Lucille M. Nixon Elementary School

1711 Stanford Ave.

Stanford, CA 94305

    Lucille Nixon School, located within the Stanford University community, is one of 11 elementary schools in the Palo Alto Unified School District. Nixon's unique physical environment features a pod architecture with central library, a variety of instructional spaces, and spacious multi-level grounds. Nixon serves the students from the communities of the Stanford campus, the foothills area west of Foothill Expressway, and the Ventura corridor, as well as many transfer students from inside and outside the district. The growing diversity of this school community has enriched the lives of all of the Nixon children.

    The school enrollment is approximately 425 children. The approximate ethnic/racial make-up of the student body is 12% Asian, 3% African-American, 76% Caucasian, 8% Hispanic, and less than 1% Native American. Attendance rates are high.

    At Nixon School, they recognize the vital importance of providing all youngsters with a broad-based and well-balanced curriculum. They believe in equipping students with the academic skills and knowledge upon which future learning is built. They believe their responsibility in educating children goes much further. The students must be challenged to apply what they have learned, to think critically, and to express themselves creatively. They must also develop abilities to solve problems as individuals and in groups, to engage in the cooperative exchange of ideas, and to work independently as well as on a team. They must have the confidence to take risks and to stretch themselves.

    To create a climate for this learning, the school values and celebrates each student's efforts, growth, accomplishments, and talents.

Students' Needs:

    All faculty participate in "special needs" strategy teams to share ideas, offer support to one another, and get directly involved in action plans to help individual students throughout the school.

    The school's Child Study Team serves as an additional forum in which teachers can raise academic or behavioral concerns and develop strategies for meeting individual student needs.

    The Volunteer Tutorial Team assists students who need an extra boost in their learning and achievement. The volunteers consist of parents, community members, and Stanford students.

    Students with special learning or speech needs receive support in the Resource Specialist Program or with the speech/language specialist.

    Children identified as Gifted and Talented participate in classroom experiences designed by their teacher with the support of the district resource teacher.

    A specialist teacher and tutors support students with limited proficiency in English. 

Nixon's Scores on California Standardized Tests

Scores range from 1-99. A score of 99 indicates that the school scored higher than 99 percent of the other public schools in California. Scores are from "McCormack's Guides '99."

School Safety:

    Student safety is a primary concern of the Nixon staff. The school disaster preparedness plan is updated annually. Disaster drills are held regularly to allow students and staff enough practice so that in a real emergency, safe procedures have become automatic.

    A well-thought-out and thorough discipline policy is also in place. The students are instructed on what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable behavior at school. Staff reinforces the policy with instruction, reminders, positive reinforcement, and appropriate consequences. All students also learn and practice conflict resolution skills.

Nixon Elementary School's Mission Statement:

"The mission of our school is that students become lifelong learners who demonstrate:

Intellectual reasoning and creative problem-solving through the development of the ability to think, apply, and communicate.

Self-fulfillment through the nurturing of individual potential, self-esteem, and personal integrity.

Academic excellence through instruction in a rich curriculum of knowledge, concepts, and skills.

Respect for others and a commitment to partnership in reaching common goals through the encouragement of teamwork and cooperation."

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