems, expand horizons, and encourage caring, responsible human relationships, in a safe supportive environment.

To excel in our society, our children need firm grounding in the basic skills in addition to critical thinking, problem solving techniques, and computer skills. Skills and knowledge are acquired through careful instruction and guidance by the teacher, sometimes in individualized and sometimes in small group or whole class instruction.

We believe that the arts are fundamental, not merely frills. Children grown to adulthood are likely to cherish memories of the times they performed in a class play, a choral or instrumental music program, or an arts or crafts activity. We know that success in the arts moves many children to the pursuit of fundamental academic skills.

We also believe that human relations values should be pursued with vigor and enthusiasm. A child who believes in his or her own worth is a child ready to learn. A child who believes in the worth of others contributes to a more caring society.

It is, therefore, our very strong commitment to provide adult examples of caring, warmth, and respect for one another and for the children. We help children develop attitudes and skills to appreciate and respect each other. We attend to the language children use and ask that parents do so. We emphasize manners, eye contact, and active listening. We strive for a pleasant and safe atmosphere in the classroom and on the playground. Rules and expectations should be clear. We strive for positive reinforcement helping children accept responsibility for their actions and learning to solve problems in a responsible manner.

We seek to address the wide-ranging needs of our students in so far as our talents and resources permit. The skills of classroom teachers are supplemented by those of aides and volunteers. Parents, grandparents and community members make substantial contributions to our school. Specialists and other support staff use their expertise to help students with special needs and gifts as well as students within the broad mainstream.

We seek to build a sense of community among the students and the adults in their lives, fostering feelings of mutual trust and commitment to a unified effort.

Learning is not always easy. Children need to feel the challenge of moving beyond the known and the comfortable. It takes skilled and caring teachers to stretch the child's horizons without moving too far too fast. It takes an able and hardworking staff to develop a cohesive program and to share knowledge of and responsibility for each child through his or her years at Palo Verde. It takes a variety of children in every classroom to prepare each child for living in our complex society.

We believe in the value of bringing together children of differing strengths, abilities and talents. With our efforts and yours added to the children's will to succeed, we are convinced that children at Palo Verde will become life long learners, with rich and varied interests, who will believe in their own worth and will contribute to a caring society.

School Accountability

Accountability Progress Reporting

The primary goal of California's Accountability Progress Reporting (APR) system is to measure and report the academic achievement of California's 6.3 million (2006-07) public school students.

The California Department of Education (CDE) prepares these reports on each school, school district, and county office of education.

The APR includes three major components:

• The Academic Performance Index (API) Report
• The Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Report
• The Program Improvement (PI) Report

Academic Performance Index Report

The cornerstone of California's Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999; the Academic Performance Index (API) measures the academic performance and growth of schools. A schools API is a number that ranges from 200 to 1000 and is calculated from the results for each school's students on state wide tests. The state has set 800 as the API target for all schools to meet.

Adequate Yearly Progress Report

The Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Report was made a federal requirement by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. This report shows how well schools and school districts are meeting common standards of academic performance, as measured bhy wheterh the school or school district makes AYP. Required AYP targets increase almost yearly until 2013-14 when all schools must have 100 percent of their students performing at or above the proficient level on statewide tests.

Program Improvement Report

The Program Improvement (PI) Report supplements the AYP Report by providing information on the PI status of schools and school district. A school or school district that receives federal Title I funds is subject to identification for PI if it does not make AYP for two years in a row.

A school identified for PI must notify its parents and guardians about its PI status and offer certain types of required services during each year that it is a PI school.

Further Information:

• Parent Guide to the 2009-10 APR
• Palo Verde Elementary School 2009-10 APR
• Palo Verde Elementary School 2008-09 APR

No Child Left Behind

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act strengthens the federal pressure on public schools and districts throughout the United States, particularly in terms of assessment, accountability, and teacher quality.

NCLB also increases the federal focus on the achievement of disadvantaged students, including students who live in poverty, provides funding for innovative programs like charter schools, and supports the right of parents to transfer their children to different schools if their school is dangerous or low-performing.

The NCLB Act is the most recent reauthorization (January 2002) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Originally enacted in 1965 as part of the Wear on Poverty, the ESEA must be reauthorized by Congress every six years.

Note: In January 2002 President Bush signed a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. Originally passed in 1965, ESEA programs provide much of the federal funding for K-12 schools.

Further information:

• California's home page for the NCLB Act of 2001
• Overview of NCLB at the U.S. Department of Education
• NCLB Overview at EdSource
• Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965

School Accountability Report Card

Since November 1988, state law requires all public schools that receive state funding to prepare and distribute a SARC.

A similar requirement is also contained in the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

The purpose of the report card is to provide parents and the community with important information about each public school, such as program performance and existing conditions at the school.

A SARC is an effective way for a school to report on its progress in achieving goals.

The public may also use a SARC to evaluate and compare schools on a variety of indicators.

Further information:

• Palo Verde SARC for year 2008-09, published 2009-10 (PDF)
• SARC at CA Department of Education

Further Information

• Download the 2010 - 2011 Palo Verde Handbook
• Palo Verde Elementary School Reports from California Department of Education
• Palo Verde School Accountability Report Card
• Information about public schools in Santa Clara County from the Santa Clara County Office of Education
• Dataquest reports about schools in PAUSD at the California Department of Education