1. Oscar Mayer ElementaryProject REPORT PREPARED BY: Caresse Mathews Report written to fulfill the requirements of the capstone course taken at DePaul University Educational Leadership: A&S Capstone Course 608

2. Background Mayer is a Fine Arts Magnet Cluster. This Bucktown neighborhood school is located in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago. The students who live or work in the area make up the enrollment at the tuition based preschool which has now extended to kindergarten. Very few of these students remain at the school after their early years. Enrollment for the school is approximately 600 students.

3. Highlights at O.M.S. (Oscar Mayer Elementary School) Fine Arts Integration into core curriculum for purposes of increasing literacy strengths. Professional Development is collaborative with all schools in the cluster. Teacher compliance to N.C.L.B. is very close to 100%. There is just one teacher uncertified. The tuition based preschool is a creative venue to add more monies to the school budget. The school is technologically smart. There are accessible and available technology to be used at the disposal of the teachers. There is 100% parent cooperation there at the school. Teachers are all accountable to each other.

4. O.M .S. Issues of Concern New Administration-The current principal is in her first year of leadership at the Oscar Mayer Elementary School. (O.M.S.) With the S.I.P.A.A.A. being created the following year (before her arrival), the only course of action is to implement the opportunities while still encouraging its strengths to continually happen. Teacher Attrition-Under the old administration there were high levels of teacher turnover. The blame goes to maternity leaves and retirees. Under the new administration, teacher attrition issues are relieved with teacher recruitment.

5. Cont’d issues of concern Adequate Yearly Progress It is likely that test scores for this school have climbed since this project was last done in 2008. My suggestions for areas of improvement included using benchmark test to measure student achievement every quarter (as this was the assignment). The goals I set involved increasing students achievement by 4 percentile points. I predicted that instructional practices and groups would continue to promote the school in a positive light and offer the gains needed for adequate yearly progress to occur.

6. School Culture Partners Mayer Family Foundation Wrightwood Neighbors Assoc. DePaul University Sheffield Neighbors Assoc. Zephyr Dance Youth Guidance New Leaders of New Schools

7. School Culture Cont’d Political(http://www.wrightwoodneighbors.org/wnaschools.htm) Mayer is one of four Wrightwood schools that residents who live in the area promote and support. Its partners are Alcott, Agassiz, and Lincoln Park High. On a yearly basis the residents living in the Wrightwood community, on their own, reach out to the taste of Lincoln. The taste is a festival of food, entertainment, carnival rides and fun. Monies raised from the festival go to the four schools and then other necessarily needed services in the neighborhood area. Technological technology immersion pilot program (TIPP) Oscar Mayer is one of nine schools in the city of Chicago and one of seventeen schools statewide to receive the lt. Governor Quinn and ISBE technology immersion pilot project grant. This new initiative provides one to one educational technology learning programs in public schools across the state. Students and teachers in grades 6 and 7 currently have access to gateway M-285 tablet pcs. The building has wireless connectivity, a safari on demand video server and a subscription to Net Trekker differentiated internet browser. (Http://www.Mayer.Cps.K12.Il.Us/mayer%20web%20site/principal.Html) CPS: winners of the one to one laptop grant

8. School Culture Cont’d Race 58% African American 26% Latino 12% White 2% other (Asian and Native American, Multi-racial Curriculum Montessori IB Fine & Performing Arts SES & ASAS Club Bulldog Technology Program & Grant

9. School Interviews Principal Custodian 1st grade teacher Parent Questions located on website page

10. Oscar F. Mayer