Nuffer Elementary School was named for John H. Nuffer, who was prominent in the community more than forty years ago. When the school was first built, it served a neighborhood of mostly middle class homes. Today our students come from individually owned homes and many rental units. In several cases more than one family lives in the home or apartment. More than 75% of our students receive AFDC monies thus qualifying our school for Title I schoolwide funding. In addition to Title I funding, the school receives SBCP and Renewal funding. Over the past few years we have also had II/USP, Governor's Performance Award, TIIG, and API monies.

The current enrollment is 572 students including 544 general education students and 28 special day class students.  About 44% of our students are English language learners with the majority of these students speaking Spanish as their primary language. Approximately 90% of our students are Hispanic, 3% are white, 2% are African American, 3% are Asian, 2% are Filipino, and less than 1% are other.

In 1999/2000, our school was identified as a Immediate Intervention/Underperforming School. As a result, we participated in the II/USP program for four years (1 planning, 3 for implementation). At the end of the planning year our API score rose 95 points. We were able to maintain those 95 points of growth plus one the following year. The third year our school posted an 87 point growth. All in all we have grown about 220 points since we joined this improvement effort. Although we "graduated" and no longer participate in the II/USP program, our reform efforts are still in evidence throughout the school. Reform efforts included (but are not limited to) weeding out and restocking the library, painting the library and library chairs, purchasing new classroom library books, training all certificated staff (including the counselors) on CORE reading strategies, training all teachers (as of 6/05) on Project GLAD strategies, training a core group of teachers on Shared Inquiry and the Jr. Great Books series, increased principal interaction in classrooms (Reading by 9. Good to Great initiative), quarterly team planning days devoted to literacy professional development, individual principal/teacher conferences for data analysis 3x a year, realigning our budget, small group after school tutoring, after school enrichment classes, and reassigning staff. To date, our greatest reform effort has been the implementation of Project GLAD at all grade levels and our schoolwide implementation of the Good To Great Literacy Initiative beginning last September. In addition to training new teachers in the use of Project GLAD strategies, one of our teachers (Brandi Koehm) is fully certified as a Project GLAD trainer. As part of the Literacy Initiative, seven teachers volunteered to join the Literacy Team which met monthly with teams from New River and Johnston Elementary schools to hone their skills in the areas of Read Alouds, Shared Reading, Guided Reading, and Independent Reading. Brandi Koehm and Barbara Clendineng served as demo teachers, working on a regular basis with a literacy coach and attending monthly inservices with Katherine Casey. They also taught demo lessons as part of our monthly rollouts of the initiative to all certificated staff. We are also continuing our LAP (Literacy Assistant Program) which serves all general education students. Originally, the program included a reading rotation where students were grouped by level for at least 60 minutes per day. When we adopted our new reading series, the program was revised to include literacy assistants in classes during the Universal Access time. Some grades have continued to participate in a reading rotation while some group by level within their own classrooms or along with a colleague.

Our school qualifies for Title I schoolwide funding allowing us to offer a great array of services to students. Title I monies are focused in the areas of literacy and student achievement. This past year Title I funds paid for substitutes for assessment, teacher extra pay for tutoring, a counselor, literacy assistants, Project GLAD training, consultants for staff development and parent education, a home school community liaison, and supplemental materials for each classroom. The 2008/2009 Title I budget includes substitutes for assessment and data analysis, planning time for Project GLAD, literacy assistants, extra time for the media tech (allowing us to keep the library open before and after school), consultants for parent education and supplemental materials for each classroom. A significant part of the Title I budget (over 16%) is earmarked for professional growth, collegial planning, and cooperative teaching opportunities. Professional growth opportunities also extend to the principal who has been trained in CORE, Shared Inquiry/ Jr. Great Books, Project GLAD, Houghton Mifflin Reading (AB75), and the Good to Great Literacy Initiative.

English language learners, which number about 245 students, receive 30-45 minutes daily of Systematic ELD instruction geared to their English level and specific English needs.  All ELL students are tested yearly on the CELDT test.  CELDT results along with STAR results are used to quality students for reclassification.  This coming year all English learners will also be tested on the Express Placement test so that they can be placed in the correct Systematic ELD group.

The GATE program is in a growth phase. This past year we had three students identified as eligible for the GATE program. GATE students are clustered (5 or more students) in a classroom where the teacher has received some training in differentiated instruction. 

Probably the most unique aspect of Nuffer School is the amount of services provided for students with special needs. About 23% of our students receive some type of special education service such as speech and language therapy, RSP assistance, adaptive P.E., orientation and mobility training, VI services, physical and/or occupational therapy, behavior specialist intervention, braille/enlarged print services, nursing, and/or special day class placement. Eight percent of our students are classified as severely handicapped and receive instruction in a special day class setting in the Sander Unit. Students from the unit are very much a part of our school and students are mainstreamed for part of the day whenever possible. Typically developing general education peers can also be found in the special day OH preschool class (Rm. 71) three days a week. General education students visit the unit frequently and, in some cases, work as helpers or tutors. When appropriate, SH students are mainstreamed for one or more classes in the general education program. Once a child is ready to leave the special day class, s/he is fully included in the general ed program with additional services as needed (such as RSP or Speech). General education teachers participate in Student Support Team meetings and at IEP meetings as well as working collaboratively with the Resource Specialist and Speech/Language Specialist.

The majority of our parents have not attended college. Past data indicated that 44% have not graduated from high school, 23% have taken some college classes, 8% graduated from college, and 2% have done post-graduate work.

Although student discipline is always a challenge, only 3 students were were referred to District Guidance. Eighty three percent of students never receive discipline referrals and from April on, the number of referrals decreased significantly. Additionally the school experienced no significant crimes and occasional incidents of graffiti (perhaps 5). More data can be obtained from reviewing the School Accountability Report Card included in this plan.

The Shared Decision Making/School Site Council is very proactive at Nuffer School. All school plan revisions and program evaluation are overseen by this group which consists of 50% staff members and 50% parents. Per our by-laws, membership terms are for two years in length. At our first meeting of the year, every member is assigned a stakeholder group to represent and is responsible for gathering input from and sharing input with their stakeholder group. Decision making is by consensus with the council determining which group(s) will be polled for consensus. In some cases, a committee is given the charge of making a decision while in other cases, the entire stakeholder population of Nuffer School may need to reach consensus. A more in-depth description of the shared decision making process and how it affects our plan can be found in the by-laws pages included in this plan.

During the 2007/08 school year, Nuffer participated in a formal district review process for the Coordinated Compliance Review. All certificated staff members were involved in the review process.  Most areas were found to be compliant.  

Since the 2004/05 school year, Nuffer has participated in a Williams Settlement facilities and textbook review. Our facilities received an "A" rating as a result of LACOE's visit. No on-site textbook review was conducted but a review of our textbook inventory indicates that we do indeed have a text for every child. Because we fall under the auspices of the Williams Settlement, we must ensure that all teachers are classified as "highly qualified" in order to be compliant with the settlement.

This past year we were identified as a Program Improvment School due to low scores posted by our English learners.  The school community developed an improvement plan which is the focus of all our efforts more financially and academically.