Columbus, Hamilton and Rebecca Turner elementary schools’ success includes double-digit improvement in the Math and English Language Arts scores.
MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. (Jan. 22, 2018) — Three Mount Vernon City School District elementary schools have been awarded designation upgrades to Schools in Good Standing by the New York State Education Department (NYSED).
Columbus, Hamilton and Rebecca Turner elementary schools have been awarded NYSED upgrades Schools in Good Standing and are no longer Focus Schools.
The New York State Education Department defines a School in Good Standing as one which has not been identified as a school in need of improvement, requiring corrective action, planning for restructuring, or requiring academic progress, or as a school under registration review.
“This achievement is due to the commitment of our teachers, administrators and parents who are determined to do whatever it takes to ensure our students are provided with the best possible instructional services which will result in exemplary outcomes,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kenneth R. Hamilton. “Their dedication to our students is a reaffirmation that we are doing exactly what we set out to do with our 20/20 Vision Program initiatives. The results speak for themselves and New York State Education Department clearly recognizes this positive change.”
The three schools’ improvements were attributed to success in several areas, explained Dr. Waveline Bennett-Conroy, the district’s Assistant Superintendent for School Improvement, which resulted a double-digit improvement in the school’s Math and English Language Arts scores.
First, the schools’ upgrade to Schools in Good Standing was attributed to educational practices of goal setting, managing for results, providing data driven instruction, utilizing findings from evaluation reviews conducted by the New York State Office of Bilingual Studies and the district’s internal review using the Diagnostic Tool for School and District Effectiveness.
Additionally, the district provided ongoing and sustained professional learning community time for teachers to collaborate on best practices while offering a unique Parent University Program for parents, she said.
“We plan to continue these best practices and achieve further improvement during the current and forthcoming school years,” said Bennett-Conroy. “I am inspired by how all the community and district stakeholders have come together to support Dr. Hamilton’s initiatives and achieve success for all students.”
While both Dr. Hamilton and Dr. Bennett-Conroy were equally pleased to see that Pennington and Graham elementary schools were given NYSED upgrades from Priority to Focus school standings, they reaffirmed the district’s commitment continuous quality improvement initiatives to ensure those schools receive a School in Good Standing designation from the NYSED.
“They demonstrated improvement and we anticipate that next year they will advance to Schools in Good Standing,” Bennett-Conroy said. “We will not be satisfied until these schools achieve a Schools in Good Standing designation.”
The NYSED defines a Priority School as one that has been identified as among the lowest-performing five percent of Title I schools in the state over the past three years, or any non-Title I school that would otherwise have met the same criteria.
Additionally, quality instructional transformation continues on the high school level, with the district’s recent announcement of the creation of three, theme-based high schools.
This fall, STEAM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Arts-Mathematics) High School, Thornton School for the Performing and Visual Arts and The Mount Vernon High School will open.
STEAM High School, which is currently A.B. Davis Middle School, will provide an approach to teaching and learning that integrates the content and skills of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.
Thornton School for the Performing and Visual Arts, which is currently Nellie Thornton High School, will build on its existing success in the arts field. Students will transfer their creative skills to the classrooms to build and support the cognitive framework and affective mindset necessary to nurture strong readers, mathematicians, thinkers and learners.
The Mount Vernon High School will provide a rigorous and comprehensive high school curriculum featuring a heavy emphasis on humanities, career and technical programs.
Following an extensive review of each high school’s curriculum to students and families, students are in the process of making their high school choices for the next school year.
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.
