MEMBER PROFILE: Namaste Charter School

3540 South Hermitage Ave., Chicago, IL 60609
Phone: (773) 715-9558
Visit their website
Contact: Allison Slade, Principal

School Statistics Signature Programs + Practices Calendar and Scheduling Academics Student Assessment

Student Culture Teachers and Staff Parents and Community Efforts that Didn't Suceed Helpful Resources Supplemental Materials

Namaste Charter School opened in the fall of 2004 to serve children in the McKinley Park neighborhood. It was created in response to the increasing rate of childhood obesity nationwide. Namaste’s unique mission is to offer a holistic education to children in which the body and spirit are exercised along with the mind. The school combines a rigorous academic schedule with an integrated health and fitness curriculum so that children become physically prepared to succeed academically. It also strives to teach children to mentally engage with each other and their surroundings, a tenet reflected in the school’s name; “Namaste” is a Hindi greeting meaning “my inner light salutes your inner light.” Students and teachers are encouraged to engage in a healthy and active lifestyle, beginning each morning with a nutritious breakfast and physical activity. The school founders believed that “all children possess the attributes necessary to become healthy, literate, life-long lovers of learning.” For them, success for Namaste is the result of three things: a strong curriculum; motivated and well-trained teachers; and healthy, happy students.

SCHOOL STATISTICS

Enrollment:	196 students in grades K – 3 for Fall 2006 65% Latino 20% African American 10% Caucasian 5% Asian 35% English Language Learners 16% Special Education
Classroom:	Average Class Size: 22 Teacher to Student Ratio: 1:13
Attendance Rate:	94.4%
Standardized Test Performance:	No data available until 2007
Admission:	Admission by application; students chosen through lottery. Namaste plans to add one grade each year until it serves K – 8.

Back to top

---

SIGNATURE PROGRAMS AND PRACTICES:

• Health and Fitness Integrated Curriculum: Health, fitness, and nutrition education are integrated in all academics and student activities, including stretching every morning and one hour of physical fitness every day. Parent and community outreach programs incorporate the health focus as well.
• Year-Round Calendar: Students attend school in three-month sessions followed by a one-month break to ensure that students do not lose academic ground over long vacations. Intercession programming is offered over breaks.
• Dual Language Classrooms: Every grade has two classrooms, one monolingual and one bilingual, where instruction is given in English and Spanish. Parents may elect to have their student placed in a dual language classroom.
• Cool Foods Project: Students eat a healthy breakfast and lunch at Namaste every day, including a daily salad bar.
• Peaceful People Curriculum: Students participate in this curriculum and several others aimed at violence prevention through positive social skills and proactive behaviors.
• Walking School Bus:
Parents volunteer to lead students on different walking routes to school through the neighborhood each day to encourage more physical activity.
• Co-Teaching Model: Each classroom has a team of two teachers who work together on curriculum and instruction. The model encourages stronger student achievement, and professional collaboration and support between teachers.
• Curriculum Mapping: Namaste teachers meet across teams and grade levels to develop school-wide curriculums so that students learn to build knowledge onto an existing base each year.
• Friday Family Breakfasts: Parents are invited to eat a healthy breakfast with their children every Friday morning. They also participate in morning exercise routines and attend health and wellness seminars.
• Fresh Food Boxes: Boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables are available to the community at a reduced price once a week to encourage healthy eating at home.

Back to top

---

CALENDAR AND SCHEDULING

Calendar: Students attend school year-round in three-month sessions separated by one-month breaks (April, August, and December). This schedule ensures that students do not lose academic ground over a long summer vacation. Two-week intercession periods are offered in April and December.

• Intercession Programming: There are two weeks of enrichment-based programming for students during December and April intercession. Programs cover non-traditional areas of instruction, and help parents by providing activities during the workday. Cooking, literacy, and physical education classes are offered during both intercessions. December programming includes art and music classes; April programming includes theatre classes. Classes are taught entirely by external partnerships, and college/high school volunteers also assist. Two-week programs taught by Namaste teachers are also offered for students needing additional academic support.

