Student and Family Resources

AVID Resource Page

ELAC is an advisory committee made up of parents from the school site. Principal, staff members, and parents advise the district/school on topics relating to English Learners so that they may give input into the following items:

• Development of a detailed Single Site Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA)
• Development of the school’s need assessment
• School and District Language Assessment (R-30-LC Report)
• Efforts to make parents aware of the importance of regular school attendance.

Schools are required to hold 4-6 meeting throughout the school year to discuss topics such as:

• Bilingual Master Plan for the district
• District wide assessment on a school-by-school basis
• Plan to ensure compliance with teacher and aide requirements
• Language census report (R30)
• Written notifications to be sent to parents/guardians
• Waiver options/requests
• Redesignation process and procedures regarding English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC)

ELAC meeting schedule is available on our site calendar.

Information about our school nurses can be found on our District Office Health Services page.

Contact information for our Parent Liaison can be found in our staff directory.

By February 1 of each year, every school in California is required by state law to publish a School Accountability Report Card (SARC).The SARC contains information about the condition and performance of each California public school. Under the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) all local educational agencies (LEAs) are required to prepare a Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), which describes how they intend to meet annual school-specific goals for all pupils, with specific activities to address state and local priorities. Additionally, data reported in an LCAP is to be consistent with data reported in the SARC.

For more information about SARC requirements, see the California Department of Education (CDE) SARC Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/sa/.

For more information about the LCFF or LCAP, see the CDE LCFF Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/lc/.

For additional information about the school, parents/guardians and community members should contact the school principal or the district office.

2022-2023 School Accountability Report Card Gretchen Higgins Elementary School

What is a School Site Council?

Each school must have an elected School Site Council (SSC) to represent parents, students, community members, and school staff in the school governance process. SSCs are required for any California school that participates in specified categorical programs. (Ed Code 52852 and 64001)

Why is the SSC needed?

SSCs oversee the Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) and the categorical budgets associated with the plan. The SPSA is a plan that establishes a school’s student achievement goals, programs to meet those goals, and allocates funds to support the work. SSCs support increased student achievement by focusing their work on the development, monitoring, and evaluation of the SPSA and corresponding categorical budgets to supplement the district’s core academic supports. They develop and adopt the SPSA in consultation with the English Learner Advisory Council.

The SSC is a school community’s representative body, made up of school staff, parents/community members, and at the secondary level, students. The primary responsibility of the SSC is to participate in the development and monitoring of the Single Plan for Student Achievement, evaluate the effectiveness of programs, monitor the use of supplemental funding available to the school site, seek input from school advisory committees and reaffirm or revise school goals.

SSC meeting schedule is available on our site calendar.

Gretchen Higgins Student Handbook – English

Gretchen Higgins Student Handbook – Spanish

The vision for Gretchen Higgins school is that it transitions to a full TWBI program over the course of 5 years. This means that classes at Gretchen Higgins will be exclusively TWBI classrooms; as that cohort progresses through the grades, the current regular program will be phased out. Current Gretchen Higgins’ students will be able to finish their elementary schooling enrolled at Gretchen Higgins in the regular program; however, families who reside in the current Gretchen Higgins’ boundary will be reassigned to either the Anderson or Tremont boundary beginning with next year’s Kindergartners. The TWBI program will be a choice for ALL Dixon Unified School District students, regardless of their school boundary.

There are three primary goals with the implementation of TWBI. Those goals are: 1) High Academic Achievement 2) Bilingualism and Biliteracy 3) Cross-Cultural Understanding. These goals coincide with Dixon Unified’s Mission to close the achievement gap by preparing all students for college and career and success in a global society. TWBI is a highly effective language acquisition model and improves academic achievement outcomes for all student groups. TWBI is the most effective language acquisition model for English Learners and will enhance our already robust English Learner program at the elementary level.

The program, 90% of their day will be in the target language, in this case Spanish, with 10% in English. As students progress in grade levels, the language balance shifts, and by 5th grade 50% of instruction is in Spanish, and 50% is in English. In order to ensure there are plenty of language models for both native Spanish and English speakers, ideally one-third of the Kindergarten cohort is English only, one-third Spanish only, and one-third students who have language skills in both English and Spanish.

Those families with a student that will be 5 years old for the 2023-2024 school year are encouraged to request a Lottery Form in the front office.

Mental Health Clinicians

Mental Health Referral