Dear JHS 13 Community,
There are less than 35 Days until the ELA exam and Math exam. The urgency to prepare our students for these exams is increasing as the days go by. Our latest promotional assessment in January showed significant improvements from November. We are hoping the next assessment (March 6th and 7th) will continue to show progress. To ensure our students are ready for the exam, we need to be taking advantage of every second, minute, period, and program in our school.
We set up the Saturday Academy to support preparation for the exams. We have only been pulling in about 50 students. Our goal is to triple this population. We need the help of our parents to make sure our children are attending and are focused when they are there. We will continue to invest efforts into the recruitment so our goal is met. In fact, students with low attendance will be offered Saturday Academy days to reduce the number of absences he or she currently has. This could be the difference maker in catching these students up on the instruction they have been missing but also increase their chances of passing the state exams.
Everyone can contribute to improving our student results by investing efforts into several initiatives. The first is making sure our students are reading as much as possible. Whether it’s a magazine or a book, we need our children to be pushing through the article or chapter. We cannot settle for low-level books either like comic books or illustrated books. We need to build up our students stamina to read an entire piece within a limited amount of time. Parents, we can do this buy purchasing magazines related to your child’s interests. Teachers, reading can be moved into every lesson if we truly wanted it that way. Reading is exercise for our children, and they need to be in shape by April 17th.
The second is to develop as many opportunities during the school day or week to have students read and write. It could range between short response questions using the RAFT method or essays. Regardless, students need to improve their ability to convert their thoughts into written words. This comes from repeated opportunities in classes throughout the day and constant feedback on how to improve. This will help students perform better on both the math and ELA state exams. Parents can encourage their children to read and summarize or write a response from one of the character’s point-of-view, write a journal, write a reaction to an article, or even write a letter to a family member. Computers help in motivating our babies to engage in the writing process.
The third is student feedback. If you are not giving back at least two to three assignments per week or posting assignments on your bulletin board with teacher feedback, then you are leaving the students to figure out how to improve on their own. Obviously, leaving it to a 11 to 14 year old child to find out on their own what is the correct way to critically think, analyze, predict, etc…then we are setting them up for failure. Students need to be receiving clear and thorough feedback as much as possible. This should not be only left to “x’s” and checks letting them know if an answer is correct or wrong. There should be written feedback or the use of a rubric to communicate areas of success and how the student can improve. Parents can read through their homework assignments or proofread any writing they do for personal reasons or for work. The feedback is gold in forwarding our students for the state exam.
Again, the urgency to prepare our students for the state exams is now. If you are not investing your time into better supporting our children, then you need to begin as soon as possible. This is not a task only for ELA and Math teachers. It begins with parents making sure their children are reading and writing at home. It continues with any teacher of any subject using data to drive instruction, providing opportunities to read and write during class, and giving students as much feedback as possible.
Sincerely,
Jacob T. Michelman
Principal
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE SCHOOL GOALS ARE? STATUS UPDATE
35% INCREASE OF STUDENTS MEETING PROFICIENCY IN ELA AND MATH
The latest exam results from the ELA and Math mock exams will be our last clear picture of what our students know. It is our responsibility to take this information and address the areas our students need to improve. We need to prioritize according to the expectations of the state exams. There are certain skills and content which will be stressed more than others. It does not make sense to reiterate skills and content that will barely be covered on the state exams. We have to use our time wisely. Since we are unable to go over every single standard in a short amount of time, we need to identify our prioritize according to areas of weakness and the expectations of the state exam.
The exam this Tuesday will be the last chance for our students to get a practice testing environment before the actual test. It is important for us to identify students who still struggle to complete the test in the allocated time. We can explore ways to create more time for the student or get the student support in using his or her time more efficiently.
92% ATTENDANCE
We continue to fluctuate from 89% to numbers as high as 95% for daily attendance. Our students who take a day each week are holding the rest of the school from reaching excellence. The school has made these students a priority.
We have been setting up contracts, meeting with students, and referring families to the Administration for Children Services to combat excessive absences. We will continue with these efforts when students have over 13 absences. We will need the community to further promote attendance by urging students to get to school on time and to make students feel welcomed when they return from an absence. We will not be able to improve our daily percentage if we do not work as a community to improve our attendance. We are currently at 91.7%. This is 0.3% below our goal for the year. Please take the time to speak to a student who struggles to come to school.
CITY-WIDE SURVEY ACHIEVING “ABOVE AVERAGE OR HIGHER” ON AT LEAST 80% OF THE CATEGORIES
Several committees have been working hard to assess our current status with communication. It has been a very interesting process. We have identified every constituent and who they speak to in our community. To further the process, we have conducted several surveys to get input from as many constituents as possible. For instance, the parent survey administered at the beginning of the year showed a need to improve the conference process. Too many parents were sitting and waiting to meet with a teacher. For the February conference, we adjusted the appointment process. Parents were given a schedule upon entrance. This reduced the wait time significantly. By having a strict schedule, conferences were more targeted and parents were able to meet with all of their children’s teachers.
The recent teacher feedback showed an improvement in clear expectations of the discipline code. In fact, the results were doubled revealing a clearer understanding of how the system is organized. We will continue to use the surveys to improve the school. Thank you to everyone who has filled one out or is about to fill out one.
