Overview What is a charter school? What parents say about DLECS

Della Lamb Elementary Charter School Organization and History

School founded by: Della Lamb Community Services
Date of implementation: 6-14-99
Current number of students: 459, as of December 2007
School type: Year-round elementary charter school
Sponsoring agency: Central Missouri State University
Approved application: 4-14-99
Current grades served: Kindergarten - 6th grade

Teacher/Student Ratio

Kindergarten - 1st grade classes: 1 teacher:15 students
2nd - 6th grade classes: 1 teacher:16 students

Student Demographics 2002-2003

DLECS serves an ethnically and racially diverse student body...

34% African American 28% Somali 21% Vietnamese 7% Sudanese

4% Caucasian 4% Hispanic 1% Cambodian

<1%> Chinese <1%> Ethiopian <1%> Native American

Attendance rate: 90%
Free/reduced lunch rate: 93%
Limited English proficient students: 61.9%
Number of students returning from last year: 93%
  276 returned from prior year 295; 35 new enrollees

Philosophy

Respect, high expectations, and success for all - students, parents, faculty, staff

Mission Statement

Della Lamb Elementary Charter School seeks to create long-term educational and economic impact in the lives of low-income, at risk, disadvantaged children and families by providing alternative educational and academic services in conjunction with supplemental family support services in a Missouri Charter School format. DLECS is committed to offer to the students it serves a liberal education through its use of the Core Knowledge Curriculum Sequence and the Direct Instruction Basic Skills Curriculum.

Georgraphic Area Served

Urban core, inner-city Kansas City, Missouri. Residents of the Kansas City, MO School District.

• DLCS purchased a 24,000 sq ft facility at 1000 Charlotte; renovated; and installed state-of-the-art playground equipment; 1st-5th grade are served at 1000 Charlotte
• Kindergarten and 1st grade served at 500 Woodland
• 2nd grade through 5th served at 1000 Charlotte
• In 2007 DLCS renovated the 3100 E. 12th St. building, which now houses the 6th grade students
• Central Office Administration located at 500 Woodland
• Satellite DLCS Social Services facilities near the school
• Ongoing technology developed with state-of-the-art IBM-compatible computers
• Technology program planned for networked computers and Internet access available for students daily
• Ongoing library development
• Gymnasium facility satellite DLCS near the school

School Hours

6:00-8:15 a.m.: Before school program, full breakfast, transportation from home to school
8:15 a.m.-3:15 p.m.: Academic school day, full lunch
3:15-5:30 p.m.: After school program, afternoon snack, transportation from school to home

Transportation

Provided daily door-to-door, 6:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

Instructional Program Overview

DLCS is a comprehensive K-6 school implementing:

• the Direct Instruction (DI) - SRA Curriculum (interactive teacher-guided lessons, research-based and fied-tested across the nation) for Reading, Phonics, Math, Language Arts and Spelling, and
• the Core Knowledge (CK) Curriculum (providing a systematic spiraling sequence encompassing all of the major content areas including Math, Language Arts, Literature, Science, Social Studies, Music, Geography and Art)

Student Assessment and Grading Inventories

Cumulative records reflect the correlation of Direct Instruction program objectives and Core Knowledge skills and benchmarks tied to the Missouri Show-Me Standards .

Student assessment is ongoing and includes:

• Work samples
• Missouri Assessment Program (MAP)
• Stanford-9 Standardized Testing
• In-curriculum frequent testing of reading and math skill advancement (every 5 & 10 lessons)

Teacher Qualifications

Number of classroom instructional staff: 28
Number of certified instructional staff: 25; 89% certified
Number of instructional staff retained from prior years: 28 of 32 (87% retained)

For More Information

Judy McGonigle Akers DLECS Executive Vice President voice: 816-842-8040 fax: 816-842-7727 e-mail: jakers@dellalamb.org

Mohamed Nur Site Manager voice: 816-221-0043 fax: 816-221-0937