Scheduling: School day runs from 7:45 AM to 4:00 PM, including breakfast, lunch, and scheduled physical activity. Students are released 2.5 hours early on Friday to provide staff development time. A sample day includes:

Common-planning time: Teachers have one hour of private planning time every day. Co-teacher and grade-level teams also meet daily during a 50-minute duty-free lunch and recess period. Planning time and professional development is provided Friday afternoons from 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM.

Back to top

---

ACADEMICS

Core Values: Namaste takes a holistic approach to education, trying to improve the mind, body, and soul of each child through a rigorous academic curriculum, a health and nutrition focus, and a positive behavioral model. Six core values have been set forth by the founders to provide leadership, enrichment and demonstrate success:

• Rigorous Academic Standards as the Foundation
• Healthy Lifestyle as a Lever for Change
• Personal Responsibility for Teaching and Learning
• Positive School Culture Promotes Increased Student Achievement
• Continual Assessment Informs Instruction
• Community Partnerships and Involvement

Namaste seeks to help students achieve optimal academic performance by nourishing and stimulating the mind and body of each child. The curriculum is based on the belief that all children possess the attributes necessary to become healthy, literate, and life-long lovers of learning. Students are encouraged to become self-directed learners; they gain self confidence from seeking solutions to problems.

Curriculum: Students study eight academic subjects, six which are considered core subjects (Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Physical Education) and two additional subjects (Health/Nutrition and Spanish).

• Integration of Physical Fitness and Nutrition: Health, nutrition, and physical activity are integrated into all areas of the school day. For example, during Literacy children use their bodies to make physical representations of letters and sounds. Other projects carry outside school hours.
  • Health/Nutrition: Students receive a comprehensive education in nutrition and healthy practices, supported by in-school practices and partnerships with health conscious businesses and community organizations.
  • Physical Fitness: Students receive one hour of fitness instruction every day. Guided activities follow the National Association of Sports and Physical Education (NASPE) guidelines of giving students the opportunity to learn, meaningful content, and appropriate instruction. Additionally, one day per week is devoted to learning about a specific aspect of physical fitness.
  • Morning Movement: The entire school spends fifteen minutes every morning “getting ready to learn.” Students are led through a physical representation of the developmental learning patterns, designed to stimulate brain activity and muscle coordination.
  • Classroom Water Coolers: Each classroom has its own water cooler for students to use. Each student keeps his or her own water bottle at hand and is encouraged to stay hydrated.
• Reading: Namaste’s reading program is based on the Ohio State Early Literacy Collaborative (OSELO), emphasizing the integration of reading and writing. Students are also assisted in gaining literacy with Guided Reading, where teachers work directly with students on reading strategies, as well as Reading Aloud by teachers so students may be exposed to advanced literature. For more information on the OSELO, see Helpful Resources.
• Writing: The writing program is framed by the Writing and Word Study from the OSELO. It is centered around Writing Workshops, in which teachers give a mini-lesson over a writing topic, children spend time writing independently, and then comment on each other’s work. This allows children to learn to receive criticism and to think constructively about their own work.
• Math: Namaste uses the Math Trailblazers series developed by the University of Illinois-Chicago for grades K – 5. The series uses an inquiry-based approach to teach problem-solving strategies and integrates language arts and science through word problems. For more information on the Math Trailblazer series, see Helpful Resources.
• Science: Namaste uses the FOSS science program to complement the inquiry-based mathematics program. Additionally, all science lessons are taught in Spanish.
• Social Studies: Teachers use a variety of resources to teach students about their community and the world around them. Community members enrich the curriculum with classroom visits.
• Foreign Language: Students receive Spanish language instruction designed to teach vocabulary and communication skills as well as problem solving in Spanish.