PARENTS – IF YOU HAVE NOT FILLED OUT A CITY-WIDE SURVEY, YOU NEED TO DO IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. IT IS THE GREEN ENVELOPE YOUR CHILD MIGHT HAVE PUT IN HIS OR HER BAG.
MOVING AT LEAST 25% OF OUR SPECIAL EDUCATION POPULATION TO A LESS RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT
Students continue to be brought before the Child Study Team for a less restrictive environment. Special education is only supposed to be a temporary placement. If we do not devote time to helping students step into a regular education setting, then we are holding them back from reaching their full potential. We are urging parents and teachers to identify ANY special education children who are great candidates to move to a less restrictive environment. That could include a self-contain student to Inclusive (ICT), a SETSS student no longer receiving those services or even cutting down the number of days, or a mandated student for counseling. Its about teaching the child to excel in an environment where there is less support. If we are not making this a priority, we are risking these students futures as they could be devoured in high school by the quick reduction of supports when moving on from middle school.
If you have not done it yet, please refer a student to the Child Study Team to be placed in a less restrictive environment. If the child is not moved, there will at least be a plan to make it happen at a later date. Make a difference today.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Principal's Message - January Edition 2011-2012
Dear JHS 13 Family,
The school year is moving along brilliantly. We have just passed our mid-year mark and we are closing in on the state exams. All interventions are in place and we have are clear plan on how we expect to prepare our children for the state exams. In short, we have Saturday Academy fully running. During Saturdays, we are concentrating our attention on improving attendance and matching specifically what needs to be taught to give our students the best chance to reach proficiency (scoring 3's or 4's). Our next intervention is one-on-one or small group tutoring. We have gathered a substantial number of people to provide small group and one-on-one during the school day. This allows for us to give targeted help to a good number of students who are unable to devote extra time to preparing for the state exam outside of our regular hours. Finally, we will be expanding our after school academics to include tailored instruction to assist students in catching up on topics we covered during the school year which will be crucial in performing well on the state exam. These initiatives will forward our school to do well this coming April on the tests.
On another note, our school has been placed on the School in Need of Improvement List. Because we were only able to produce 15% proficient students on both the ELA and Math exam, we were identified for needing additional support by the state of New York. Two of our school goals are to increase our number of proficient students by at least 35% on both the ELA and Math exams. We are confident that if we execute the plan described in the first paragraph and provide strong support to our teachers in improving their teaching, we will achieve both goals. The bright side of being placed on the list is we receive feedback from experts on how we can continue to improve our school and we get additional funding to pay for our programs at the school. In other words, our students are in great hands.
On February 13th, we will be launching our Positive Behavior Campaign. Our Positive Behavior Campaign will be used to continue to improve the culture of our school. Some of the initiatives the campaign has included are the surveys given to staff and parents. Our latest push has been the zero-tolerance for horse playing. Finally, we revised our discipline code to simplify the system so the expectations were clear to both staff and students. The purpose of hosting a launch ceremony is to increase student and staff buy-in so they can be a part of the process of shifting the culture of the school where everyone can be successful. A great way for parents to be a part of the Positive Behavior Campaign is to learn the discipline code so everyone can communicate the expectations of proper conduct to our children. Another way, if time permits, is to attend our events or stay in communication with the school to check on our babies. Finally, the number one way for parents to support thePositiveBehavior Campaign is to teach our students how to express themselves and how to engage in a productive conversation with adults and with their peers.
At this point, parents should have received three progress reports, and two report cards. All these documents are essential in staying on top of our students' achievement and making sure they meet promotional criteria. Every child must pass ELA and Math class AND both state exams. For the 8th grade, they must pass all of their core subjects. If any child has failed a class twice, then this marking period is important. That means the child has to earn at least a 75 to increase his or her chances of being promoted at the end of the school year. In addition, EVERY CHILD MUST HAVE 15 OR LESS ABSENCES IN ORDER TO AVOID SUMMER SCHOOL OR BEING HELD OVER. Many parents have been doing a wonderful job staying connected to the school by calling me, calling the school, e-mailing, or even stopping by. I want to encourage for more parents to take advantage of our open door policy. Test the power of involvement by finding a way to make a difference. Two tests! One dream! To be the best, we must be a team! Destination! Excellence!
With Love and Dedicaiton,
Jacob T. Michelman
Principal
The school year is moving along brilliantly. We have just passed our mid-year mark and we are closing in on the state exams. All interventions are in place and we have are clear plan on how we expect to prepare our children for the state exams. In short, we have Saturday Academy fully running. During Saturdays, we are concentrating our attention on improving attendance and matching specifically what needs to be taught to give our students the best chance to reach proficiency (scoring 3's or 4's). Our next intervention is one-on-one or small group tutoring. We have gathered a substantial number of people to provide small group and one-on-one during the school day. This allows for us to give targeted help to a good number of students who are unable to devote extra time to preparing for the state exam outside of our regular hours. Finally, we will be expanding our after school academics to include tailored instruction to assist students in catching up on topics we covered during the school year which will be crucial in performing well on the state exam. These initiatives will forward our school to do well this coming April on the tests.
