Portage Path Elementary School

Portage Path Elementary School is a primary school in Akron, Ohio, United States in the Akron Public School District. Pupils range from kindergarten to 5th grade. Its classroom teacher average is 27.3, is average enrollment is 380, and its student-to-teacher ratio is 12.527:1, all three of which are below both the district average and the state average. 91% of the pupils at the school are African American, the next largest ethnic group being Caucasian American pupils, which comprise 7% of the total. [cite web|url=http://ohio.schooltree.org/public/Portage-Path-Elementary-065900.html|title=Portage Path Elementary School|work=Schooltree.org]

65.4% of the school's spending (USD4,114) is on instruction, and 18.2% (USD1,144) on building operation. The remaining money is spent on administration (4.1%), pupil support (9.4%), and staff support (2.9%). [cite web|url=http://www.ode.state.oh.us/reportcardfiles/2000/BUILD/030536.PDF|format=PDF|title=State of Ohio 2000 school building report card: Portage Path Elementary|publisher=Ohio Department of Education|date=2000]

Portage Path is part of the C5 ("Children Connecting Classroom, Community, and Curriculum") programme. In the 1980s it was one of the first schools in the area to receive classroom computers from Apple Computer. The goal of the C5 programme is to extend pupils time with computers by enouraging pupils' families to be connected both to Internet and to the school. The C5 programme provides USD500 for families towards the cost of one of several types of personal computer, and Time Warner Cable provides free Road Runner Internet access. As of 2001, half of all pupils were connected to Internet at home via the C5 programme. Pupils use their home computers for homework, and a web site to set up portfolios and to communicate with their teachers from home and with their families from school. [cite web|url=http://mistersugar.com/index.php?id=686|title=Families That Learn Together|author=Anton Zuiker|work=Northern Ohio Live Magazine|date=October 2001] School lessons also heavily employ computers, with, for example, pupils being instructed in mathematics, geography, and problem solving by daily consultation of weather reports on Intellicast, and learning about Groundhog Day by looking at on-line maps of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania and visiting the web sites of its shops. [cite journal|title=Teaching Technology To Kids|journal=Smart Computing|date=September 1997|volume=3|issue=9|author=Michelle Wirth|url=http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/archive/cforkids/kid0597/lkid0597.asp]

Another programme provided by the school is ROAD ("Reach Out and Dance"), which is intended to help pupils with stress of school and family life, and with anger management problems. It is run by the Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet, which teaches dance classes to pupils on Friday afternoons, structuring the classes very much like ballet classes. [cite news|url=http://www.apria.com/common/aw_cmp_printNews/1,2762,304796,00.html|work=Akron Beacon Journal|date=2004|author=Elaine Guregian|title=Dance therapy]

Plans to demolish and rebuild the school, as part of the USD800million Akron City School District construction project, were abandoned after a community outcry. Portage Path is, as of 2004, instead scheduled to be renovated in 2011, at a cost of US$9 million. [cite news|url=http://www.commhealthcenter.org/newsroom/nela-manor1.asp|work=Akron Beacon Journal|date=2004|author=Katie Byard and Paula Schleisn|title="Fun, funky" gem serious on future: Highland Square free spirits work on keeping their area vibrant, attractive and full of youth]

References

Further reading

* — a report on how Karen Grindall, a fourth/fifth-grade teacher at Portage Path, takes a "hands-on" approach to teaching history
* — an announcement of a USD76,555 from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for providing the FAST program to Portage Path

External links

* [http://www.neo.rr.com/C5/ The Portage Path Elementary C5 programme]