CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS TO WATCH
California Schools to Watch is a statewide program implemented by the California League
of Middle Schools, California Department of Education, California Middle Grades Alliance, National Forum, and the California Schools to Watch model schools.
Redesignated: 2023
Designated 2020
Sutter County
Sutter County
Obie Leff, Principal
2510 Live Oak Blvd., Yuba City, CA 95991
(530) 755-2872
School Characteristics
Community: rural. Enrollment: 461. Grade Levels: TK-8. School Schedule: The school has a regular seven-period day every day except for Wednesday, an early-release day that features a middle school advocacy class for social-emotional skills. There are nearly four hours of PE per week; students are pulled out of electives for intervention as needed.
School Demographics
Free/reduced lunch: 31%. Students with disabilities: 7%. English learners: 9%.
Replicable Practices
The PLC model has been instrumental for boosting student achievement; all teachers must serve on at least one team, yet teams have a great deal of autonomy over their practice.
Weekly interventions are built into the master schedule for Wednesdays during the “What I Need” period. Students are grouped for timely support on an ELA or math target. Once they demonstrate mastery, they rejoin their elective class.
College-and-career readiness classes offer enrichment, extension, and intervention for each individual student. For example, Integrated Math 1 is overseen by math teachers but gives students the agency to explore mathematical skills at an extension level.
A modified traditional school calendar provides extended breaks in both fall and spring to enhance enrollment and retainment.
Parent education avenues include Parent University in the fall, Parent Café in the spring, parent council meetings that focus on academics, meetings that center on social-emotional topics, and ELAC meetings that feature a parent education component.
The life management course gives students skills in money management, food safety, nutrition, recipe preparation, and sewing repairs.