On another note, our school has been placed on the School in Need of Improvement List. Because we were only able to produce 15% proficient students on both the ELA and Math exam, we were identified for needing additional support by the state of New York. Two of our school goals are to increase our number of proficient students by at least 35% on both the ELA and Math exams. We are confident that if we execute the plan described in the first paragraph and provide strong support to our teachers in improving their teaching, we will achieve both goals. The bright side of being placed on the list is we receive feedback from experts on how we can continue to improve our school and we get additional funding to pay for our programs at the school. In other words, our students are in great hands.
On February 13th, we will be launching our Positive Behavior Campaign. Our Positive Behavior Campaign will be used to continue to improve the culture of our school. Some of the initiatives the campaign has included are the surveys given to staff and parents. Our latest push has been the zero-tolerance for horse playing. Finally, we revised our discipline code to simplify the system so the expectations were clear to both staff and students. The purpose of hosting a launch ceremony is to increase student and staff buy-in so they can be a part of the process of shifting the culture of the school where everyone can be successful. A great way for parents to be a part of the Positive Behavior Campaign is to learn the discipline code so everyone can communicate the expectations of proper conduct to our children. Another way, if time permits, is to attend our events or stay in communication with the school to check on our babies. Finally, the number one way for parents to support thePositiveBehavior Campaign is to teach our students how to express themselves and how to engage in a productive conversation with adults and with their peers.
At this point, parents should have received three progress reports, and two report cards. All these documents are essential in staying on top of our students' achievement and making sure they meet promotional criteria. Every child must pass ELA and Math class AND both state exams. For the 8th grade, they must pass all of their core subjects. If any child has failed a class twice, then this marking period is important. That means the child has to earn at least a 75 to increase his or her chances of being promoted at the end of the school year. In addition, EVERY CHILD MUST HAVE 15 OR LESS ABSENCES IN ORDER TO AVOID SUMMER SCHOOL OR BEING HELD OVER. Many parents have been doing a wonderful job staying connected to the school by calling me, calling the school, e-mailing, or even stopping by. I want to encourage for more parents to take advantage of our open door policy. Test the power of involvement by finding a way to make a difference. Two tests! One dream! To be the best, we must be a team! Destination! Excellence!
With Love and Dedicaiton,
Jacob T. Michelman
Principal
Friday, February 3, 2012
Look Who Was on the News Cheering on the Giants!!
Principal Michelman makes a bet with a Middle School in Boston. The students of J13 were heard by students over 200 miles away with the help of Skype! Channel 7 and 4 had the story.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Principal's Message - December Edition 2011-2012
Dear JHS 13 Family,
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a restful break and a rewarding holiday. It is always important to take time to be with family and to service our bodies with relaxation and some necessary sleep. Hopefully, there were enough family and/or friends surrounding parents to care for young ones. Everyone needs time. Thank goodness for my in-laws, I was able to sleep in at least one morning. As usual, being away from school, I missed everyone. Its not the same in the morning when there is no one to say “Destination: Excellence!” with. As much as I enjoyed catching up with family and friends, I greatly enjoy being around all of you. Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder.
The best part about getting back is we get to pick up where we left off. We have an exciting second half of the year (Technically, the second half begins on January 17th). We will be closing out the second marking period in two weeks. Just in the month of January, we have several significant events taking place. For starters, we have the 1st Marking period celebration of the Principal’s List, Honor Roll, and Honorable Mention. We will also be bidding farewell (for now) to Mrs. Vargas who will be giving birth some time this month. While we say good-bye to her, we also welcome our newest staff member, Mr. Monte Brown, who will be taking over her program. On January 24th, we will be taking our second promotional assessment. Just like in November, it will provide further validation in June for students in meeting promotional criteria. It is imperative every student is present for this exam. It will be essential evidence for any student to be promoted. Finally, on January 31st, we will be officially launching our Positive Behavior Campaign. Our motto of “Be Responsible, Be Respectful, Be Safe” will be plastered all over the walls. We will be teaming with Jets wide receiver, Plaxico Burress, to kick off the celebration right. He will also be recognizing the 17 most improved Students from the first marking period to the second.
Instructionally, we have three months to prepare for the state exams. By collecting assessment results, we can determine whether or not we are doing enough to move our students. We have committed to a 35% increase in proficient students this year (students scoring a level 3 or 4). For ELA and Math, these targets are very achievable. According to our data, we are behind in reaching those goals in both subjects. With this information, we have to determine what needs to be done to reach our achievable markers. For instance, in early November, we identified two groups of students who had scored poorly on a math unit assessment. We were able to provide additional instructional time for those students so they could continue with the new content but catch up on what they missed. Its efforts like this that will guarantee higher student achievement. City Year, our Regis Interns, and our Test Prep Classes can be further utilized to provide intervention services for students who need to be caught up or to reinforce skills to secure students are on course to reach proficiency. In addition, we are starting our Saturday Academy the last week of January. Although it will be open to all students, there will be a population of students who will be mandated to attend. More information will be sent out in the next few weeks. We will continue to use the data to determine our use of resources and action plans with test prep and shared reading.
On a last note, but not at all less important, winter is upon us. It is vital that we stress the importance of students coming to school. We will need all efforts from all adults (Parents, family members, guardians, teachers, staff, crossing guards, etc…) to get our students to attend. If it’s cold, then we need to bundle our babies up. It should not deter anyone from coming to school. If a child is sick, then lets get him or her to a doctor to make sure the absence is excused. I need to remind parents, calling the school to let us know a child is sick does not make it an excused absence. Although we appreciate the phone call, please make sure the child is brought to the doctor. One day away from school is missed information or missed opportunity to excel. “Two tests! One Dream! To be the best, WE MUST BE A TEAM!”
