Knollwood Elementary School

The vision of Knollwood Elementary is to provide a safe and supportive learning environment with high academic and social standards that will produce responsible, life-long learners able to succeed in a democratic and technological society.

Los Angeles Unified School District’s Knollwood Elementary School, tucked away in the northwestern corner of Granada Hills in the San Fernando Valley, has proven it believes in the ideal that a safe, technologically current, highly structured yet flexible and supportive environment can imbue within each student the philosophy of their learning community: "Learn to love to learn."

Although the San Fernando Valley was initially developed as a white middle-class community, Granada Hills became noteworthy in the early 1960’s because one of its developers, Joseph Eichler, espoused the belief that his upscale homes should be available to those of all ethnicities, including African Americans. To this day, there are significant numbers of African American homeowners who still reside in their Eichler Homes, and many of their children and grandchildren attend Knollwood. Additionally, Knollwood is a rich, diverse community of Hispanic, Asian, American Indian and white students.

Even though Knollwood Elementary sits nestled in a relatively upscale neighborhood, we are a Title l School and support a State Preschool Program. Teachers, administrators and staff expect all students to meet and surpass State Educational Standards. The successes we are having on the various state and locally designed assessments are growing stronger each year (API 577 in 1999 to 840 in 2007). Our diverse student body is also celebrating the successes of the Arts Program through excellent teaching of dance, theater and fine arts by expert teachers.

We have over 50% of our students participating in the free and reduced lunch program-but we don't use this as an excuse for missing academic growth goals. Our teachers and administrators take pride in our accomplishments. We demand that our students work to their potential. If they falter, we offer extended learning opportunities after school and on Saturdays. We meet regularly with parents to problem solve and come up with solutions to help needy students stay on the road to academic and social success. We have been designated as a High Achieving Title 1 school the last two years by the California Department of Education. This recognition has made our Open Enrollment seats sought after by many families outside our neighborhood. Our parents have gone out of their way to provide the best education for their children and this strong support has boosted our academic standards. Our teachers and parents take the roll of the Student Success Team (SST) very seriously. When a child is not meeting standards; teachers seek out the guidance of the SST and with the parent look for ways to correct learning irregularities.

Our teachers and staff work as a team. This teamwork is exemplified by the weekly grade level meetings. Student assessments and work samples are shared, discussed and teachers pool their years of experience to share strategies and techniques to best reach students. We are by no means shy- we will honestly state we need help and most importantly our colleagues are out there to help. Student achievement is the number one priority at Knollwood Elementary School!