Graduation Requirements: To be promoted to the next grade, students must pass four of the six core subjects (Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Physical Education) and must not have more than 20 unexcused absences.

Programs/Practices of Note:

• Dual Language Classrooms: One out of two classes for every grade includes students who are English language learners, as well as English-speaking students. The goal of dual language classrooms is for students to become bilingual and biliterate. All subjects are taught in Spanish and English, except for science; science instruction is given in Spanish in all classrooms. Parents may elect to have their children placed in a dual-language classroom. There is currently a waiting list for the dual-language classrooms with preference given to students who are native Spanish speakers.
• Cool Foods Project: To teach healthy habits to students, Namaste serves only low sugar cereals at breakfast and a healthy variety of foods from all four groups for lunch, including a daily salad bar. Chocolate milk is only allowed on Fridays. This project is part of a 5-year study of childhood obesity by the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC). Students are studied objectively with physical tests and subjectively with attitude tests to chart the progress of the school’s mission. Parents receive attitude tests as well. View the abstract here.
• Workplace Visits: Classes visit businesses and organizations in the neighborhood to see different workplaces, such as the library, fire station, and factories.
• Reading Buddies: Second grade students pair up with kindergartener to dually improve reading skills. For a half hour on Fridays, the two students read together, and then go over some reading comprehension questions prepared by the second grader. The second grader practices writing skills by recording the answers of the kindergartener, and the kindergartener draws pictures representing his answers.
• Peaceful People: Based on Rena Kornblum’s Disarming the Playground: Violence prevention through movement, a movement-based curriculum for violence prevention, Peaceful People instructs children in positive social skills. There are four main units:
  • Spatial Awareness: Children learn to protect their own space and respect other people’s spatial needs.
  • Self-Control and Stress Management: Children learn to recognize their excitement or agitation level. They learn strategies for calming themselves down and controlling their impulses.
  • Managing Anger and Building Empathy: Children learn physical cues for recognizing feelings in others, how to express support for others (showing empathy), positive problem solving to get their needs met, and strategies for managing anger.
  • Pro-Active Interventions and Conflict Resolution: Children learn strategies for dealing with conflict and aggression.

Back to top

---

STUDENT ASSESSMENT

Grades and Progress Reporting: Grades are distributed at the end of every trimester during a two-day period of teacher-parent conferences. Parents must attend a conference with the teacher in order to receive their student’s grades.

Developmental Inquiry: Namaste staff developed a report card which measures student performance in core subject areas at each grade level. Each area has five developmental indicators. Student performance is ranked from 1-4 based on their performance relative to the indicators. For an example of developmental indicators, see Supplementary Materials.

Literacy: Students are tested quarterly to measure literacy progress using the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) in English and Spanish, a diagnostic test covering a wide range of literacy competencies from reading comprehension to listening skills. The DRA is now available through Palm Pilot technology; Namaste will equip every teacher with a Palm Pilot for the 2006 – 2007 school year.

Back to top

---

STUDENT CULTURE

Philosophy: Namaste uses a proactive approach to student discipline called Peace Practices to help guide students’ decisions and their interactions with others. These ten principles are taught and reinforced by teachers in all core subjects, but especially in physical fitness:

• Be positive
• Take your time
• Share
• Think before you act
• Eat well
• Be active
• Be flexible
• Honor others
• Concentrate
• Live a balanced life

Methods for Fostering Student Culture:

• Walking School Bus: Parent volunteers lead five different routes to school through the neighborhood so students can walk together. Parents wear reflective vests and carry walkie-talkies with them to enable communication with the school in case of emergency. Students who “take” the walking bus are awarded a ticket for each “ride.” Teachers display tickets earned by their class, and the class with the most tickets at the end of the week is awarded the “Golden Shoe” award during an all-school assembly. There is also a raffle once a month for parents that volunteer for the Walking School Bus.
• Namaste Notables: One student in each class is recognized every week for exemplifying one of Namaste’s three major principles: be safe; be respectful; and be ready to learn.
• Chess Club: All students are invited to participate in an extracurricular chess club that meets before school one day per week. Namaste received First Place in the citywide K – 3 division this year.