Yours Truly,
Jacob T. Michelman
Principal
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a restful break and a rewarding holiday. It is always important to take time to be with family and to service our bodies with relaxation and some necessary sleep. Hopefully, there were enough family and/or friends surrounding parents to care for young ones. Everyone needs time. Thank goodness for my in-laws, I was able to sleep in at least one morning. As usual, being away from school, I missed everyone. Its not the same in the morning when there is no one to say “Destination: Excellence!” with. As much as I enjoyed catching up with family and friends, I greatly enjoy being around all of you. Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder.
The best part about getting back is we get to pick up where we left off. We have an exciting second half of the year (Technically, the second half begins on January 17th). We will be closing out the second marking period in two weeks. Just in the month of January, we have several significant events taking place. For starters, we have the 1st Marking period celebration of the Principal’s List, Honor Roll, and Honorable Mention. We will also be bidding farewell (for now) to Mrs. Vargas who will be giving birth some time this month. While we say good-bye to her, we also welcome our newest staff member, Mr. Monte Brown, who will be taking over her program. On January 24th, we will be taking our second promotional assessment. Just like in November, it will provide further validation in June for students in meeting promotional criteria. It is imperative every student is present for this exam. It will be essential evidence for any student to be promoted. Finally, on January 31st, we will be officially launching our Positive Behavior Campaign. Our motto of “Be Responsible, Be Respectful, Be Safe” will be plastered all over the walls. We will be teaming with Jets wide receiver, Plaxico Burress, to kick off the celebration right. He will also be recognizing the 17 most improved Students from the first marking period to the second.
Instructionally, we have three months to prepare for the state exams. By collecting assessment results, we can determine whether or not we are doing enough to move our students. We have committed to a 35% increase in proficient students this year (students scoring a level 3 or 4). For ELA and Math, these targets are very achievable. According to our data, we are behind in reaching those goals in both subjects. With this information, we have to determine what needs to be done to reach our achievable markers. For instance, in early November, we identified two groups of students who had scored poorly on a math unit assessment. We were able to provide additional instructional time for those students so they could continue with the new content but catch up on what they missed. Its efforts like this that will guarantee higher student achievement. City Year, our Regis Interns, and our Test Prep Classes can be further utilized to provide intervention services for students who need to be caught up or to reinforce skills to secure students are on course to reach proficiency. In addition, we are starting our Saturday Academy the last week of January. Although it will be open to all students, there will be a population of students who will be mandated to attend. More information will be sent out in the next few weeks. We will continue to use the data to determine our use of resources and action plans with test prep and shared reading.
On a last note, but not at all less important, winter is upon us. It is vital that we stress the importance of students coming to school. We will need all efforts from all adults (Parents, family members, guardians, teachers, staff, crossing guards, etc…) to get our students to attend. If it’s cold, then we need to bundle our babies up. It should not deter anyone from coming to school. If a child is sick, then lets get him or her to a doctor to make sure the absence is excused. I need to remind parents, calling the school to let us know a child is sick does not make it an excused absence. Although we appreciate the phone call, please make sure the child is brought to the doctor. One day away from school is missed information or missed opportunity to excel. “Two tests! One Dream! To be the best, WE MUST BE A TEAM!”
Yours Truly,
Jacob T. Michelman
Principal
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Principal's Message - November Edition 2011-2012
Dear JHS 13 Community,
We are quickly approaching the holiday vacation. This is when it will be essential for us to know how close we are to reaching our school goals. With our focus on attendance, the ELA exam, the math exam, culture and community, and improving our support for Special Education students, meeting our goals will continue to transform our school to an ideal learning environment. With our goal of 35% increase in proficient students for both ELA and Math, it is imperative we do not wait until the exams to find out how well our students are being prepared.
We have built our unit exams to be our system to assess student progress in getting ready for the state tests. These unit tests include key standards identifying what our students need to be able to do to be successful on the state exam. By teaching and assessing these key standards we can monitor our children to see if they are ready to take the state exam. For teachers, by using progress measurement and the unit test as such a large portion of the child's grade we can clearly see how well we are preparing our students for the state exam. For parents, you can look at your child's grades especially on tests to see how they are going to do. With the numbers in front of our face, we can be proactive about the results we are seeing right now. There are so many support systems available at our school. If we identify a child who needs key concepts to be re-taught, we have the resources to do so. With our test prep classes, after school programs, partnerships, SES providers, and hard working staff, we can make sure every child is prepared for the state exams.
Our recent learning environment survey yielded great progression from last year. Teacher satisfaction has improved and parent satisfaction has greatly improved. The feedback we collected from teachers brought light to several improvements that needed to be made to our discipline code and some issues with communication. Our teacher surveys showed gains in 100% of the areas inquired in the City-Wide Survey. Our parent surveys collected from every parent who attended our parent-teacher conferences revealed that 92% of our parents feel that their child is safe at our school, that their child is supported, and the school promotes learning with positive messages and displaying student work. Over 88% of our parents believe the school has a positive vibe, their children are being academically challenged, and teachers are holding their child to a high standard. Our next step is to survey our students. We are anxious to work out the collection process so we can continue to improve the school.
