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Western Avenue Elementary School Analysis

Sofia Francesconi

Butler University

Intro to Professional Education

Professor Brooke Harris Garad

October 29, 2023

Nelson Mandella once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon in which you can

use to change the world” (Rusack, 2023). Every student's education looks different depending on

where they go to school, how big their school is, and the resources their school has. However,

one thing that all schools have in common, is that the students are there to learn and grow.

Western Avenue Elementary School located in Geneva, IL, in district 304, is home to 337

students.

Curriculum is a crucial part of a school. District 304 believes that all the schools involved

in it follow the same cirriculum. Geneva teachers developed what they call “Geneva Curriculum

Framework” to help the teachers, students, and parents understand how Geneva’s Curriculum

meets the expectations of the Illinois Learning standards. According to the Geneva 304 website,

“The Illinois State Board of Education has adopted new Math and English Language Arts

Standards for K-12 education, known as Common Core State Standards, to better prepare

students for success in college and careers” (n.d.). Common Core state standards are a list of

skills that a student should obtain by the end of a specific grade level. For example, on the

Geneva 304 website, they provide a brief overview of the topics that Kindergarten-5th grade

students will study and when they are studying it. This allows parents to work on that skill with

their child at home, so when it is time to move on to the next skill, they understand their previous

one. Along with the Common Core Curriculum, they have many clubs and activities for the

students. Unfortunately, Western mainly offers after school clubs for 5th graders, such as safety

patrol, yearbook club, band, and orchestra. However, they do have fall, winter, and spring music

concerts for all grade levels, but the students rehearse for those during music classes. While this

school does not offer a large number of after school programs for younger children, this is not a
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Western Avenue Elementary School Analysis

horrible idea. Little children may struggle to participate in a club after a long day of schoolwork,

so only a few might attend. Consequently, offering a lot of after school programs for this age

range of children would be unnecessary. For the convenience of parents, the school offers

before/after care programs during parent work hours.

Another part of a school that people may pay particular attention to is the demographic

and achievement data. According to Illinois Report Card on Western Avenue, Western Avenue

Elementary School is 86.1% white, 9.5% Hispanic/Latino, 2.4% two or more races, 0.9%

Asian/Asian Pacific Highlander, 0.9% African American, and 0.3% Native Hawaiian or other

Pacific Islander (n.d.) Due to Western being a predominantly white school, they struggle to

explore different cultural and racial histories since the majority of the students do not relate to it.

However, this can cause the students to grow up in a bubble, which can hurt them later on in life.

These students may accidentally make a racial comment that they were not aware was wrong to

say. Along with racial demographics come academic demographics. Western Avenue

Elementary school's student population includes 2.5% of students who are English Language

Learners and 14.4% of students who have IEPs. Western does a phenomenal job of providing

resources for the students who are a part of these groups. For example, the English Second

Language (ESL) students have ESL teachers who are in the classroom and help re-explain

instructions to ESL students. It can be hard when you are still learning English to understand

what is going on immediately. As for the students with IEPs, they have Paraprofessionals who

come into the classroom to offer extra assistance to those who need it. This way, the teacher can

keep the class moving at a steady pace because there are other adults helping to catch the other
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students up. Educational and racial demographics are not the only important factors to consider,

achievement

Western Avenue Elementary School Analysis

data is too. According to Western Avenue Elementary School US News, “At Western Avenue

Elementary School, 42% of students scored at or above the proficient level for math, and 42%

scored at or above that level for reading” (n.d). When someone looks at these percentages, they

may not feel great about it because it seems like less than half of the school meets the proficiency

level. However, later on, that same website states, “Western Avenue Elementary school did

better in math and better in reading in this metric compartment with students across the state. In

Illinois, 36% of students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 31% tested at or

above that level for math”(n.d.) Sometimes when people look at a school's achievement data,

they have to look at it from not just that individual school’s perspective but also in comparison to

the whole state. When comparing Western Avenue Elementary achievement data in perspective

with the whole state, it no longer seems that bad. Illinois also does not operate on a letter grade

basis. They do a number grade out of 100. As for Western Avenue Elementary, they are ranked

45.41/100.

Ultimately, a large contributor to a school is their financial situation. I would say that

Western Avenue Elementary school falls toward the more fortunate side of the financial world.

Each student from kindergarten-5th grade usually graduates from the school with roughly

$14,954 dollars spent on them. Which is a crazy amount when you think about it. In order for the

school to be able to give each student a budget this high, it means they also have to have a school

district operating budget. According to an article on US NEWS called “Geneva Community

instruction, $6,458.5 million on support services and $279.4 million on other expenses”(n.d.). I

Western Avenue Elementary School Analysis

feel like Western Avenue being located in a district that has such a high budget has allowed them

to give their students more resources.

Just like the school spends a specific amount of money on each student as they move

through the school, they also have to give the teachers a salary. Western Avenue Elementary

School has 26 teachers. The average salary for a teacher at Western Avenue over the last five

years is $77,628 dollars. A teacher's salary falling on the higher end is likely an indication that

the surrounding community is in a relatively good financial state. According to Point 2 on a page

called “Eaglebrook, Geneva IL, Demographics'' it states, “the average household income of

Eagle Brook is $162,452, while the median household sits at $134,179 per year.”(n.d.) Seeing

that the average income in the neighborhood surrounding the school is relatively high makes

sense as to why the school can have such a high forcast. Geneva district 304 also gets federal and

state funding, which then gets split up between the schools.

As much as the curriculum, demographics, and financials impact the school, we also need

to consider the school’s whole purpose. Western Avenue Elementary School mission statement

states, “The mission of Western Avenue School is to educate students within an environment that

encourages the desire to learn and enhance the teaching of skills necessary to meet the unique,

academic, personal, physical, and social needs of each individual”(n.d.). As someone who has

worked at Western Avenue, I can say they do a great job living out this mission. For example,

one time I walked into a 3rd grade classroom and noticed that they were learning long division.
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When I looked around the room, some kids were just doing worksheets on division, some kids

were playing division games, and others were gathered around the teacher who had beads and

was showing them division in a visual way. Even though all the students were doing different

Western Avenue Elementary School Analysis

activities, they were all learning division. They were just learning in a way that works for them.

Similarly, the school vision statement says that they are, “self-directed lifelong learners, effective

communicators, complex, creative, and adaptive thinkers, and collaborative and productive

citizens”(n.d.). Having a vision like this shows that Western is not just focused on teaching the

students things. They also pay close attention when trying to help the students become better

people who understand that they are learning life long skills.

After examining Western Avenue Elementary School, it is evident that they consider the

student as an individual who they are teaching to learn lifelong skills, rather than just skills they

need to understand to pass a grade level. The curriculum the school features better prepares

students for the future. It also shows that the income of the families around where the school is

located also makes a big impact on the financial situations of the school.
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References

“Curriculum Frameworks.” (n.d.). Geneva 304 A Tradition Of Excellence.

https://www.geneva304.org/CurriculumFrameworks.aspx

Gewertz, C. “The Common Core Explained.” (2015, September 30). Education Week.

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/the-common-core-explained/2015/09

“Western Avenue Elementary School.” (n.d.). US. News, https://www.usnews.com/education/

k12/illinois/western-avenue-elementary-school-249215#district

“Eagle Brook, Geneva, IL Demographics.” (n.d.). Point 2 homes.

https://www.point2homes.com/US/Neighborhood/IL/Geneva/Eagle-Brook-

Demographics.html

Rusack, P. “50 of the Best Quotes About Education” (2023, Jan 3). We Are Teachers.

https://www.weareteachers.com/quotes-about-education/