Principal's Message

Horace Mann Elementary School serves approximately 340 students. We are a small school located in the Fairfax district of Oakland. The staff of 35 works hard to create a welcoming environment for all the students, parents, and community, and to help all students succeed academically in English/Language Arts and math. Test scores have improved 170 points in five years, from 530 to 700 API. While there is lots of room to improve, we are a school on the move!

Our vision is to provide a safe, welcoming community in which parents, students, and teachers work together within a rigorous academic environment to develop excellent, responsible, and creative learners. We have three goals:

For English/Language Arts, our goal is to have 80% of students at benchmark in reading fluency and reading comprehension by June 2008, as measured by district assessments.
For math, our goal is to have 80% of students at benchmark in number sense by June 2008, as measured by district assessments.
98% attendance rate for the school year.

We use Open Court Reading 2002 and Harcourt Brace Math programs. 100% of the teachers have been training in the curriculum, and all teachers attend professional development weekly to improve instructional practices.

Most of our students live in the neighborhood and walk to school every day. Our neighbors have adopted the school and have spearheaded the landscaping effort at the front of the school and on the Vicksburg and Congress hillsides. With the help of parents and community volunteers, the Library and Computer Lab has been restored and open for business.

Visitors are welcome. Please call ahead to schedule a day and time. We look forward to meeting you and working with your child.