Attendance team has built several new systems to promote higher attendance. One initiative is posting the attendance of the previous day. Although it may seem minor, it has reiterated the importance of attendance. It has built a culture of awareness which is an essential step in improving the attendance. We currently are at 92% attendance. We will be working rigorously to battle the winter drop we face every year due to illnesses and students avoiding the cold. We are asking all parents to be aware of your child(ren)’s attendance to make sure no school days will have to be made up during summer school. We will continue with our strong communication and reiteration of the importance of attendance. We will move into individual student contracts to provide additional support and to review steps with the family of what needs to be done for the student to be promoted to the next grade level. The reality of the situation is if students are not attending school, then they are not learning. If they are not learning, then they will not be ready for high school or even college. Our vision is for every child to get into the high school he or she prefers.
Last year, out of all of the students performing at a level one on the state exam, 70% of them were special education. With those results, it is urgent we make some significant changes to help our special education.
Our special education goal is to move 25% of our special education population into a less restrictive environment. The concept of special education was developed as a temporary setting. Unfortunately, the setting has become permanent for too many students in our school system. Our vision is to improve the goal setting process for the Individual Evaluation Plan (IEP) and use the benchmarks as a determining factor of proper setting. If students continue to meet their goals or are certain to reach their goals, then they will be referred to the child study team. After a thorough review process, a decision will be made to mainstream with potential support or reduce the amount of support by provided during the week depending on the current setting and the progress the child has taken. We believe the more students that move to a less restrictive environment, the higher they will perform on the state assessments.
As you can see, we are progressing toward reaching our goal. We have strong action plans to ensure success. Our school was recently given SINI Status which is a “School In Need of Improvement.” With our recent dip in scores, it is understandable how we have been placed on the list. I am confident with our latest initiatives and the incredible hard work of our staff and parents we will see a significant improvement. I am guaranteeing we will be rated above average in 80% of all the categories for all constituents on the city-wide survey. I am also guaranteeing we will be removed from the SINI list by next school year (2012-2013). Finally, we will improve at least one letter grade on the next Progress Report. If there was a way to be removed from the Persistently Dangerous School List in a single year, we would achieve that as well. Unfortunately, it is a mandatory two year status.
Our students are in great hands. They are buying into our motto “Two Tests, One Dream. To be the best, we must be a team!” They are stepping up to the expectations we have laid down before them. It is the responsibility of every adult to make sure every child is progressing to the next performance level on the state exams. Let’s accept this challenge in continue toward our destination of excellence. Thank you for all that you do and what you will do.
Yours Truly,
Jacob T. Michelman
Principal
We are quickly approaching the holiday vacation. This is when it will be essential for us to know how close we are to reaching our school goals. With our focus on attendance, the ELA exam, the math exam, culture and community, and improving our support for Special Education students, meeting our goals will continue to transform our school to an ideal learning environment. With our goal of 35% increase in proficient students for both ELA and Math, it is imperative we do not wait until the exams to find out how well our students are being prepared.
We have built our unit exams to be our system to assess student progress in getting ready for the state tests. These unit tests include key standards identifying what our students need to be able to do to be successful on the state exam. By teaching and assessing these key standards we can monitor our children to see if they are ready to take the state exam. For teachers, by using progress measurement and the unit test as such a large portion of the child's grade we can clearly see how well we are preparing our students for the state exam. For parents, you can look at your child's grades especially on tests to see how they are going to do. With the numbers in front of our face, we can be proactive about the results we are seeing right now. There are so many support systems available at our school. If we identify a child who needs key concepts to be re-taught, we have the resources to do so. With our test prep classes, after school programs, partnerships, SES providers, and hard working staff, we can make sure every child is prepared for the state exams.
Our recent learning environment survey yielded great progression from last year. Teacher satisfaction has improved and parent satisfaction has greatly improved. The feedback we collected from teachers brought light to several improvements that needed to be made to our discipline code and some issues with communication. Our teacher surveys showed gains in 100% of the areas inquired in the City-Wide Survey. Our parent surveys collected from every parent who attended our parent-teacher conferences revealed that 92% of our parents feel that their child is safe at our school, that their child is supported, and the school promotes learning with positive messages and displaying student work. Over 88% of our parents believe the school has a positive vibe, their children are being academically challenged, and teachers are holding their child to a high standard. Our next step is to survey our students. We are anxious to work out the collection process so we can continue to improve the school.
Attendance team has built several new systems to promote higher attendance. One initiative is posting the attendance of the previous day. Although it may seem minor, it has reiterated the importance of attendance. It has built a culture of awareness which is an essential step in improving the attendance. We currently are at 92% attendance. We will be working rigorously to battle the winter drop we face every year due to illnesses and students avoiding the cold. We are asking all parents to be aware of your child(ren)’s attendance to make sure no school days will have to be made up during summer school. We will continue with our strong communication and reiteration of the importance of attendance. We will move into individual student contracts to provide additional support and to review steps with the family of what needs to be done for the student to be promoted to the next grade level. The reality of the situation is if students are not attending school, then they are not learning. If they are not learning, then they will not be ready for high school or even college. Our vision is for every child to get into the high school he or she prefers.
Last year, out of all of the students performing at a level one on the state exam, 70% of them were special education. With those results, it is urgent we make some significant changes to help our special education.
