School History

Norwood Street Elementary is a single-track Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK)-6th Grade school in the heart of central Los Angeles, near Downtown Los Angeles and the University of Southern California (USC). It has served the community as the hub for over 129 years.

Four of our teachers are National Board-Certified Teachers. Over the years, our teachers have participated in extensive professional development in Reading and Writing Workshop, Context for Learning, Cognitively Guided Instruction, and Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol, to name a few. Our staff is continually learning and implementing research-based practices to improve our students' academic achievement.

The programs we offer at Norwood Street are the Gifted and Talented Program, Music Education Program, Arts Program, Early Language and Literacy Academy, and Student Council. As an Arts Prototype school, our students receive instruction from teachers who specialize in music and art. We also actively spearhead school spirit days and school beautification projects.

Being a USC Family of Schools, our students are offered varying resources and supports through programs such as the USC Joint Education Program (JEP) and USC Readers, providing extra support to students by reading and working with the students one-on-one and in a small group setting and a team of USC students teach a course to our students. Other services that USC provides are Dental Programs that offer free dental services and dental hygiene education, USC MSW Interns that provide individual and group counseling, and the Young Scientist Program, where USC students teach science to participating fourth and fifth-grade students.

Our school has an onsite Student Resource Navigator that provides many resources and assistance for our families. Student Resource Navigator provides health, nutrition, exercise, and parenting classes for parents with children from birth through four years of age. It also provides classes to empower parents to participate actively in their child’s life. It also assists our parents in receiving other community resources and services to meet their child’s health and behavioral/social-emotional needs.

We have an active Norwood Family Center where all parents and community members are welcome and invited to participate in workshops and classes for parents.

Norwood also offers Beyond the Bell before and after school programs- Ready, Set, Go; Youth Services and World Fit for Kids.