Kat Welch

Crooked Creek Elementary School

With over 200 schools in Indianapolis, the opportunities to
receive a great education are endless. Each school is unique in all
aspects, but I chose to do my analysis on a school that I could see
myself teaching at someday. After doing a practicum at Crooked Creek
Elementary School in Indianapolis for several weeks, I realized how
much I liked the school and was curious to learn more about it. The
teaching staff was incredible, the students were eager to learn, and
even the school layout itself was visually appealing.
Crooked Creek is a public school and part of the Washington
Township school system. The district consists of 13 schools, including
the J Everett Light Career Center. Including Crooked Creek, Washington
Township has six elementary schools and one preschool, Hilltop
Developmental Preschool. The elementary schools in Washington
Township are grades kindergarten-5. Their mission statement reads
The mission of Washington Township Schools is to develop lifelong
learners and globally-minded citizens by fostering the academic,
creative, and social skills needed to achieve excellence in a
multicultural environment. Crooked Creeks motto is Superior Schools
in a Supportive Community, and the motto of Washington Township is
Innovative- Visionary- Inclusive- Diverse.

The Crooked Creek wildcats have 622 students, and 29 total

classroom teachers, making the student-teacher ratio approximately
22. 47% of the students are male and 53% are female. One thing I
really liked when I visited was the diverse demographic of students.
Obviously I had noticed when I visited, but it was interesting to get the
actual statistics. Their enrollment by ethnicity is: 45.3% of students
are black, 31% white, 2.3% Asian, 10.6% Hispanic, and 10.1%
multiracial. I think its important to have a diverse group of student
coming together to learn. Diversity in ethnicity, culture, and origin is a
great way for children to not only learn from one another, but learn
how important it is to respect and appreciate ethnicities and cultures
besides their own.
Language is a very important part of the curriculum at Crooked
Creek. Chinese and Spanish are both heavily incorporated into their
curriculums A heavy emphasis is placed on learning about the
country of China at Crooked Creek. All students in grades K-5 take
Chinese language instruction once per week. Additionally, the Chinese
New Year is celebrated each January with a week of activities to learn
about Chinese culture and traditions. Crooked Creek currently has
three partner schools in China to which teachers have traveled and
students have communicated. (Crooked Creek). Although I was not
able to find the budget specific to Crooked Creek, I was interested in
finding out how much money the Washington Township schools spend

every year on bilingual education. In 2016, the anticipated budget for

bilingual education is $250,050. I strongly believe that how much a
school budgets certain program reflects how much of a priority those
programs are to the school. I was please to learn that the budget for
bilingual education is relatively high!
Like most large schools, Crooked Creek has an ENL (English as a
New Language) program. A common question is who determines what
students will be a part of the program, and how they determine it.
When a student enrolls at Crooked Creek, they complete a Home
Language Survey. If it is indicated that a language other than English
is spoken at home, the student is assessed using the LAS Links
Placement Exam, and program placement is based upon the score.
There isnt an ENL class that students attend regularly like there is at
some schools. They have a system where an ENL teacher will pop into
the classrooms of ENL students during their reading block or will pull
the students out of class during the intervention block for ENL time.
The list of extra-curriculars, specials, and athletics at Crooke
Creek is impressively extensive. In addition to Music, Physical
Education, and Art classes, student opportunities include: AFTA, which
stands for After-School Fun and Thinking Activities. Students can stay
after school for activities like chess, TaeKwondo, and Art. Its a great
way to keep students minds working once the school day is over, and a
safe environment where they wont be prone to trouble or danger

during the hours they arent at school. There is also choir,

ambassadors, Artistically Talented (after school art program), and
Tutoring. As for athletics, the Washington Township community has
athletic teams for: tennis, school swim club, volleyball, basketball,
football, baseball, softball, and soccer. (Go wildcats!)
While researching Marion County, (the county in which Crooked
Creek is located), I was surprised to find how affordable the houses are.
The average mortgage of two-bedroom houses is between $30,000
and $50,000. Between the years of 2009-2013, the median household
income was $42,334, and the percentage of persons below poverty
level between 2009-2013 was 20.4%. , In terms of safety The crime
right in this county was rated high by city-data.com, and there were
146 homicides in Marion County in 2014. However, Indianapolis has a
lower crime rate than many other big cities, such as Wisconsin, Illinois,
and Georgia. The population of Marion County is 19,552,860.
Washington Township was the first school to have a district-wide
International Baccalaureate (IB) program in the state of Indiana. There
are three IB programs among the schools. The first is Primary Years
Program (PYP), which is for all elementary students and focuses on
developing the whole child inside and outside of the classroom. The
second, Middle Years Program (MYP), is for students in grades 6-10.
MYP benefits students by Providing academic challenges that

