Welcome to the Wonderful World of
Grove Park Elementary School

"Setting High Standards, Settling for Nothing Less"

Our Address Is:
Grove Park Elementary School
20 Evelyn Way, NW
Atlanta, Georgia 30318-6418

Phone: (404) 792-5558

Fax: (404) 799-7519

Principal:
Dr. P.V. Snowden

Assistant Principal
Mrs. M. Bouldin
Instructional Liaison Specialist
Mr. T. Usher

Grove Park's Mission

Our mission at Grove Park Elementary School is to instill in our students the knowledge, sense of responsibility and the values that will give them a firm basis to progress through their academic career, enabling them to meet or exceed the high academic standards of the Atlanta Public School System (APS), and inspire them to be productive members of our society.

In order to accomplish our mission at Grove Park Elementary School, we have made critical assumptions about the learning and social capabilities and responsibilities of our students:

Critical Assumptions

All students have an equal inherent worth.
Every student can learn and reach maximum potential.
Every person is responsible for himself/herself and the effect of his/her actions on others.
All students should know what, how, and why they learn and how they are progressing.
Students must be provided the skills to succeed in the world of the twenty-first century and become life-long learners.
Making these critical assumptions a cornerstone of our educational approach will provide our students with the incentive to meet APS and school goals for the 2001-2002 school year.

Curriculum

The faculty at Grove Park utilizes a variety of teaching tools and curriculum approaches, strategies and modalities to establish critical thinking skills while challenging each student to do his or her personal best, including: hands-on activities, child centered instruction and challenging activities in each discipline:

The curriculum covers Language Arts, including reading, writing, speaking, listening and thinking skills. In addition to courses in English and other spoken word languages, English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) is offered. Mathematics instruction is designed to meet individual needs in concept analysis and deliver real world applications. Students are engaged in social studies, science and health, physical education, and the arts, including music
Math. Each classroom is equipped with computers and math software. Students receive hands-on instruction as well as using math textbooks and workbooks.
Science. Teachers are trained to use science kits supplied by the APS Science Materials Support Center. Students also use computers and science software as well as textbooks and science journals.
Language Arts. Each class has language arts software, textbooks and journals. They also have educational games that provide additional tools to teach reading grammar, phonics, spelling and writing mechanics.
Foreign Language. Students receive thirty minutes of Spanish instruction each day.
Fine Arts. Students receive art and music instruction weekly. In addition they also attend selected music performances and art exhibits. The upper grades also have the option of band , violin and chorus.
Values Education. The Health for Life learning system encourages children to develop healthful lifestyles through active learning.
Social Studies. People Together-Adventures In Time and Place is a multimedia social studies program that guides students in becoming 21st century citizens, geography literate explorers and smart historians.
Physical Education. Students receive 30 to 45 minutes of physical education daily.

Co-nect

What is Co-nect?

Co-nect is a comprehensive school reform model that focuses on improving student achievement through project-based learning, technology integration and continual, incremental progress toward clear and measurable goals.

The Co-nect design is organized around research-based benchmarks:

Community accountability
High quality teaching and learning
Comprehensive assessment
Team-based school organization
Sensible use of technology
Grove Park will use these benchmarks to measure our growth in each of these areas. Each school's needs are different. Co-nect recognizes this and helps to guide us through our action plan towards reaching the targets that have been set for us.

The benchmarks are based on the belief that students learn best when:

They are engaged in what they are learning.
(Hands-on, inquiry-based, student focused activities)
They are learning about things that are important to them.
(State standards, driving questions that are relevant to them)
Expectations are clearly laid out.
(The use of rubrics with performance tasks)
Teachers can accomplish these three things by integrating project-based learning and technology into their classrooms.

Quality teaching will produce quality work from each student. The use of projects, or theme/units, will integrate the subject areas across the curriculum. The teacher designed quality projects are based on not only the students mastering the standards (QCC's) but also being able to apply the concept learned to a real-life situation.

Students take ownership of their learning and become responsible for their education. The production of quality work through meaningful assignments and activities encourage the students to utilize their knowledge and not simply "recall" facts.

A wealth of assistance is available to the staff at Grove Park, on-site and online. On-site resources include the Co-nect School consultant and the School Facilitator. The School Consultant provides staff development and is the contact person for the Co-nect network of schools. He/She also provides full faculty presentations as well as small group and individual help for the staff. It is the consultant's responsibility to ensure that our school is utilizing the most appropriate and effective Co-nect materials and supports available. The School Facilitator is a member of our school's staff who is trained in the Co-nect design. The facilitator acts as a full-time liaison between the school and Co-nect. He/She works works to ensure that the implementation process is successful and that the students are benefiting from the best instructional strategies possible.

The Co-nect Exchange is Co-nect's WEB site. On the Exchange, the staff can find a database of quality projects that can be modified to meet the needs of our students. There is also a project-building tool that integrates the QCC's into engaging, student-centered, results-driven projects. The exchange also features self-paced courses that help teachers with new skills. There is also a discussion group and a forum manned by project-based experts ready to answer any questions.

A variety of professional development is available to the faculty and staff based on an assessment of the needs for each particular school. Grove Park's focus for this year is on teaching to the standards, creating quality projects, providing ample opportunities for students to produce quality work, rubrics and performance assessments. All of these goals are in line with the Superintendent's Targets for APS.