Curriculum changes, family-focused events, and additional teacher support helped foster student achievement
MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. (October 25, 2018) — The Mount Vernon City School District recently reported an increase in students, grades 3-8, meeting and exceeding New York State Standards in the subject areas of English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics. The results from the 2017-2018 school year show a six percent year-over-year increase in student proficiency in both subjects.
The six percent increases reflect an overall improvement of proficiency rates for all sub-groups, including Students with Disabilities (SWDs) and English Language Learners (ELLs). These sub-groups also saw individual improvements in student performance. ELLs saw a seven percent increase in ELA and a three percent increase in Mathematics. SWDs saw a four percent increase in ELA.
“We are pleased to see the concerted efforts our Office of Curriculum & Instruction and Office of School Improvement have made to introduce new professional development structures and programs focused on STEM and literacy have had a quantifiable impact on our students,” said Mount Vernon City School District Superintendent Dr. Kenneth R. Hamilton. “We are committed to ensuring that each student in the District receives an education that not only provides them with the general education required by New York State, but supplies them with access to tools and resources to create an academically stimulating environment.”
Since 2012, the District has worked to fulfill Dr. Kenneth R. Hamilton’s 20/20 Instructional Vision, which includes: districtwide full-day Kindergarten classes; a Pre-K – Grade 8 school model; and the creation of three high schools of choice to promote student achievement through an innovative whole-school reform.
“At the start of the year, we welcomed students in three theme based high schools, including the Mount Vernon STEAM Academy, and achieved the next phase of our transition to Pre-K – Grade 8 campus configurations. We also plan to introduce technology-based programs, additional math programs, and I-ready assessments at various points during the year,” said Dr. Waveline Bennett-Conroy, Assistant Superintendent of School Improvement. “The practices carried out in our schools are aligned with efforts of New York State diagnostic feedback tools that evaluate the effectiveness of the District’s ability to create the optimal conditions for learning.”
The District has also incorporated new training and instructional practices to support teachers in using data to drive instructional decisions in the classroom and to help support school leaders in focusing on high leverage strategies such as honing in on key priority areas that will yield higher student outcomes. This is done through the Managing For Results protocols created by Dr. Hamilton.
The 2018-2019 academic year marks the fourth year during which AVID, a college readiness program aimed at closing the achievement gap through intensive support with in-class tutorials and strong student/teacher relationships, has been available for students. Additionally, instructional literacy, mathematics, English as a New Language (ENL) and, for the first time, special education coaches are available to support teachers and staff in maximizing learning outcomes for students through targeted feedback.
The Mount Vernon City School District has seen a dramatic 22 percent increase in the ELA proficiency rate of students in grades 3-8 since 2012. The recent student performance results indicated improvements in 11 of the District’s primary schools. Grimes, Hamilton, Columbus, and A.B. Davis schools saw the biggest improvements with reported increases ranging from 11-14 percent.
There have been a number of districtwide curriculum changes to address students’ needs. In English Language Arts, the District has taken consistent measures related to independent reading and writing across content areas. The Superintendent’s Reading Challenge provides incentives for students to read, which supports the districtwide initiative to increase literacy across the content areas.
Another ELA curriculum change was consistent skill and strategy practice by reading different genres through an anthology series, Journeys, and Collections. Students are able to use close reading strategies to help support and increase their comprehension of texts. Students have also been given more opportunities to read more through a balanced literacy approach.
The 2017-2018 results also show an increase in math proficiency for students, grades 3-8, for every primary school in the District. Since 2012, the math proficiency rate has nearly doubled. Rebecca Turner, Hamilton, Graham, and Pennington schools saw the biggest improvements; the schools reported an increase of 11, 10, nine, and eight percent, respectively.
In mathematics, previous student data trends prompted the District to re-vamp its curriculum to ensure a consistent curriculum is utilized from Kindergarten through Grade 9. As a result, the District has introduced EnVision Math 2.0 which differentiates the tasks for students based on their levels for every lesson.
Many schools that made major gains did so by utilizing an approach in which key learning standards were practiced and reviewed with students consistently through I-ready and Standards Mastery. This was done during the school day as well as during an after-school tutoring program called Academic Power Hour.
Research has found that students with more highly involved parents made stronger reading and math gains than those with less involved parents. With this in mind, the District has introduced community engagement events to provide families with opportunities to partner with the District by exposing them to their students’ curriculums and equipping them with tools they can use to help their children at home.
“We know that parent involvement can make a difference in a child’s education. Community engagement events and programs, such as Curriculum Night, Parent University workshops, and My Brother’s Keeper events, are initiatives that the District is extending to communicate with families the importance of their presence and the critical role they play in the success of their children,” added Dr. Bennett-Conroy. “When parents and families are engaged in school, student achievement increases. Students complete homework more consistently, attend school more regularly, are less likely to drop out and the entire community thrives. We need our families to become active partners in the learning experiences of their children.”
The District also plans to roll out programs that support the academic needs of students including: Response to Intervention, which provides small group instruction and extra support for students in the areas of ELA and math; Academic Power Hours; daily silent-sustained reading for all elementary school students; and Sylvan Summer Program for students retained in grades 3-7.
About Mount Vernon City School District
With more than 8,000 students in 16 schools, the Mount Vernon City School District is committed to providing a quality education to its children as well as developing programs that meet the diverse academic and social needs of its students.
