West End Preparatory School

West End School (WES) is a tuition-free, independent school for boys PreK-8th grade with a mission to provide a safe, disciplined environment in which academic rigor, character development, and responsible action establish the foundation for a purposeful life. We offer low-income boys and young men, who are capable of attaining grade-level proficiency, a quality education with individualized instruction. As a school, we strive to produce graduates who are well-prepared for the next level of education. We seek to eliminate the barriers that prevent low-income students from achieving academic success by providing a highly structured, academically challenging school that support its students and families, and prioritizes education in our students\u0027 often complicated lives. We aim to level the playing field so that our students can perform at their highest potential and achieve success--however they define success. Statistically, our student population, comprised entirely of students from low-income households and mostly racial minorities, is more likely to drop out of school; be expelled or suspended from school; and struggle with psychological and emotional concerns that prevent a student from reaching his highest potential. Each year, WES aims to advance each student to the next grade level at the expected proficiency level.

Our number one goal is to educate our students. We do this through providing challenging curriculum. Over the past three years, we have worked to vertically align the curriculum from Pre-K through 8th grade and we continue to pursue this alignment. We are also utilizing resources that provide high quality education and expect high results from our students. Recognizing that many of our students enter below reading level, we have used resources such as Really Great Reading, Barton Reading program, and Allied Reading. These services have helped our students develop from two to three grade levels below their current grade to being able to read at grade level. We provide a tutoring program for students. Each student has access to our school counselors for assistance. We also partner with a counseling organization that tests our students and advises on what assistance, academic, mentally, and emotionally, that our students need. As we are striving to develop the young WES men into outstanding community members, we daily incorporate character development, starting with our five pillars: Forgiveness, Perseverance, Respect, Responsibility, and Trust. We provide Life Skill classes to each student, giving them the soft skills to survive as high school students and beyond. We have community mentors and speakers interacting with the young men on a normal basis. This allows the students to hear about the world outside our walls and see how they can relate and live in that world. We also seek to meet the physical needs of the students. Each WES student receives a free, hot lunch daily, as well as, snacks. Our middle school students reside at WES and have three meals a day, as well as, snacks. Our middle school residential program provides a safe, structured environment where the boys can live and learn. As the West End of Louisville is known for its crime and poverty, we provide shelter from that for the residents. They no longer have to worry about what is happening in their neighborhood or even their own homes. As the students graduate and head to high school and beyond, we continue to support them through our alumni program of mentors. Our alumni also benefit from the opportunity to continue to board at West End, providing that safety and structure they have experienced through their middle school years. Finally, we provide support to the families. Parents and guardians take advantage of our free before and after care programs, as well as receiving the suggestions of services from our counseling program. Each of the strategies to meet the academic, physical, mental, and emotional needs of our students and their families come at no charge to the families.

Our capabilities to meet our strategies depend on man power and resources. We have hired outstanding and quality teachers. Each student receives an outstanding education from his teachers. Our teachers are here for the mission and understand that their jobs are more than teaching from the text books. We also partner with our parents and guardians in the care of the students. This relationship with our families starts in the admission process, having in home visits and getting to know the families that are applying to join the WES family. We have also created a strong network of volunteers in the Louisville community. Our work is dependent on volunteers--mentoring, tutoring, food service, facility upkeep and transformation, even assistance in the classrooms. We also have support throughout the community, partnering with organizations to provide the academic, mental, physical, and emotional needs of our students.

Since its humble beginnings in 2005, West End School has graduated 52 young men. These young men have gone on to successful high school careers, having a 93% graduation rate, many from some of the highest caliber high schools in Louisville. WES class of 2015, just graduated high school in the spring of 2019. These nine young men represent one of the largest WES classes; seven of them began college courses in the fall of 2019. The eighth grade class of 2020 is in their final year here at WES. These ten gentlemen are working hard, with seven of them making honor roll in our first Trimester. One young man entered in the fall of 2017 at a second grade reading level. Through services, intervention, and a lot of hard work, this student will make honor roll for the first time as a WES student. He has experienced tremendous growth while at WES. In 2012, a school was opened with PreK and Kindergarten classes. Over the next six years, the class of 2021 opened a new elementary grade, until in 2018, we were able to have a full complement of grades, PreK-Eighth grade. We have entered our second year of full lunch service. This means, every student from PreK through 8th grade receives at least one hot meal a day. This has not been a financially easy undertaking, but the value of a well-fed child was worth the costs. We are also able to provide snacks each day to all grades. When WES opened in 2005, we served grades 6th-8th. During our 2019-2020 academic year, we have added a chess club for all grades and an art club in the lower school, partnered with A.I.R. Labs to bring computer programming and coding to the classroom, partnered with to agencies to enhance WES\u2019s STEM/STEAM program, and have created a cohesiveness throughout PreK to Eighth grades. We have developed vertical alignment in our curriculum by all grades learning from the same math curriculum and the lower school grades having aligned social studies and science curriculum.\n\nWe are looking forward to 2020 and beyond! We are looking to continue to enhance our academic offering, including continuing to bring complete vertical alignment to all subjects Prek_8th grade. Our building has been transformed from an old, run down school to a functioning PreK-8th grade building with a dormitory for our middle school students. While the transformation has been amazing, it is an old building. We are looking forward to continuing to enhance the building and grounds to make our school the best it could be. We are also planning on continuing to build on our technology. Our goal is to enhance each classroom with smart tech and continue to provide each student with a chromebook. We are refurbishing our kitchen so we can continue our lunch program. We want to provide the needed services for our at risk population--counseling, remedial help, etc.; we also want to be able to educate our parents.