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Stevens School History

The I.I. Stevens school was founded at the turn of the 20th Century on the north slope of Seattle's Capitol Hill. Born in Massachusetts in 1818, Isaac Ingalls Stevens was the assistant in charge of the US Coast Survey Office in Washington before being appointed Washington's first territorial governor in 1853.  Opening its doors in 1906,  the school's first principal was Miss Lowell. Originally serving grades one through eight from the Capitol Hill and Interlaken neighborhoods, Stevens now teaches kindergarten through grade five from the central cluster of the Seattle School District
.


The Stevens Vision

At Stevens we work to create an environment that challenges each child to reach his or her potential by encouraging academic excellence, embracing diversity, and teaching social responsibility.  Stevens is a learning community where students, teachers, parents, and community members teach, learn and practice: freedom, respect, honesty, caring, and responsibility.


The STARS Pledge

As a student at Stevens I promise to:

  • Strive to develop my own special takents
  • Take responsibility for my actions and learning
  • Achieve academic excellence
  • Respect myself and others
  • Share my skills and talents with others

 

Demographics

 

 

Number of Students

Enrolled Percent

Total

343

100

Minority students (combined)

160

53

Students with free/reduced lunch status

114

38

Students with limited English proficiency

54

18

Students with Special Education status

22

7


Instructional Strategies

Stevens actively implements the Seattle Public School's Standard Based learning system. This system has identified clear learning outcomes or targets for reading, writing, science, math and communication in kindergarten through high school grades. Even though documents show subjects broken into grade level learning, we view these learning outcomes as a learning continuum. Therefore, if a child is in a third grade class, but has exceeded standards for the level, we address this issue by using materials that will continue to provide an intellectual challenge. As a result, teachers no longer teach to textbooks. Instead they teach to learning outcomes and have been empowered to use any curriculum or supplies necessary to help kids reach or exceed standards.

  • Writing- emphasis on the writing process and the six writing traits
  • Reading- literature circles, discussion, decoding skills of phonics and whole language
  • Math - Terc, an open-ended multi-step solving curriculum

Rigorous Education

The staff at Stevens Elementary is working hard to provide rigorous instruction for all students. Considering the wide range of abilities in every classroom, this is a difficult task. We define rigor as instruction which ---- We use a variety of methods


Fostering Leadership

Academics alone would not adequately prepare our children for the complexities of grown-up life. They must also learn interpersonal skills that will help them coexist with many different kinds of people from many different cultures. Stevens believes that schools can help with this task and has developed programming to help children start to develop the skills they need:

  • to solve problems and manage conflict
  • to work cooperatively
  • to connect with the community through service learning
  • to be citizens who honor freedom, respect, honesty, caring, and responsibility


Fostering Social Responsibility

We support the development of social responsibility in many ways:

  • Student Council
  • Service Learning
  • Reading buddies
  • Safety patrol
  • Students trained as Conflict Managers
  • Lunchroom assistants
  • Students host Stars Assemblies
  • Providing models of service: Americorps, vista, and volunteers


Service Learning

An instructional strategy used by Stevens' teachers and staff is the connection of  lessons learned in the classroom to the outside world by helping to meet community needs. Community connections and outreach are used where ever lessons can be applied. Stevens uses service learning to foster social responsibility in many ways:

  • Multi-cultural education including an integrated cultural theme for each grade level and cultural assemblies.
  • Character Education (class meetings, Bully Proofing Program and Conflict management/ problem solving taught school-wide)
  • Environmental Education (School-wide recycling, Finding Urban Nature (F.U.N.), Audobon Society Science Program, Volunteer Park Conservatory Programs, Friends of Interlaken, and Salmon in the Classroom)
  • Intergeneration programs