North Star Elementary serves a diverse community--multiculturally, academically, economically, and socially. Presently the Bilingual program serves approximately thirty percent of the school population in thirty-five different languages. The student population fluctuates considerably. Presently the enrollment is approximatly five hundred students and student mobility runs as high as eighty-eight percent. North Star's student population represents a rich cultural blend with Alaskan Native, Black, Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and other minorities making up approximately sixty percent of the student body. Economically approximately seventy-three percent of the children come from low income families.
North Star qualifies to have a school wide Title 1 program and, as such, has implemented a collaborative model to best serve the students. Support teachers such as Migrant Ed., Indian Ed., Title 1, and Special Ed. have begun a cross-training program in order to understand the characteristics of each separately existing program and become interdisciplinary facilitators, able to meet the needs of a wide range of students. In the past, scheduling has been a complex, difficult task resulting in limited blocks of quality instruction time. With our school wide plan, scheduling of classes is based on a block scheduling system. Each class receives a designated language arts period of time each day that is not interrupted by pull outs. The support teachers service each classroom in 1 1/2 hour blocks and parent aides are hired to provide additional support for high needs classrooms for another 1 1/2 hour period each day.
North Star also houses the Even Start Program which strives to facilitate literacy development by weaving adult education, early childhood education, parent and child interaction, and parent-to-parent interactions among families with young children. The parents can come take classes in ESL, GED, typing, citizenship, and job training skills while their children receive preschool education.
North Star is involved in the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program and trains mediators annually. This year we have also implemented Project Achieve, a school wide discipline program, which complements RCCP. We were recently chosen as one of eight schools nationwide to participate in an explansion pilot of RCCP which will train students as Peace Ambassadors.
The mix of culture, languages, and programs makes North Star an exciting place to be!