PROFILE

Executive Summary
Keheley Elementary has served as the "neighborhood school" since it was built in 1985.   The school is located in a middle to upper-middle class community in Northeast Cobb County. Our educational program addresses the needs of all students through a collaboration of students, staff, and parents. Keheley Elementary is named in honor of the Keheley family, some of whom continue to reside adjacent to the school’s property.  Liz Jackson is beginning her first year as Principal of Keheley, and Laverne Evans is beginning her fourth year as Assistant Principal for the 2007-2008 school year.
Keheley currently serves approximately 524 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The majority of our students reside in single family homes ranging in cost from $100,000 to $900,000. Our community is a relatively stable one with a transient rate of 13.4%. An increase to 25% in the number of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch has meant that in the 2007 – 2008 school year, for the first time Keheley offers a breakfast program for our students.  Keheley has 72 students with disabilities and 131 students eligible for free and reduced meals.  Since more than forty students are in each of these groups, the Students with Disabilites and the Economically Disadvantaged students will be sub-groups in Keheley’s Adequate Yearly Progress report.  The ethnic breakdown of students is as follows:
Caucasian – 66%
Black – 15%
Hispanic – 8%
Multi-Racial – 7%
Asian – 4%
Female – 47%
Male – 53%
While the demographics of our community are changing, there is a continued focus on excellence in teaching and student learning. Citizenship strategies and high expectations for behavior have been established and modeled to promote a quality learning environment.
The instructional program at Keheley addresses all subject areas using a variety of instructional practices. Our commitment is to focus on each child’s strengths and weaknesses and ways to provide instruction to meet individual needs. These include such strategies as: small group instruction though flexible grouping, individual tutoring, teacher-directed learning, and student-centered learning.  We monitor data and assessments to measure student learning. We continue our focus on staff development, especially in the areas of writing, math, data analysis, and staff and parent collaboration to assure optimum learning. For the past 3 years (2004-2007) an average of 92.3% of Keheley students met or exceeded performance levels on the CRCT in the area of reading and 90.9% in the area of math. Our constant challenge is to focus our efforts on working collaboratively and consistently with our data and seek ways to continue to meet the needs of all students.
Keheley’s yearly school wide goal focuses on student achievement in the area of math. The school performance goal is in the area of professional collaboration where there is shared responsibility for student academic performance. Each year Keheley teachers are trained in the most current research based strategies to improve student learning. This year's training will focus on implementing performance based instruction and the use of data to increase student achievement in mathematics as well as an understanding of the effects of poverty on student learning.
Keheley Elementary's close connection with the community has proven to be beneficial. We have an active PTA with involved parents and community members. We have earned the reputation of being family friendly with many activities coordinated during the school year.  We pride ourselves on having an open door policy to visiting parents and volunteers. Most students come to school prepared to learn and receive parental support during their entire Keheley experience.
Keheley’s partnership with community efforts is evidenced by the fact that Keheley Elementary was one of six Cobb County Schools to receive Green School Designation for the 2006-2007 school year.  The Cobb County Green School Initiative is a cooperation effort between Cobb County Water System, Keep Cobb Beautiful, and the Cobb County Parks and Recreation Natural Resources Unit.  It was designed to recognize Cobb County Schools committed to environmental education.  Schools could qualify as Green by having a minimum of five teachers complete five environmentally beneficial lesson plans.  Seventeen Keheley teachers have committed to participating in the Green School Initiative for 2007-2008. 

School Improvement Team Members:

Liz Jackson, Principal
Laverne Evans, Assistant Principal
Carolyn Byrd, Area 4 Lead Teacher
Cindy Gropp, Kindergarten representative
Amy Keirnan, 1st grade representative
Melissa Tucker, 2nd grade representative
Susan Hulse, 3rd grade representative
Tracey Johnson, 4th grade representative
Susie Feathers, 5th grade representative
Dung Nguyen, Specialist representative
Jan Buckley, Specialist representative
Annette Simpson, Specialist representative