We're All In This Together

Teacher empowerment and leadership transform an elementary school community

By Michelle Pinchot and Chris Weber

Categories: Leadership, Reaching all students

October 2016

Vol. 37 No. 5

Like many schools across the country, Peters K-3 Elementary School in Garden Grove, California, is committed to equity, social justice, and eliminating achievement and opportunity gaps. To achieve these critical goals, Peters’ teachers embraced leadership positions to transform teaching and learning across the school, supported by professional learning from the district. This combination transformed an entire community. The school serves 770 students in pre-K through 3rd grade. More than three-fourths of students are English learners, three-fourths are Hispanic, one-fourth Vietnamese, and more than 80% are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school is one of 47 elementary schools in the Garden Grove Unified School District in Southern California, a winner of the Broad Prize for Urban Education. Peters’ commitment to equity of access for

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Authors

Michelle Pinchot and Chris Weber

Michelle Pinchot ([email protected]) is principal of Peters K-3 Elementary School in Garden Grove, California. Chris Weber ([email protected]) is a senior fellow at the International Center for Leadership in Education and former director of K-6 instruction in the Garden Grove Uni ed School District.

Focus of professional learning

Year 1:: Classroom environment.
Year 2:: Effective instruction, interactive structures, and checking for understanding in mathematics.
Year 3:: Differentiation, foundational skills, and response to intervention.
Year 4:: Student dialogue and discourse.
Year 5:: Close reading.
Year 6:: Writing and number talks.
Year 7:: Discourse and math.