Our special education goal is to move 25% of our special education population into a less restrictive environment. The concept of special education was developed as a temporary setting. Unfortunately, the setting has become permanent for too many students in our school system. Our vision is to improve the goal setting process for the Individual Evaluation Plan (IEP) and use the benchmarks as a determining factor of proper setting. If students continue to meet their goals or are certain to reach their goals, then they will be referred to the child study team. After a thorough review process, a decision will be made to mainstream with potential support or reduce the amount of support by provided during the week depending on the current setting and the progress the child has taken. We believe the more students that move to a less restrictive environment, the higher they will perform on the state assessments.
As you can see, we are progressing toward reaching our goal. We have strong action plans to ensure success. Our school was recently given SINI Status which is a “School In Need of Improvement.” With our recent dip in scores, it is understandable how we have been placed on the list. I am confident with our latest initiatives and the incredible hard work of our staff and parents we will see a significant improvement. I am guaranteeing we will be rated above average in 80% of all the categories for all constituents on the city-wide survey. I am also guaranteeing we will be removed from the SINI list by next school year (2012-2013). Finally, we will improve at least one letter grade on the next Progress Report. If there was a way to be removed from the Persistently Dangerous School List in a single year, we would achieve that as well. Unfortunately, it is a mandatory two year status.
Our students are in great hands. They are buying into our motto “Two Tests, One Dream. To be the best, we must be a team!” They are stepping up to the expectations we have laid down before them. It is the responsibility of every adult to make sure every child is progressing to the next performance level on the state exams. Let’s accept this challenge in continue toward our destination of excellence. Thank you for all that you do and what you will do.
Yours Truly,
Jacob T. Michelman
Principal
Friday, November 4, 2011
Principal's Message October Edition 2011
Dear JHS 13 Community,
Happy belated Halloween! This school year has really blasted off with great momentum. In other words, we are firing on all cylinders, playing at our best, and driving it home. This is on all areas of the community. Parents are reaching out and showing the importance of being involved. Teachers are teaching and building a culture of success. The main office is working diligently to make sure all student information is accurate and up-to-date. The student management office is supporting both parents and teachers in providing the best education for our students. The counseling team is being relentless about making sure each child gets the support they need to be successful. Finally, the administrative team is keeping the goals clear to everyone and driving the school to achieve 100% of those goals.
We have our parent teacher conferences coming up on November 17th from 1pm to 3pm and from 6pm to 8pm. It is one of the best opportunities for all members of the community to really connect on making sure all of our students are getting ready for the state exams and doing what it takes to be a strong reader, remarkable writer, and excellent critical thinker. All parents will get the opportunity to meet with teachers with administrators, with students, and even counselors. In addition, the school will be hosting a pot luck and open house for prospective students. We are encouraging all parents to bring your best dish to share with staff and other families. It is not only going to be an informative evening, it is going to be a festive occasion for all of us to give thanks for the strong community we are building. I can't wait to see you there.
On another note, through my observations and conversations with students, I have noticed a pattern of results that I cannot sit back and watch. My vision is a world where everyone is empowered to live in contribution and create joy for all. One important ability that all members of our community must have to create this world is the ability to communicate how we each feel. I see this important skill lacking with our students. The unfortunate part is it's resulting in situations that could have been easily diffused. When a child or even an adult struggles to communicate their feelings and solves their conflicts or situations with actions, relationships are broken and opportunities for friendships are destroyed. Most of the time when we choose action, we forget to use one of the most important gifts we were all given, our brains (the other being our hearts).
One of the initiatives we are launching this month is a conflict resolution lessons throughout an18 week duration of time. The core of the 9 lessons works with our children on productively communicating their feelings and issues. By getting students to move towards words rather than actions we are developing their critical thinking and, most importantly, teaching them how to work out their issues where we can create a win-win situation. Actions result in one winner and one loser. Many of our students believe this is the only way it can happen. What we will be working on is through communication we can achieve a result that both parties can walk away feeling good about a productive adult conversation. We hope parents at home can reiterate this message. As an entire community, it is essential we model this at all times so students can learn from our actions.
Communicating feelings can be as basic as, "when you bumped into me, you made me feel like I was invisible." This drives a response, "sorry about that. I didn't mean to bump into you." Instead of one student threatening or making remarks about the other child when he or she gets bumped into, we get a conversation as a result. As adults, especially on a bad day, we have an inclination to respond with actions. The question we need to ask ourselves is how do we want our children to handle these situations and then proceed in that fashion. Our goal is to live today but build toward a better tomorrow. By encouraging our children to talk out their conflicts, we are building a much better tomorrow. Imagine if we could eliminate violence and war? It starts with us showing our children how we can be better people so they can in turn teach others. It's truly what we make of those little opportunities that become huge waves that affect our future. It starts with you. When you come to parent-teacher conferences, we can share more information of what we are going over with the students.
Ideally, it is to get our students comfortable with expressing themselves especially with their learning. If we can get each of our students to let us know when they do not understand words, when they are truly confused, when they are intimidated by a subject, or when they do not feel comfortable going to a teacher for help. Self-expression is the key to the success of a child. Working together as an entire community, we can build a school full of students who know how to articulate themselves. We just have to commit ourselves to creating this culture. I share this because I know it is achievable. We just have to work together.
