Tahoe Elementary: Healing Divisions, Stabilizing Leadership

Tahoe Elementary is located in a mixed area of small single and multiple family residences adjacent to an industrial and commercial area. The school was built in 1953 in the finger plan common to schools built in that era. The physical plant consisted of a large cafetorium, a kindergarten complex of two classrooms, and five wings containing twenty-two self-contained classrooms and a library. In 1988-89 the school served 651 lower-middle and low income students, many from single parent families. When both parents were present in the home, both of them usually worked outside the home. The ethnic distribution of the schools was approximately 23 per cent White, not of Hispanic origin, 71 per cent Hispanic, 4 per cent Black, not of Hispanic origin, and 0.5 per cent Asian. Forty-seven per cent of the students were limited or non-English speaking (LEP/NEP), and were receiving English as a second language instruction. The low income status of the school was reflected in the socio-economic index of 1.33, which was the lowest of all the schools in the study. The state average was 2.03. Twenty-three per cent of the students received Aid to Families with Dependent Children, which was twice the rate of Sierra and Whitney and of the district as a whole. The school population also had a high turnover in student enrollments partly because many were recent immigrants; the neighborhood was a temporary stopping point. In the 1987-88 sixth grade class, only 29 per cent of the students had been at the school since kindergarten, 31 per cent of the students had entered in the sixth grade. It is important to note, however, that the achievement results of the students who entered in sixth grade were similar to those who had been in the school since kindergarten. Mobility, thus, cannot directly be considered a factor in explaining the overall achievement results.