Location: 184 Hamilton Avenue School Type: Traditional Public School Grades: PK-5 Size: 289 Students African American: 12% Hispanic: 35% Low-Income: 32%
On Student Improvement: “We look at all aspects of the child, so we’re not just looking at the reading, but we’re looking at the writing, at the math and really targeting what are the child’s strengths and what are the child’s weaknesses, and then targeting how we can improve those weaknesses.”
On Teacher Support: “If I have a teacher who’s having a hard day, I may go in and say, ‘Why don’t you take a break, go get a cup of coffee, I’ll stay with your kids.’ What I want my teachers to know is that yes, I have higher demands on you than you might have at another school, but I appreciate what you do, and I want to show that to you.”
Barbara Jacowleff, Literacy Specialist
On Long-Term Planning: “I think you have to get together and you have to establish a solid goal. Pick one goal that you are going to work on. I think what happens is that we get CMT scores or results of any standardized assessment and we want it all to happen tomorrow. It’s not all going to happen tomorrow.”
On Interventions: “We needed to meet as grade levels for meetings that we now call intervention meetings, which we have three times a year, where we discuss any child that’s not meeting goal and anyone that is involved with that child comes to that meeting.”
Janette James, Teacher
On Coverage: “If we need 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 45 minutes covered, it is very routine and very reliable that you have someone there so that you can be excused to a meeting and that you are going to have something that’s going to better your students' learning.”
On Doing Whatever it Takes: “Everybody knows in this school that you have support where you need it and that if you need support, ask for it. When you ask for it, everyone will do whatever they can. Sometimes it’s frustrating and it is a hard workload, but they’ll do whatever they can, as in the book we all had to read, Whatever It Takes, to get you the support and make you feel that you are not on this ride by yourself.”
Location: 184 Hamilton Avenue
On Student Improvement:
On Long-Term Planning:
On Coverage: