Five short years ago, Riverview Elementary in the Lakeside School District set out reinvent their school. With declining enrollment, school Principal Olympia Kyriakidis worked with stakeholders to rethink / reinvent the learning environment to best meet the needs of today’s student and tomorrows worker. After touring this school last week, two words came immediately to mind when I observed students: engaged and empowered. One word when I observed teachers and staff: passionate. 5 years after reshaping the vision, the results are remarkable. Some takeaways:
School and Student values centric around “Covey’s 7 Habits” and “Leader In Me”
Other key takeaways:
- Riverview is School is tri immersion (English, Mandarin, and Spanish). See Riverview World Language Program
- Project based learning overlay on standards based curriculum infused with technology as enabler. Incredible student engagement in all classrooms.
- Student enrollment has grown from 450 students to 900 in last 5 years – with a waiting list of over 100. 72% of students from outside district.
- Over 12 highly qualified teacher aides support teachers and students, including the Confucias Institute at SDSU
- Embedded a charter school in the middle of campus which (Mandarin Language Academy) which seamlessly serves students to and attracted over $1MM of grant funding. One principal of both schools – in fact, you would not even know it is a charter school, as students are dually enrolled. It really just serves as way to offer programs to students.
- No layoff notices in Lakeside. Fiscally sound management – which is true of several of the 42 districts in San Diego.
Visit: Riverview Elementary
ibrary.com 