Security and Conflict Resolution:

• Positive Behavior Intervention System (PBIS): Namaste uses this systems approach as a parent tool for the home to prevent and respond to classroom and school discipline problems. The proactive framework establishes a fair, consistent, and efficient disciplinary practice. It also creates and maintains a safe learning environment. Namaste used this framework to create its own PBIS system of rules: be safe; be respectful; and be ready to learn. Parents are instructed in the principles of both the Peaceful People curriculum and the PBIS at the beginning of every school year by a staff member.

Back to top

---

TEACHERS AND STAFF

Governance: Namaste uses a democratic style of governance where decisions are made collectively. The small size of the school makes this process manageable at present; as Namaste grows, a committee structure for decision-making will be utilized. All teachers are encouraged to actively offer input. All members of staff are also included in the hiring process.

• Staff Meeting: Staff meets every week at the start of Friday professional development sessions. Meetings begin with an acknowledgement session where teachers may recognize each other for assistance or a job well done; this segment encourages a positive and collaborative environment.
• Hiring Process: New teachers are hired through a process involving the entire staff. Teachers work with the principal to form a phone and written survey of questions. If a potential candidate passes the phone interview and the written survey, they are invited to the school for a formal interview. Teachers interview the potential candidate in teams of two, and then share their impressions and recommendations with the entire staff. All staff members help make the decision to hire the candidate.

Professional Development: Namaste believes that teacher-led professional development (PD) is the most effective form of teacher empowerment and improvement. Most PD programs are teacher-focused:

• Co-Teaching Model: Currently, every classroom has two teachers who work together on curriculum development and instruction. The team model is designed to improve student achievement by offering more individualized attention to each student, but it is also a core component of the professional development program. New teachers are often paired with a more experienced teacher so that they receive more career support. The co-teaching model seeks to create a collaborative and supportive environment that will help reverse the trend of new teachers leaving the field quickly. As the school’s capacity increases, only benchmark grades (1, 3, 5, and 8) will have teacher teams; other classrooms will have one teacher and a teacher’s assistant.
• Annual Theme: Each year, teachers and staff choose an instructional issue to research and discuss throughout the year and find methods for application appropriate to Namaste. The theme for the 2005 – 2006 school year was curriculum mapping.
  • Curriculum Mapping: Teachers are given planning time to meet across grade levels and across vertical subject areas so that curriculum mapping may take place school-wide. The goal of curriculum mapping is to learn large concepts in a “spiral,” revisiting them in every grade with more depth and breadth added every year. Namaste’s interactive curriculum map will be available online in August 2006.
• Weekly Professional Development: Namaste uses a four-week schedule of professional development programming to expand on the annual instructional issue:
  • Week 1: External professional development program
  • Week 2: Grade level planning time to develop curriculum
  • Week 3: Vertical planning time between mono- and dual-language classroom teachers to develop curriculum across grades
  • Week 4: Teachers are free to use the afternoon in activity of their choice
• Various conferences: Teachers attend various conferences during intercession periods, including a yearly retreat. Conferences include but not are limited to the Walloon Institute, the Illinois Reading Association, National Staff Development Council, and ASDC annual Differentiation Conference.

Teacher Evaluation: Evaluation is done three times in the fall and at least once every semester by administrators and by teachers themselves. All evaluations are based on Charlotte Danielson’s Pathwise Framework for Teaching:

• Planning and Preparation
• Classroom Environment
• Instruction
• Professional Responsibility

Self Evaluation includes goal-setting and reflection of the semester over the four categories; Administrator Evaluation includes formal and informal observation followed by evaluation against the four rubric categories. Benchmarks for the categories can be found in Supplementary Materials.