transcend the traditional subject areas(Washington Township). Lastly,

the Diploma Program, or DP, is for students in grades 11-12. Students
must apply and be accepted into the program, but once they are, they
have access to an advanced curriculum that is recognized
internationally by universities, giving them an advantage over students
who only have access to the traditional curriculum. All three
programs, PYP, MYP, and DP, focus on the development of the whole
child, emphasizing intellectual, personal, emotional, and social growth
through the study of languages, humanities, technologies, sciences,
mathematics, and the arts. The approaches to teaching and learning
are diverse and flexible allowing teachers to meet the individual needs
of all students. Teachers stimulate curiosity and foster lifelong learning
in all students. (Washington Township). IB is a very credible,
recognized program, and Crooked Creek along with the rest of the
Washington Township schools have great pride in it!
As far as budgeting goes, the district spending per year is $123
million, and the per pupil expenditure is $10,740. For 2014-2015, the
total amount of grants and entitlements received by Washington
Township schools was $3,319,784. For 2015-2016, their highest
anticipated budget is $41,130,403, which is for regular program
instruction. The second is instruction for Special Education,
$11,730,417. I was happy to see that the highest budgets were for
instruction and improving learning rather than renovations, building

ridiculously giant football stadiums, ect. Although I could not find any
major building projects that took place within recent years, Crooked
Creek just implemented a new drop-off and pick-up routine to improve
the safety of all students, which was cost-free.
Technology is not only a part of the teachers every day routine at
Crooked Creek, but a part of the students as well. In fact, the
superintendent of Washington Township has done such an amazing job
incorporating technology into the schools that she is being recognized
and awarded at the white house! MSD of Washington Township
Superintendent Dr. Nikki Woodson, has been selected by the U.S.
Department of Education as one of just over 100 top school leaders
from across America to participate in the first-ever National Connected
Superintendents Summit Wednesday, Nov. 19 at the White House.
(Crooked Creek). She will be recognized for her outstanding leadership
in helping transition the district of Washington Township to digital
learning. It is a huge honor, and shows that she is trying to incorporate
technology in the best way possible to the schools in her district.
(Crooked Creek included). Its clear that she understands the power
technology has in education, what a useful tool it is for students, and
how much it will help them in the future.
At Crooked Creek, the students use a site called My Big Campus.
I used this at my high school, and it works a lot like Facebook. You

have a profile, and your teachers create groups for your classes. You
can message the teachers if you have questions about homework, and
they can post assignments, quizzes, etc. Its a great way for students
to get acquainted with the internet. The teachers also use Canvas,
which, after speaking with a teacher myself about it, I learned is an
incredibly useful website for teachers to use for quizzes. Canvas
grades them immediately, and students are able to see their results.
This is handy for the students, because they do not have to worry
about waiting a week or so to receive their graded quizzes and tests,
and the saves a lot of time for teachers since they dont have to grade!
iPads are also used by all the students in the classroom daily, along
with set-aside computer time.
Obviously, the report for No Child Left Behind is something most
educators/education students have interest in when researching a
school. The students at Crooked Creek did outstanding on test taking,
and I was excited to learn that they scored higher than the Indiana
average! Their 2013-14 Istep scores were 84.6%, and Indiana overall
scored a 74.7%. Scores for the IREAD were even more outstanding,
with a 100% pass rate, compared to 90.7% for Indiana.
After researching Crooked Creek and learning more about the
district of Washington Township, Im very excited to explore other
schools in the future. Ive always wondered how teachers choose a

school, and how they know what is the right fit for them. Writing this
analysis has taught me what to look for in a school, how to access the
information I need, and red flags of schools that probably wouldnt be a
good fit for me. Like I said initially, every school is unique in its own
way, and there is something so special about reading a schools mission
statement, and doing the research to learn that it all rings true.

Works Cited

"IDOE: Compass." IDOE: Compass. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

"International Baccalaureate - MSD Washington Township | Indianapolis IN." MSD
Washington Township Indianapolis IN. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
"Marion County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau." Marion County
QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
"Washington Township." School Budget / User-Friendly 2015-16 Budget. N.p., n.d.
Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
"Welcome to Crooked Creek Elementary School ." Welcome to Crooked Creek
Elementary School. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
"46222 Real Estate & Homes for Sale | Trulia." Trulia Real Estate Search. N.p., n.d.
Web. 20 Nov. 2015.