Zone - Cheltenham Elementary
Cheltenham Elementary School
An Urban School Striving to Enhance Performance
Location: 1580 Julian Street, Denver, CO
Principal: Art Kerkezian
Background
Cheltenham Elementary is a neighborhood school located in northwest Denver near Colfax Avenue and Federal Boulevard. The school educates students from early childhood education through fifth grade. With an ethnically and culturally diverse student body, the school is focused on delivering quality instruction that meets the needs of all its students. Cheltenham offers a unique collaborative atmosphere that encompasses all aspects of the school and the surrounding community. Staff and families alike demonstrate a strong commitment to the success of students and are working diligently to raise the students’ performance in reading, writing and math.
Partnering to Prepare Urban Teachers in the P-16 Zone for Student Achievement
In addition to providing human capital, CUE supports student achievement at Cheltenham by providing the services and materials listed below.
ECE Literary Materials – In 2010, Cheltenham implemented a new social studies curriculum with materials purchase by the district K-5. CUE provided funds to enhance nonfiction and fiction texts related to the new social studies curriculum.
Writing Center ECE/Kindergarten – CUE provided resources to promote writing in Cheltenham’s early childhood education program. These included such materials as writing papers, tag board for books, writing implements appropriate for 4 and 5-year-olds.
School-wide Publishing Center – CUE supported the establishment of a publishing center to be used in grades K-5. In addition to providing supplies to support this effort, pre-service teachers work directly with students to develop stories to publish and ultimately house in the school’s library section under “Cheltenham Authors.”
Message Monitors – CUE provided support for the acquisition and deployment of bi-lingual message monitors mounted throughout the school to promote school activities and encourage positive behavior and attendance.
School Community
Student Population: There are 470 students enrolled at Cheltenham’s ECE through grade 5 classrooms. The student population is 85.6 percent Hispanic, 3.1 percent American Indian, 3.5 percent White, 7.3 percent Black and 0.4 percent Asian. Approximately 46 percent of students are ELL with Spanish as the dominant language among these students. All students qualify for free/reduced lunch.
Staff: There are 51 staff members at Cheltenham. Of these, 33 percent are Hispanic and 45 percent are bilingual in Spanish/English.
Parents/Families: The level of parent involvement in Cheltenham, as measured by attendance at workshops, demonstrates that the Spanish-speaking families participate in greater numbers in events. Overall, the percentage of parents who attend parent-teacher conferences is high; in particular, the classes with the highest turnout are usually the ELA-S and kindergarten classes.