Evaluations based on observation also inform professional development. Key areas to observe include the physical space of the classroom, student work on display, materials available, and the general learning environment:

• Observation: Teachers observe one another in the classroom, noting strengths and weaknesses which are debriefed following observation. Issues brought up in debriefing, both positive and improvement-related, form the basis for school based PD workshops.
• Whole School Walk-Through: Every teacher does a walk-through of the entire school once per trimester, noting strengths and weaknesses. Evaluations of the walk-through are submitted to the principal who synthesizes all responses and reports feedback to the entire staff.
• Co-Teacher Evaluation: Teacher teams evaluate one another based on experience and observation, noting instructional strengths and weaknesses, once per year. Teams discuss evaluations with the principal afterwards to form goals and improvement strategies.

Staff Culture and Leadership Development: Namaste strives to provide a supportive community for teachers and staff where effort is made to take care of each other as professionals. Providing students a quality education is a main goal of the school, but providing a professional community is important as well.

• Staff Breakfast: The staff enjoys breakfast together every other Wednesday morning to encourage camaraderie. A different grade level team hosts the meal each time.

Back to top

---

PARENTS AND COMMUNITY

Parents

Namaste builds relationships with parents through active communication. Parent-teacher conferences are held three times per year. Parents are encouraged to join a school-wide parent organization which produces a weekly newsletter. Opportunities for feedback on the school are offered through parent surveys at the conclusion of each trimester and consistent weekly updates:

• Friday Folders: Each teacher sends home a folder with a school newsletter every Friday.

Namaste programming also encourages parents to continue their own education. Parents have a room for exclusive use with computer access at the school. Classes are also offered at night on exercise habits, citizenship, and GED preparation. Several programs also reinforce the health and nutrition focus of the school so that these lessons may be reinforced at home:

• Friday Family Breakfasts: Parents are invited every Friday to enjoy a healthy breakfast with their child. Following breakfast, parents stretch and exercise with their children and attend seminars on health and wellness topics, helping to reinforce the mission of the school.
• Fresh Food Boxes: The local community has the opportunity to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from the school once per week. Produce is offered at a reduced price for a family of up to four members.
• Fitness Bags: Namaste offers bags filled with fitness equipment, such as weights and fitness guides, to encourage parents to exercise at home.
• Parent Lending Library: Parents may borrow books and magazines from Namaste on health, nutrition, or general academic topics.
• Teacher’s Helpers: Parent volunteers are invited and encouraged to come assist teachers and staff with a variety of tasks every day from 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM. On a busy day, between 15 and 20 parents volunteer.

Community Partnerships

• Yoga Kids: Staff from Yoga Kids assists in fitness training and education of students.
• Illinois Nutrition Education and Training Program (IL NET): This program provides support and curriculum materials for health education at Namaste.
• Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC): The CLOCC is using Namaste as a variable school in a 5-year experiment trying to lower childhood obesity rates in Chicago, since only healthy options are offered to children at mealtimes.
• Intercession programming assistance: Various volunteers from universities and community organizations teach and facilitate intercession programming in non-core subject areas. Participating organizations include Urban Gateways, the Lookingglass Theatre Company, and the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council.

Back to top

---

EFFORTS THAT DIDN’T SUCCEED

• External Professional Development Frequency: Namaste originally brought in external professional development programs every other week for Friday sessions, but it was found that more in-school development and collaboration was needed. External programs are now used once per month.

Back to top

---

HELPFUL RESOURCES

• Ohio State Early Literacy Collaborative: Program that provides reading curriculum
• Math Trailblazers: Program that provides math curriculum
• Rena Kornblum: Program that provides reading curriculum
• PBIS: Program that provides security resolution curriculum
• Illinois Nutrition Education and Training Program: Program that provides nutrition curriculum
• Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC): Community partner in nutrition research

Back to top

---

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS

[NOTE: Material in this section is a direct replication of Namaste promotional materials regarding their unique programs.]

