 | | MESPA Home > Honors > Minnesota Schools of Excellence > 2009-2010 Validations > Clover Ridge Elementary |  | | MESPA Home > Honors > Minnesota Schools of Excellence > 2009-2010 Validations > Clover Ridge Elementary | | | Clover Ridge Elementary School | |  | | June Schwarze Johnson, principal, Clover Ridge Elementary |
2009-2010 MESPA Minnesota School of Excellence
Schools of Eastern Carver County, ISD #0112
“As educators we hope to inspire students to achieve their
personal best and encourage parents and families to join us in this
endeavor. Clover Ridge Elementary is a great place to be where everyone
strives each and every day to make a difference!”
June Schwarze Johnson is the principal of Clover Ridge Elementary School, educating 660 students in grades 1-5. The school’s mission is to develop self-directed, responsible, lifelong learners. Clover Ridge staff uphold this mission using a collaborative model that enables staff to share their strengths, meet the needs of the students using a variety of teaching styles, and embrace the children academically, socially and emotionally.
The school schedule at Clover Ridge is designed to provide each student with maximum learning time. One of the school’s major strengths is the collective effort to provide all students with individual academic support. Achievement for all is developed through personalized learning experiences supported by curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Clover Ridge uses formal and informal assessments to determine individual student needs. Students are placed in ability-based groups depending on their results for both language arts and math. The groups are referred to as Flex Groups stemming from the systematic means of moving students in and out of groups depending on the level of their needs. The Flex Groups are composed of the classroom teachers, Title I, Special Ed, ELL and PAC teachers. This system allows the school to lower the teacher to student ratio and enables the staff to better meet the individual needs of the students. Curriculum is modified, adapted and differentiated when appropriate for the students.
Partnerships among students, parents, teachers, staff and community members play an essential role in each learner’s success. Parent volunteers are integral. They assist classroom teachers, from organizing classroom needs to working with small groups of children in core curricular areas. They help plan and carry-off academic and community events such as: the school carnival, Culture Night, and Fine Arts Night. Also, parents are encouraged to provide input for the school through the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and the Clover Ridge Site Council; all parents are welcomed and invited to voice concerns, questions, or suggestions for the school.
As a community of learners, Clover Ridge developed a Culture and Language program to expose students to the Mandarin Chinese language and cultural aspects of a Mandarin Chinese-speaking culture (Taiwan). The goal was to create not only a community of learners, but a community of global learners. From weekly lessons, students at Clover Ridge learned useful basic words and phrases in Mandarin Chinese to communicate with one another and had the innovative opportunity to communicate by e-mail and video with a school from Long Tan Elementary in Taiwan.
As principal, Schwarze Johnson states: “The first line from our school’s vision statement reads ‘Clover Ridge Elementary School is a welcoming community that inspires the excitement of learning.’ As educators we hope to inspire students to achieve their personal best and encourage parents and families to join us in this endeavor. Clover Ridge Elementary is a great place to be where everyone strives each and every day to make a difference!”
Clover Ridge Elementary Minnesota School of Excellence Celebration:
Mary 14, 2010, 2 p.m.
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| Mission: The Minnesota Elementary School Principals' Association is dedicated to promoting and improving education for children and youth, strengthening the role as educational leader for elementary and middle level principals, and collaborating with partners in education to assist in achieving these goals.
Leading schools toward excellence through the MESPA vision to be the premiere resource for preparing today's principals for tomorrow and a strong leading voice for public education.
Minnesota Elementary School Principals' Association
1667 North Snelling Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108
651.999.7310 MN toll free 800.642.6807
Fax: 651.999.7311 E-mail: mespa@mespa.net |
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