Finally, we have recently seen a large increase on candy intake. This is no coincidence since Halloween has just passed. Kids are not eating nutritious breakfasts and lunches. This is impacting their participation in school especially when their sugar high runs out and they become irritable and lack the focus. Please support their education by making sure they are getting the proper vitamins and eating real food rather than Snickers, Swedish Fish (This is a frequent one since they only cost 25 cents), lollipops, etc… Even as the year continues, we need to make sure our children are feeding their bodies nourishment.
As we continue this year, please ask our children what they are reading in school and continue to ask for them to explain and write as often as possible. These are daily small tasks that can ensure every child succeeds on the state exam. Two tests! One Dream! To be the best, we must be a team! DESTINATION: EXCELLENCE!
See you all at Parent-Teacher Conferences!
Sincerely,
Jacob T. Michelman
Principal
Happy belated Halloween! This school year has really blasted off with great momentum. In other words, we are firing on all cylinders, playing at our best, and driving it home. This is on all areas of the community. Parents are reaching out and showing the importance of being involved. Teachers are teaching and building a culture of success. The main office is working diligently to make sure all student information is accurate and up-to-date. The student management office is supporting both parents and teachers in providing the best education for our students. The counseling team is being relentless about making sure each child gets the support they need to be successful. Finally, the administrative team is keeping the goals clear to everyone and driving the school to achieve 100% of those goals.
We have our parent teacher conferences coming up on November 17th from 1pm to 3pm and from 6pm to 8pm. It is one of the best opportunities for all members of the community to really connect on making sure all of our students are getting ready for the state exams and doing what it takes to be a strong reader, remarkable writer, and excellent critical thinker. All parents will get the opportunity to meet with teachers with administrators, with students, and even counselors. In addition, the school will be hosting a pot luck and open house for prospective students. We are encouraging all parents to bring your best dish to share with staff and other families. It is not only going to be an informative evening, it is going to be a festive occasion for all of us to give thanks for the strong community we are building. I can't wait to see you there.
On another note, through my observations and conversations with students, I have noticed a pattern of results that I cannot sit back and watch. My vision is a world where everyone is empowered to live in contribution and create joy for all. One important ability that all members of our community must have to create this world is the ability to communicate how we each feel. I see this important skill lacking with our students. The unfortunate part is it's resulting in situations that could have been easily diffused. When a child or even an adult struggles to communicate their feelings and solves their conflicts or situations with actions, relationships are broken and opportunities for friendships are destroyed. Most of the time when we choose action, we forget to use one of the most important gifts we were all given, our brains (the other being our hearts).
One of the initiatives we are launching this month is a conflict resolution lessons throughout an18 week duration of time. The core of the 9 lessons works with our children on productively communicating their feelings and issues. By getting students to move towards words rather than actions we are developing their critical thinking and, most importantly, teaching them how to work out their issues where we can create a win-win situation. Actions result in one winner and one loser. Many of our students believe this is the only way it can happen. What we will be working on is through communication we can achieve a result that both parties can walk away feeling good about a productive adult conversation. We hope parents at home can reiterate this message. As an entire community, it is essential we model this at all times so students can learn from our actions.
Communicating feelings can be as basic as, "when you bumped into me, you made me feel like I was invisible." This drives a response, "sorry about that. I didn't mean to bump into you." Instead of one student threatening or making remarks about the other child when he or she gets bumped into, we get a conversation as a result. As adults, especially on a bad day, we have an inclination to respond with actions. The question we need to ask ourselves is how do we want our children to handle these situations and then proceed in that fashion. Our goal is to live today but build toward a better tomorrow. By encouraging our children to talk out their conflicts, we are building a much better tomorrow. Imagine if we could eliminate violence and war? It starts with us showing our children how we can be better people so they can in turn teach others. It's truly what we make of those little opportunities that become huge waves that affect our future. It starts with you. When you come to parent-teacher conferences, we can share more information of what we are going over with the students.
Ideally, it is to get our students comfortable with expressing themselves especially with their learning. If we can get each of our students to let us know when they do not understand words, when they are truly confused, when they are intimidated by a subject, or when they do not feel comfortable going to a teacher for help. Self-expression is the key to the success of a child. Working together as an entire community, we can build a school full of students who know how to articulate themselves. We just have to commit ourselves to creating this culture. I share this because I know it is achievable. We just have to work together.
Finally, we have recently seen a large increase on candy intake. This is no coincidence since Halloween has just passed. Kids are not eating nutritious breakfasts and lunches. This is impacting their participation in school especially when their sugar high runs out and they become irritable and lack the focus. Please support their education by making sure they are getting the proper vitamins and eating real food rather than Snickers, Swedish Fish (This is a frequent one since they only cost 25 cents), lollipops, etc… Even as the year continues, we need to make sure our children are feeding their bodies nourishment.
As we continue this year, please ask our children what they are reading in school and continue to ask for them to explain and write as often as possible. These are daily small tasks that can ensure every child succeeds on the state exam. Two tests! One Dream! To be the best, we must be a team! DESTINATION: EXCELLENCE!
See you all at Parent-Teacher Conferences!
