We’re back! Though school has been in session less than a week, when you walk through the halls students and teachers are already fully engaged in learning. It hardly seems like we were gone at all.
Staff Learning: While students still had vacation days on Sept. 1 and 2, our administrative, instructional, and support staff were already back in school expanding their skills to directly support our students’ learning. Our professional development activities were directly related to our district instructional goals (See 2013-14 District Goals on our newly designed website at www.ewsdonline.org > click on ‘Our District’ on the red horizontal navigation bar > click on 13-14 Goals). So many valuable activities occurred across the district that there is room only to highlight a few.
K-5 Teachers: Classroom teachers, reading specialists and teaching assistants took part in the Fountas and Pinnell Literacy Benchmark training. The Fountas and Pinnell system is a comprehensive one-on-one assessment, which determines student independent and instructional reading levels, and connects the assessment to the appropriate instruction to directly meet student need and challenge.
While the system provides an objective guide to matching student performance to grade level standards, the interpretation of the data and its use is equally valuable in guiding the specific strategies to move individual student learning forward. We are excited to begin incorporating this new tool into our education program this year.
Also at the elementary level, teachers reviewed the changeover from the Envisions Math program to primary use of the New York State Math Modules, which are directly designed to meet Common Core Curriculum standards. Some math modules are still in development by the state, but you can see those that are completed by going to www.engageny.org/mathematics.
Secondary Teachers: In math, teachers worked together in their department, under the leadership of math secondary chair, Joyce Bernstein, to plan and prepare for the implementation of the new Common Core Algebra course that will be introduced this year. At both Willets Road and Wheatley, teachers discussed alignment of math materials to the new state modules and planned for the intervention and monitoring of student progress through specific assessments designed to inform instruction.
In English and social studies, teachers met with their department chairs -Stephen Collier and Brian McConaghy, respectively- and the administration to discuss the development of requirements for a 10th-grade research paper that all students will complete, aligned to the new Common Core Regents requirements.
The 10th-grade research paper will be designed to be the culmination of a multi-year endeavor that will involve teachers in all grades and all subject areas. During superintendent’s conference day, teachers, in both middle and high school grades, began identifying and defining specific research and writing skills that will be required in each grade to prepare students for the 10th-grade paper.
Some of the work done in science during our staff development days included discussion regarding the establishment of a district engineering program (a priority identified through last year’s Strategic Planning Initiative). Plans were made to visit Northport and Jericho School Districts’ engineering programs, as well as a program in Westchester County.
In subsequent newsletters we will continue to update you on our further professional development activities in these areas as well as in our other departments.
Strategic Planning Update: At the July board of education meeting, the board of education passed a resolution accepting the priorities identified by the Strategic Planning Committee.
See priorities on our website at www.ewsdonline.org > click on Our District on the red navigation bar and click on Strategic Planning Initiative.
Over the summer, members of the educational team have been fleshing out a plan to implement those priorities over the next five years.
A draft of the plan will be ready to be shared during the month of October. Math, science and engineering were listed as high priority areas, and as you can see from some of the work done during staff development days, i.e. new shifts in math curriculum and the exploration of an engineering program to be implemented in 2014-15, steps to meet priority areas are already underway.
Volunteers Wanted: As part of our five year plan, we anticipate creating a STEM Committee of teachers, parents and administrators to make program recommendations and outline next steps. If you would be interested to serve on this committee, please contact David Casamento, director of science and technology at casamentod@ewsdonline.org.
Academic Vocabulary: By the beginning of October look for a grade level list of tier two vocabulary words to be posted on our website. Tier two words are not specific to a particular content area, but are those high utility academic vocabulary words found in many texts and across curricular areas. Teachers and administrators are putting the final touches on these grade level lists.
It is expected that each grade level will master these words by the end of the year. By sharing these words with you, we hope to reinforce them together.
State Test Results: We are waiting for parent reports for last year’s grade three through eight tests from BOCES. BOCES anticipates they should have them to us by the beginning of October. As soon as we receive them we will send them home.
In the meantime, we, like all school districts, are looking at the preliminary results to see what information we can use to strengthen our instructional program. As you know from reading the newspapers, there has been a lot of controversy and some confusion across our region and the state regarding the Common Core assessments and test results from this spring.
As you recall from the commissioner’s letter I forwarded to you this summer, it was anticipated, and came to pass, that student scores would fall by more than 30 percent across the region from last year’s performance. New York chose to implement new Common Core assessments last year, before other states implemented them and before new curriculum materials were fully available to educators.
