response to prompt #1

Windmill Street School is a public elementary school that sits up on top of a big hill in the North End section of Providence, RI. The classrooms in the school are spacious as well as the hallways which makes it easy for students and staff to work. The bathrooms are clean and well supplied from my own personal visits. All staff seem to be working collaboratively and I have noticed that the teachers are most aware of who the students are and where they should be.

According to Informationworks, the schools principal, Eusibio Lopes, oversees approximately 395 students and 34 teachers in grades K-5. The schools performance was noted as making adequate yearly progress in which they met 20 out 20 targets which were evluated in the year 2008. Windmill serves a diverse population where 53% of the students are Hispanic, 24% are White, 20% are African-American, 2% Asian and 1% Native American. Interesting enough, only 17% of the population received special eduation services but with general education supports and a very low 3% of them were part of a self-contained classroom. Also, 20% of the students were bilingual but 1% of them was part of an ESL program. This school is madw up of mostly low-income families and 89% of the student population is eligible for free or reduced lunch.