Sincerely,
Jacob T. Michelman
Principal
Monday, October 3, 2011
Principal's Message - September Edition 2011-2012
Dear JHS 13 Community,
With the many challenges we have faced in setting up for our school year, we have done a tremendous job staying focused on providing the best learning environment for our students. The hard work is visible throughout the building. The commitment to making sure we are doing what we can to provide for our students is consistent across the board.
With the month of September come and gone, we have much to celebrate. For instance, we hosted to spectacular events at our school. Justin Tuck from the New York Giants was able to host a successful launch of his literacy campaign for the second year in a row at our school. In addition, GenoYouth Foundation launched their health and wellness program with a filming of a webinar at our school with Mark Sanchez, the quarterback from the New York Jets. Mark Sanchez was tremendous in sharing the importance of eating healthy and staying active. We were even showcased on both the GenYouth website (www.genyouthfoundation.org)and Sports Illustrated for Kids website (http://www.sikids.com/blogs/2011/09/29/new-york-jets-qb-mark-sanchez-urges-kids-to-eat-right-and-exercise).
We were able to gather enough donations to continue with our Behind the Books program where the students get to meet the author of the books they read together. The program has been with us for almost five years and has proven to be a huge motivation to our students in appreciating literacy. We were able to expand our partnership with Los Planeros where our ESL population will be exploring Hispanic cultures through dance and music. Finally, we have formed a partnership with Momentum Education to not only provide professional development for staff but to host a teen group of self-exploration and reflection to promote better decision making. These initiatives have either started or will begin in the near future.
In the next few weeks, we will be working with teachers to provide low inference feedback to other teachers. We will also be exploring the Charlotte Danielson Rubric to get a clearer picture of what we can be doing inside our own classrooms to improve instruction. The more we review these expectations together and begin exploring how we can reach those expectations, the more successful people will be in increasing student engagement, differentiating instruction, and improving the learning environment. I highly suggest reviewing the rubric thoroughly and begin discussing ways in which Highly Effective can be achieved. The goal in using the rubric is to increase communication among all staff to improve the craft of teaching, comprehensively explore our classrooms to produce the best results, and use data to measure our success.
Our school goals of 35% increase in proficiency for both math and ELA are challenging to say the least but, as we realized looking at the data our first formal day together, very achievable. Intervisitations and the use of the rubric will be key elements in improving our instruction. The shared reading sessions during the 37.5 minutes will prove to be essential in raising our students’ reading levels and reinforcing the power strands to raise their achievement levels on the state exams. We have great ideas moving forward while simultaneous creating and adjusting systemic change. It is going to be a wonderful school year because of how passionate and dedicated we are to making a difference. TWO TESTS! ONE DREAM! TO BE THE BEST, WE MUST BE A TEAM!
Continue to be the difference.
With Endless Love,
Jacob T. Michelman
Principal
With the many challenges we have faced in setting up for our school year, we have done a tremendous job staying focused on providing the best learning environment for our students. The hard work is visible throughout the building. The commitment to making sure we are doing what we can to provide for our students is consistent across the board.
With the month of September come and gone, we have much to celebrate. For instance, we hosted to spectacular events at our school. Justin Tuck from the New York Giants was able to host a successful launch of his literacy campaign for the second year in a row at our school. In addition, GenoYouth Foundation launched their health and wellness program with a filming of a webinar at our school with Mark Sanchez, the quarterback from the New York Jets. Mark Sanchez was tremendous in sharing the importance of eating healthy and staying active. We were even showcased on both the GenYouth website (www.genyouthfoundation.org)and Sports Illustrated for Kids website (http://www.sikids.com/blogs/2011/09/29/new-york-jets-qb-mark-sanchez-urges-kids-to-eat-right-and-exercise).
We were able to gather enough donations to continue with our Behind the Books program where the students get to meet the author of the books they read together. The program has been with us for almost five years and has proven to be a huge motivation to our students in appreciating literacy. We were able to expand our partnership with Los Planeros where our ESL population will be exploring Hispanic cultures through dance and music. Finally, we have formed a partnership with Momentum Education to not only provide professional development for staff but to host a teen group of self-exploration and reflection to promote better decision making. These initiatives have either started or will begin in the near future.
In the next few weeks, we will be working with teachers to provide low inference feedback to other teachers. We will also be exploring the Charlotte Danielson Rubric to get a clearer picture of what we can be doing inside our own classrooms to improve instruction. The more we review these expectations together and begin exploring how we can reach those expectations, the more successful people will be in increasing student engagement, differentiating instruction, and improving the learning environment. I highly suggest reviewing the rubric thoroughly and begin discussing ways in which Highly Effective can be achieved. The goal in using the rubric is to increase communication among all staff to improve the craft of teaching, comprehensively explore our classrooms to produce the best results, and use data to measure our success.
Our school goals of 35% increase in proficiency for both math and ELA are challenging to say the least but, as we realized looking at the data our first formal day together, very achievable. Intervisitations and the use of the rubric will be key elements in improving our instruction. The shared reading sessions during the 37.5 minutes will prove to be essential in raising our students’ reading levels and reinforcing the power strands to raise their achievement levels on the state exams. We have great ideas moving forward while simultaneous creating and adjusting systemic change. It is going to be a wonderful school year because of how passionate and dedicated we are to making a difference. TWO TESTS! ONE DREAM! TO BE THE BEST, WE MUST BE A TEAM!
Continue to be the difference.
With Endless Love,
Jacob T. Michelman
Principal
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
