The Louisa May Alcott Elementary School lives up to their slogan:
“The little school that could”
by Joe Narkin

(Plain Press, November 2008) The Louisa May Alcott Elementary School of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District has received national recognition as one of eleven winners of the 2008 National Excellence in Urban Education Award of the National Center for Urban School Transformation (NCUST) at San Diego State University.

“As a nation, we give lots of attention to schools that are in need of improvement, but there is far too little attention paid to the schools that are serving children exceptionally well,” said NCUST Executive Director Dr. Joseph F. Johnson, Jr. upon announcing the award winners.

In order to warrant consideration for a National Excellence in Urban Education Award, a school must be located in an urban area, admit students without selective admissions criteria, have a majority of students from low income households, and exceed the state test score averages of 90% of schools with similar demographics. In addition, the school must meet or exceed all of the No Child Left Behind Act yearly progress requirements.

Louisa May Alcott School, located at 10308 Baltic Avenue in the Edgewater-Cudell neighborhood, serves 227 students in kindergarten through the 5th grade. Approximately one-third of Alcott students have special needs.

In the 2007-2008 School Year Report Card of the Ohio Department of Education, Louisa May Alcott substantially exceeded the Cleveland district wide test score average and surpassed the statewide average in all school subjects except Science. Among students in 3rd grade, for example, 90% tested at or above the level of proficiency in both reading and math. The attendance rate for students at the school is 95%.

Awards and test scores, however, are only a small part of the overall story of success at Louisa May Alcott School; the real story lies in how the students, teachers, parents, and community work together to achieve success. The school motto is “Together we can.”

Each morning, rather than scattering to individual homerooms, Alcott students gather in the cafeteria for a student and staff assembly, where Principal Eileen Stull reinforces the principles and expectations for the school day to come. In addition to a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and school announcements, the students sing America the Beautiful and the school song before Stull leads the students in a chant that proclaims that they are “the smartest, best behaved, most respectful, and best dressed” students in the Cleveland school system. As they leave the assembly with enthusiasm, the students appear highly motivated to succeed.

“We are together; we are a family. We may not be perfect, but we are all working very hard,” said Principle Stull during a Plain Press visit to the school on October 6, 2008, adding, “I am the luckiest principal in Cleveland.” By family, Stull means the children, their families, school staff, interns, and the numerous volunteers from the community that assist at the school. The full school staff apparently shares her enthusiasm and positive attitude. Even the custodians and kitchen workers perform their duties with clockwork precision.

Recognizing that many of the students come from families that are facing significant challenges, Stull and her staff go to extra lengths to insure that students start the day ready to work. While the school environment “may be the one stable thing in their life, nobody here has lowered the standards because they are Cleveland kids,” said Stull.

Jeffrey Spiegel of West 104th Street has been a volunteer at Louisa May Alcott School for the past eight years. With mornings free due to employment as a private chef, “I just wandered across the street to see if he could be of help,” he said, and he was put to work as a volunteer in a very creative way.

During the day of the Plain Press visit, Jeffrey was working with a 1st grade class on a project that involved fresh apples and incorporated culinary skills, nutrition, reading, writing, art, and electoral politics. Each student had the opportunity to peel apples on an antique apple peeler, taste different varieties of apples, read about apples, vote in secret ballot for their favorite type of apple, draw pictures, and write about their experience.

“When I tell people that I volunteer in a Cleveland school, I often see their faces drop with a hopeless look, but there is real hope here because Louisa May Alcott is one of the best things going in the City of Cleveland regarding students, teachers, neighbors, and the community,” said Spiegel.

 Kathy Asbury has been the Special Education Teacher at Louisa May Alcott for eleven years. She says what makes Alcott work so well is that faculty and staff work as a team. “There is no sense among the staff that this is your kid and this is my kid,” said Asbury. “Everybody here does everything that is needed for these kids,” she said.

While there are two classrooms at Alcott School dedicated to special education, students with medical or mental concerns are incorporated into the full student body as much as possible. “We work with the parents to make the best possible accommodations for the child,” said Stull. “As with every child, we have the expectation that our special education students will work to the best of their ability and even though, in some cases, we are not sure how much they actually get, we want to give them everything,” she said.

Kathy Kudravy lives on West 111th Street in the house that her husband’s grandfather built and, having gone to St. Rose School, she expected to send her three children, Claire, 12, Mary Kate, 9, and Sean, 8, to Catholic School until a neighbor told her that she would “be crazy” if she did not “check out” Louisa May Alcott School. “Alcott is the greatest thing to happen to my kids and to me as well,” said Kudravy. “They don’t just educate the kids, they educate the parents and provide a real come on in and get involved environment for everybody,” she added. Kudravy is now the President of the Student Parent Organization at Alcott School. “The vibe is so positive that you just can’t help getting involved,” said Kudravy.

According to Principal Stull, Ward 18 Councilman Jay Westbrook is one of the many people who have become very involved in the school. “The Louisa May Alcott School has given a real boost to the neighborhood community and is at the forefront of the rebirth of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District,” said Westbrook. “With very focused teachers and leadership and with a wide open policy for the parents and overall community, the school is reflective of what we need to strive for in all of our schools,” said the Councilman.

In addition to the 2008 NCUST award, Louisa May Alcott School has been named as a National Blue Ribbon School, a Cleveland School of Excellence (by the Cleveland and Gund Foundations), and a State of Ohio School of Promise.

(see related photo here)

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