Student
Achievement
As a result of the
Contract for Excellence program, Schenectady City School District
received funding to invest in new resources and
programs to help students achieve greater academic success.
The increased funding from the State
requires a commitment from the school district under a "Contract for
Excellence."
In the 2007-2008
school year, the Schenectady
School District began administering many new initiatives
designed to help students make strong academic strides
including the following:
Staff
was added to all three middle schools to reduce class sizes in
sixth grade to a 20:1 student to teacher ratio.
At the seventh and eighth grade levels, the district goal is to
improve teacher to student ratios below 24:1.
Remedial and math teachers
were added to all three middle schools.
The new remedial staff has allowed the district to assign
one intervention specialist in reading and one in
mathematics at each of the three middle grade levels.
This will help Schenectady students to meet or exceed the
New York State Learning Standards while rapidly improving
the ELA and math scores over the next few years.
The district as assigned a
veteran master elementary teacher to each elementary
school to act as instructional coaches and mentors.
The goal is to improve the learning environment in
each building and to provide necessary support and
training to the Schenectady teaching staff. This
will be accomplished by improving both instructional
skills and student management skills as well as by
promoting consistent use of the district's differentiated
instruction model and Positive Behavior Intervention and
Supports (PBIS)
principles in every classroom.
Extended school day programs are available in all schools.
This initiative allows the district to offer a
lengthened school day to all children. The program
targets specific high needs children in problematic
subgroups. However, it is available to all
children based on their desire to remain in a structured
learning environment for at least one hour before/after
school.
The program focuses on providing
assistance to students in the areas of English Language
Arts and mathematics as well as assisting students with
homework. Additional special education staff accommodates the growing numbers of students with
disabilities and helps create programs appropriate to
the specific needs of these children.
Technology-based alternative learning programs
targeting failing eighth and ninth grade students in
Schenectady middle and high schools are now available.
These programs provide students with an opportunity to
recover credit lost due to previous course failures.
These students are permitted to accelerate their
learning using an alternative instructional delivery
system. It utilizes a web-based PLATO Learning
Software program aligned with New York State Standards.
The staff serves as facilitators of learning rather
than as direct instructors and intervenes and
remediates as necessary to ensure successful recovery of
lost credit and to accelerate learning.
The goal is to provide students who have difficulty
learning in a traditional education setting and to provide
them with the tools and strategies that they need so they
can meet or exceed grade level expectations of their
cohort and graduate successfully.
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