The 2014-15 school year started two weeks ago not only with great excitement and enthusiasm from students and parents, but also with new initiatives and equipment in all three school buildings within the Cazenovia Central School District, the building principals told the board of education at its Sept. 15 meeting.
“We opened without any real hitches — and just a few tears,” said Burton Street Principal Mary Ann MacIntosh.
The elementary school opened with 40 new registered students, and added five more during the first week of school, she said.
Two of the main initiatives in the elementary school this year include high school leadership students participating in the Burton Street character education program and assemblies, and the introduction of a new assessment tool for second, third and fourth graders, MacIntosh said.
The school already had its first “Catch the Wave” character education assembly of the school year, and, for the October assembly, the hope is that high school students in teacher Christina New’s leadership classes will begin a year-long participation.
“We’re not sure exactly what do yet, but they will talk about taking pride in things as a teenager,” MacIntosh said.
She said one idea is to have some elementary students work together with the high school students to create skits for the following month’s assembly on responsibility, she said.
“I’m looking forward to it because it’s so nice when our high school students are in the building — they get to see their former teachers, which is fun for our teachers as well as for the students, plus the Burton Street-age students look up to the high school students, so when they’re good role models it gives even more strength to our program,” MacIntosh said.
Also new to the elementary school — and the middle school — will be a change in the student assessment programs from AIMSweb to STAR Assessments. Both programs are a form of curriculum-based measurement, used for universal screening and progress monitoring to provide accurate prediction of reading and math achievement in students.
The district will stay with the AIMSweb program for students in kindergarten and first grade, but this year is transitioning to STAR Assessments for grades two through four in the elementary school, and grades three through eight in the middle school, said Superintendent Matt Reilly.
“Really, [STAR] is just a superior tool to AIMSweb … it gives better feedback [to teachers],” Reilly said about the change.
STAR assessments, which are computer-based tests, “include new skills-based test items and new in-depth reports for screening, instructional planning, progress monitoring and standards benchmarking. Educators have immediate access to skill-specific, actionable data to target instruction and practice, select students for intervention, and predict state-test performance,” according to information from the renaissance.com website, the company that produces the STAR Assessments program.
Reilly said that if the STAR Assessment results are positive and the district sees growth in students, then they may expand use of the program in 2015-16 for all students, kindergarten through 12.
Cazenovia Middle School also “had a very good opening,” said middle school Principal Dr. Jean Regan. She said there are more than 20 new students in the middle school this year.
In addition to the use of the STAR Assessment program, the major middle school initiative this year is the use of Chromebooks for sixth grade students. The program gives every sixth grader their own Chromebook laptop to use for the school year.
“We’re excited about this,” Regan told the school board.
Students will bring their Chromebooks to their classes — and, starting later in the year, will be able to bring them home — and can use the computers to do and share homework, to access online work, assignments and educational videos and information posted by their teachers.
“I think they will be incredibly valuable,” Reilly said. “It’s how kids access the world these days — to deny that is to deny reality.”
At Cazenovia High School, new Principal Eric Knuth said, “The year started off fantastic” with a lot of “zeal and enthusiasm” from students and parents.
Knuth said the high school is working on “two big initiatives” this year, one for expanding student opportunities with community colleges and the other for maximizing instruction and learning for seniors within the confines of the district’s late arrival and early dismissal policy.
Knuth said he is currently examining Cazenovia High School’s current policies in coordinating with area community colleges to allow students to attach college credits to courses they are already taking. Reilly said the college credits program will be at no expense to the district, it is one way for community college to look to increase their enrollment.
As for the late arrival/early dismissal program, seniors currently have the option to arrive late or leave early from school, and the district is trying to find ways to keep the students on campus and do more school-related activities during those times. Knuth said the administration is looking into offering internships, distance learning opportunities or creating new on-campus activities that will help maximize learning for seniors.
“There’s a lot of really exciting things happening [at the high school],” he said.
Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican. He can be reached at [email protected].
