Pico Canyon Elementary School - Stevenson Ranch, CA

At Pico Canyon Elementary School, our students' academic successes are a result of school-wide systems and shared leadership. At Pico Canyon, we operate as a community of leaders and learners. Our principal and assistant principal are instructional leaders, working with grade level teams to facilitate cycles of learning, facilitated by our partners from the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership (CEL). At each grade level, cycles of learning in English language arts and Math are followed by "What I Need" (WIN) blocks of intervention or and/or enrichment, based upon data around student outcomes. We have banked time in the Newhall School District, so that, on designated Fridays throughout the school year, grade level teams can work together as Professional Learning Communities around the four essential questions: What do we want our students to know and be able to do? How will we know students have met proficiency in the essential learning standards? How will we collectively respond when students do not meet proficiency? How will we collectively respond when students do meet proficiency?

Our shared work and resulting student successes would not take place if we did not also emphasize building meaningful relationships with students. Building relationships with our students and families is at the heart of what we do every day at Pico Canyon. We have created a warm and inviting atmosphere for all children we serve. Academic optimism and the belief that all students can learn and grow is felt in every classroom, discussed at every grade level collaborative meeting, staff meeting, PTA meeting, and Instructional Leadership Team meeting. All adults on campus work to create a student-centered community from the moment a child steps onto our campus.