In his letter, the commissioner advised parents and schools that these results should be looked at simply as a baseline from which to move forward. In fact, unlike other years not all students who receive a two are identified by the state as needing academic intervention services since their performance on the assessment, if scored as per a previous year, would actually be seen to be proficient.
In our district we are looking at the test results as a baseline from which to move forward our curriculum implementation and incorporation of new state curriculum standards while the state continues to develop it. At the same time we are mindful that while one goal behind the Common Core Curriculum and assessments is to ensure that students are college and career ready, our college acceptance rate continues to be an exemplary one and our students continue to have some of the highest performance results in the region on the Regents exams, as well as increasing participation and success on AP exams.
The district remains focused on continuously looking at a variety of data and on honest examination of ways that we can continue to refine and develop our educational program, which is evidenced through our district instructional goals, our refinement and growth in programs such as our science research and college admissions programs, and our ongoing commitment to staff development and parent partnership.
Guidance Director Search: Our search for this important position is on track. The application deadline in the New York Times has now closed and we will begin the process of screening resumes and selecting candidates that we wish to invite for interviews. These interviews will take place the week of Sept. 23.
Our current intention is to identify a successful candidate for appointment at the October board of education monthly business meeting. In the meantime, we have identified several qualified interim candidates (former guidance directors, now retired) who are available to step in as we need. We would appoint an interim in a couple of cases. One would be that our selected candidate is not able to begin immediately, or we have not found the excellent candidate we seek in this first pool of applicants.
Sept. 11: As our building staff did earlier this week, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge and remember the terrible tragedy and loss of that day. At Willets Road, Mr. Kimmel read from President Obama’s proclamation that declared this time a national day of prayer and remembrance. At Wheatley, planning for the upcoming day of service and learning, a statement was read remembering the tragedy and at North Side there was a moment of silence where everyone recognized the importance of heroes in our lives.
Wheatley named “Reward” school by state Education Department: Reward schools are those schools in New York that have made the most progress or have the highest performance with no significant gaps in student achievement.
Congratulations to Willets Road social studies teacher Joe Coladonato. It is now Dr. Coladonato! Coladonato successfully defended his dissertation this summer, and received his doctorate from Long Island University in educational leadership.
Congratulations and Commendations: Wheatley senior Anum Mitha presented her research to a class and faculty members at Long Island University – C.W. Post on Sept. 9. Her research on the effects of methamphetamine on adaptive immune responses, under the mentorship of Dr. Luis Martinez, earned her first place in last year’s Long Island Science and Engineering Junior Varsity Fair.
Wheatley senior, Brian DeLay was named one of Newsday’s “Players to Watch” in the upcoming varsity soccer season. DeLay, a forward, led the conference in scoring last year and was named All-County as a junior. Good luck in the upcoming season.
The Wheatley School has been named a 2012-13 Scholar-Athlete School of Distinction by the NYS Public High School Athletic Association. The honor is given due to the fact that each 2012-13 varsity team qualified as a scholar-athlete team, by earning a 90 percent GPA or better.
Music Congratulations: Wheatley senior Paul Kim, a clarinetist, was named a NAfME All-National Musician. He will be playing with the All-National Honors Band on Oct. 30, in Nashville, Tenn.
NYSSMA honored the following students with All-State Musician Honors: Jillian Gothelf (Alto II) will be performing with the women’s chorus, Chloe Tso (Violoncello) will be performing with the symphonic orchestra and Seungmin Yi (Violin) will be performing with the symphonic orchestra. They will be performing at the 2013 NYSSMA Conference in December in Rochester.
As you might remember from last year, second grader, Ryan Cozzolino (currently a third grader) won an LIPC essay contest on “Why School Makes Me Feel Good About Myself.” His essay was also chosen to be read in radio spots on 102.3 WBAB and 106.1 WBLI throughout the month of September. Tune in and hear Ryan narrate his essay.
Upcoming Events: Homecoming will now be held on Friday, Sept. 27. Due to scheduling issues with the prior visiting team, the original homecoming date needed to be changed. I hope to see you all on Sept. 27 at Wheatley. Varsity teams will be playing on our fields beginning at 4:30 p.m. culminating at 7:00 p.m. for a “Friday Night Lights” Varsity Football game against Mineola.
As always, please e-mail me at kanase@ewsdonline.org or call me at 333-3782 with any questions, suggestions, and or any topics you would like to see for this newsletter.
