PS 48, a small, South Jamaica elementary school with just 360 students and small class sizes, will undergo big changes in 2011 when it moves to a brand-new building erected behind its old facility and expands to include the middle school grades.

Building and Location: Trees line the streets of the residential South Jamaica neighborhood that is home to PS 48. The three-story, traditional, 1930s beige-brick building boasts a decorative façade with a double set of imposing brass front doors and abuts a large, fenced-in asphalt schoolyard. A wrought-iron fence surrounds the school’s small well-kept front-lawn, where several trees grow.

There is neither a gym nor an auditorium at PS 48, but that will change come September 2011 when PS 48 moves to a new $56 million building being constructed on the huge playground behind the current building. The new facility will have dance and music studios, as well as an adjoining playground. The added space will allow the school to expand through the 8^th grade.

With the new building, Principal Patricia Mitchell believes the small school will become the “hidden gem of Jamaica.

School environment and culture: Children’s picture books greet guests in the main office, and, on our visit, a prominent bulletin board next to the office displayed a montage of index cards with each student’s April reflections on individual goals made in October. Mitchell, who became the school’s fourth principal in a five-year span in January 2007, also posts her goals for the school in the hallway, so that the school community can keep tabs on her progress as school leader.

With the exception of 1st and 2nd grade, there are two classes on each grade level, and just 18 classes in the entire school. And 1st and 2nd-graders benefit from three classes with only 17 students in each room.

According to Mitchell, PS 48 has the highest number of disciplinary infractions for “inappropriate touching” in Queens, mostly because students resort to hitting one another when frustrated or upset. To combat the problem, PS 48 has a fulltime dean, and has started a leadership program in the 1st grade to encourage self-control and positive decision-making. PS 48 also has three fulltime guidance counselors and one part-time counselor from Child and Family Clinic Plus, a state program, to support students.

Teaching and Curriculum: In many classrooms, students worked quietly as the teacher circulated throughout the room, helping them individually. We saw 1st-graders writing couplets at their desks. A 2nd-grade bulletin board displayed student’s typed persuasive essays, covering topics from recess to recycling.

The science lab features a colorful jungle mural, a large non-fiction reading center, and a variety of animals, including tadpoles, fish, a lizard, and “Noodle” the turtle. We saw 3rd-graders writing responses to their teacher’s question: how do we know what is living and what’s not?

There is a fulltime art teacher at PS 48 who teaches all classes at least once a week. Over the 2008-2009 school year, 2nd-graders worked with Brooklyn artist Christopher Green to design a permanent outdoor mosaic relief for the new building. Five Towns College donated 25 electronic keyboards to the school, so students in grades 4 and 5 are learning how to play.

Partnerships and Programs: Students from the nearby middle school, MS 8,volunteer on Fridays to read with students in the 1st and 2nd grades. PS 48 also received a grant from rap artist Curtis Jackson’s (“50 Cent”) G-Unity Foundation to fund a behavioral program that works with the school’s 20 most challenging students.

Special Education: There are three self-contained special education classes that are grouped as K/1, 2/3, and 4/5, allowing students to stay with the same teacher for two years.

English Language Learners: There are fewer than 20 ELLs at PS 48; they are supported by a part-time ESL instructor.

After school: PS 48 offers several after school activities for both parents and students. ENACT, a New York-based non-profit that uses the dramatic arts to help kids learn social and emotional skills, runs both a boys’ empowerment and a girls’ leadership program. Through Urban Arts Partnership’s 21st Century after school program, students engage in theater, music, live performance, video, and dance. Every Person Influences Children (EPIC) provides workshops for parents after school.

Family Involvement: PS 48 struggles to get parents into the school, even as the children’s attendance rate, at 91%, is lower than the city average for elementary school. Asthma is a large health problem among students, the principal said, causing frequent absences. According to Mitchell, the school hosts an annual health fair to help educate parents about asthma treatment, so that students will miss fewer days of school. Mitchell says events are attended by the same group of parents, but that she and the parent coordinator are “rethinking new ways to reach out.” (Cristin Strining, April 2009)