West Whittier

West Whittier strives to meet the needs of all its students. It provides the students with the District curriculum and believes that all students can learn. Each child is considered as an individual with his/her own needs and potential. Staff development provides teachers with more knowledge and a better understanding of the special needs of students.

One of our school wide goals is that all children who have been at West Whittier since kindergarten will be reading at grade level by the end of third grade. To support this, all teachers and support staff have received additional training on reading strategies and differentiated instruction. Our categorical budget has been developed to target expenditures that will support our students where they need it most. A reading support teacher, instructional assistants, additional books and other instructional materials are just a few of the items that have been provided for our students out of our categorical budget. Technology continues to be another area where we believe our students need to learn more about. We have purchased new iMacs for our library to help our students research material on the Internet for reports. We have also bought individual word processors called Alphasmarts that will help our students with their classroom writing projects. In addition, several software programs have been purchased to provide additional help in language arts and math.

The staff recognizes parents as partners in the education of their children. The staff and parents continuously work to assess and improve the instructional program. Family nights in the areas of literacy and math have provided our students and parents with an opportunity to learn together in a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere. We will continue to provide opportunities for parents to become involved with their child’s education.

The school also focuses on the students’ development of a positive self-concept, respect for themselves and others and the responsibility for their own actions. We have also provided after school programs that help our students develop other talents in the areas of dance, art and sports. By providing all of these programs and experiences, it is our hope that our students will be able to flourish both academically and socially.