Meet Our Principal
Mary An Lor
Welcome to Yav Pem Suab Academy. We're delighted that you stopped by. At Yav Pem Suab Academy, our vision is to develop lifelong scholars and LIFESKILLED leaders, enabling them to become responsible citizens in the world. We are in the business of educating children, and our mission is to grow and nurture all children to become high-performing individuals through a body-brain compatible education.
In the process of educating children, we ask that our parents be our partners, and work with us. It is only through our collective effort that we build capacity in our scholars through their everyday learning. The success of every child depends heavily on how much we work together towards our vision, our mission, and our goals. Work with us, and together, we can define and create our own success.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call the school office at 916-433-5057.
Great Teachers
We believe our children deserve a better education, so in front of every single scholar, we will find the best teacher from a pool of candidates who will teach, model, assess, and do everything that he or she can to make sure that each child is achieving at his or her own capacity. We will train and provide support to each teacher in body-brain compatible education, Project GLAD, and Academic Efficacy. In doing so, we will give life to what we speak about in our charter. The greatest gift that YPSA can give to your children is the gift of an extraordinary teacher who will stop at nothing short of making sure that your child succeeds at school and in life.
Lifelong Scholars
Our vision is to develop lifelong scholars and LIFESKILLED leaders, enabling them to become productive and responsible citizens in the world. Through this vision, we teach and challenge scholars with academic content – teaching them to “think beyond the obvious”. We cannot teach children just to see things for what they currently are. We must teach children to think pass what’s obvious and see things for what they can become. In this process, we teach our scholars LIFESKILLS. There are five Lifelong Guidelines and 19 LIFESKILLS that scholars will acquire. As children learn and practice these, they will become more confident and competent in their choices and expressions. The second gift that we can give our scholars is the gift of scholarship, leadership, and citizenship through the practice and use of these LIFESKILLS.
"Being-there"
Intelligence is a function of experience. Just because we don’t know something doesn’t mean that we’re not smart. It just means that we haven’t experienced it or that we haven’t had the opportunities to practice the skill(s) yet. We will build children’s language and global experiences by providing them with “being-there experiences”. These “being-there” experiences will build vocabulary, language, and the background knowledge they need to succeed in school and in life. Our “being-there” experiences will take scholars to places that they may not have been to – to see things, do things, learn things, and experience things that connect us to the world.
Body-brain research indicates that more than 80% of a child's reading comprehension and school success is a result of his or her background vocabulary, knowledge, and experience. The goal of our "being there" experiences is to provide children with more sensory input so that learning can be more relevant, connected, and meaningful.
Hmong Language
We are more diverse than most countries around the world. We are a multi-cultural and multilingual country, and our children cannot wait until high school to be required to take another language. With language also comes culture. After learning a second language, there is more appreciation and respect for different languages and cultures. How many high school graduates leave high school knowing the second language that they took? Out of a staff of 45, none of us are able to say that we are competent in another language besides English. At Yav Pem Suab Academy, Your child (1st through 6th) receives one hour of Hmong language instruction daily. The plan is to have children competent and proficient in speaking, reading, and writing Hmong by the time they leave YPSA. The hope behind this plan is that someday, our scholars will meet in the park, zoo, shopping centers, or anywhere in the community and be able to converse in English as well as Hmong. The gift of another language is what your scholar will also receive at Yav Pem Suab Academy.
Multiple Intelligences
Our school embraces and believes in the multiple intelligences. In addition to core content, your scholar receives instruction in Art to build their capacities in becoming Art Smart. In the enrichment part of the day for 1st through 6th grade scholars, we offer Music, Dance, PE, and Tae Kwon Do. These subjects are chosen to support the school with Music Smart and Body Smart. The gift of someday becoming a musician, dancer, scientologist, or martial artist is something that only a few adults can claim. At Yav Pem Suab Academy, we craft and build scholars today who will someday live to impact and inspire the world through the multiple gifts that our school is able to give them.
Early Intervention and Support Strategies – Data, Process, and Procedure for Disciplined Life at YPSA
API
Last year, from September 2011 onward, we were planning and organizing ourselves to achieve the “850 Plan”, where 850 was our API goal. In order to get somewhere, we must all have a goal. Our baseline API in our founding year was 752. To achieve 850 would require all of us working together, sharing the same vision, mission, and going after the same goal. There is no doubt in my mind that we all want the same vision, mission, and goal. However, the challenge comes when we have to meet each other half way, or at least, along the way. It’s about prioritizing what we want and asking ourselves what we are willing to do.
We did not achieve 850. However, we are calculated to be about 810. The state department of education will make this public in October, and we may be a few points over or under. Going from 752 to 810 gives us a 58 point increase. When compared to all elementary schools in the Sacramento City Unified School District, YPSA made the highest gains from 2011 to 2012 in both English Language Arts and Mathematics. In the past five years, only 4 other schools in the district have made this amount of gains. This is an accomplishment that we should all be very proud of. I’m proud of our scholars, teachers, support staff members, parents, and community volunteers. We’ve made history for Yav Pem Suab Academy and for Sacramento City Unified School District.
On behalf of our staff, I want to thank you for, first, believing and trusting in us. Second, I want to thank you for every minute that you’ve contributed to helping your child and the school. No matter how small or how great, our success is a collective effort, a combination of all pieces working together. And third, I just want to say Thank you for being a part of the Yav Pem Suab Family!
In recognition of our scholars hard work and achievement, we will be having a STAR Recognition Celebration on September 19th, from 5:30 – 6:30, for all scholars who (1)are proficient and/or advanced in both ELA and Math, (2) are proficient or advanced in either ELA or Math, (3) made one or more proficiency band growth. If your scholar met one of these three categories, you will be notified and expected to attend the STAR Recognition in support of your child. Together, we must celebrate every success and highlight every single scholar for working hard and working smart.
ELAC
& SSC
As required by law, and since we are a Title 1 School , we will need parents to be involved in the English Learners’ Advisory Committee (ELAC) and the School Site Council (SSC). With the parent volunteer forms that we’ve gotten back from all our families, you will receive a telephone call to come and meet with me this Wednesday. The purpose of this meeting is to form our ELAC and SSC members. The meeting will be from 5:15 – 6:15 in the library.