DEVELOPMENTAL INQUIRY

Namaste measures student learning through a series of developmental indicators at each grade level. The curriculum is designed so students gain basic knowledge and skills through mastery of these developmental learning indicators. Students are assessed against the indicators toward the end of every academic year; they receive a numerical score of 1 – 4 (with 4 being the strongest) in each subject area based on their performance against the indicators. The following indicators are used to assess the progress of students in kindergarten:

• Reading/Language Arts
  • Develops an interest in a variety of literature
  • Demonstrates letter knowledge
  • Demonstrates phonemic awareness
  • Demonstrates print and book awareness
  • Implements reading strategies
• Writing
  • Prints first and last name
  • Forms upper and lower case letters neatly
  • Places spaces between words
  • Attempts to write simple words and sentences using phonetic spelling
  • Uses pictures to represent words
• Mathematics
  • Identifies and writes numbers to 50
  • Recognizes basic shapes through sorting and classifying
  • Explores calendar, time, and money
  • Demonstrates addition/subtraction through using manipulatives
  • Problem solves through patterning, graphing, and measuring
• Science
  • Identifies changes in weather using appropriate vocabulary
  • Uses senses to investigate the world
  • Identifies basic body parts
  • Identifies problems and solutions
  • Characterizes living organisms
• Social Studies
  • Names country, state, and city lived in and explores maps
  • States three things a good citizen does
  • Identifies a flag of the United States
  • Reads and correctly interprets bar graph
  • Identifies communities and elements
• Social Skill Development
  • Begins demonstrating self-control in appropriate situations
  • Displays appropriate manners and respect of others and property
  • Participates in class and uses proper language
  • Follows two and three step directions
  • Stays on task for a period of time
• Physical Education
  • Explores spatial awareness
  • Recognizes and demonstrates basic locomotor skills
  • Explores basic body shapes and movements
  • Demonstrates fundamental skills of sharing, taking turns, and working independently
  • Follows basic rules of safety
• Second Language Development
  • Follows basic directions demonstrating understanding
  • Knows basic vocabulary
  • Demonstrates appreciation of diverse cultures
• Fine Arts
  • Creates individual works of visual art
  • Makes connections between arts and life events
  • Recognize and identify sensory elements of design
  • Listens actively and experiences personal interaction with music through singing, playing, and performing
• Health Education
  • Demonstrates appropriate self-care and hygiene
  • Seeks help when needed
  • Makes healthy choices including nutrition, fitness and safety

Back to top

---

EVALUATION RUBRIC BENCHMARKS

Namaste uses the Pathwise Framework for Teaching rubric for professional development. Teachers perform evaluations of their peers based on benchmarks in four areas:

• Planning and Preparation
  • Demonstrates knowledge of students and of curricular area
  • Designs lessons in a clear, logical and appropriately structured format
• Classroom Environment
  • Routines and procedures demonstrate students themselves maintaining a high level of control over themselves
  • Ensures that information can be seen, heard, and read by students
  • Anticipates classroom disruptions and plans accordingly
  • Establishes a climate of mutual respect and mutuality of purpose
• Instruction
  • Uses instructional time effectively and provides for smooth transition between lessons and activities
  • Communicates challenging expectations to students and provides students with opportunities to succeed
  • Stimulates and encourages creative, critical thinking, and problem solving skills
  • Gives constructive feedback frequently and promptly and promotes student involvement even with students who little or no interest
• Professional Responsibility
  • Interacts with students, staff, and families in a mutually respectful, empathetic, and just manner
  • Shares ideas, materials, and methods with other staff and works cooperatively with colleagues in planning and implementing educational activities that reflect the best interests of the students
  • Maintains accurate data and handles confidential information ethically and with discretion
  • Assumes responsibilities outside the classroom demonstrating a commitment to professional growth and growth of the school

Back to top