November 26th, 2008
The 2nd grade fluency reading program at Zeh School is not something every student participates in. It is only for students whose reading skills are substandard. Unfortunately the school does not tell parents the reason there students are enrolled in the program. This is another change implemented this year. In past years the reason for enrollment in the program were sent home to the parents at the beginning of the year.
At the end of 1st grade the students take a reading test. The teachers use the results of this test to determine whether or not a student will benefit from the program. The students then are tested at the end of the school year. There is no testing during the year to monitor their progress. However parents can request that the student be tested mid year. I do not have first hand experience with this process and would like to hear from anyone who has been through it.
Posted in Fluency Reading, Northboro Schools | No Comments »
November 20th, 2008
The Zeh School is participating in an experimental program for educating our elementary age children. The latest experiment involves moving from a 1-4 grading system to a 1-3 grading system. I know I am being nostalgic but what was wrong with A,B,C,D and F. In the new scale a student earns a 3 when they have met the yearly benchmark in a subject as defined by the administration. This change is due to a change in teaching philosophy. It used to be that the school had a program where the focus was to help the student achieve their maximum potential. Now they are using a standards based approach where the focus is to ensure each student achieves to a predefined benchmark. Once the benchmark is achieved there is no mechanism in place to measure progress beyond that benchmark. This new system removes incentives for the child to achieve beyond the benchmark since there is no official recognition of achievement above that mark. This change is forced by the top down and the teachers are forced to adopt this style whether they agree or not.
Posted in Northboro Schools | No Comments »
November 17th, 2008
Here is a list of resources you may not have realized are available to parents. If you have any comments or feedback please sign up and let me know. Also if you would like to contribute to this site please contact me for more information.
The Northborough School Board meets the 1st Wednesday of each month at Melican Middle School.
The Northborough school corriculum
The Northborough School Board’s Strategic Plan - It is well worth at least skimming over.
Northborough’s School Calendar
Northborough’s 2008 MCAS Results
School Matters for Northborough MA - gives a great overview of the schools performance.
*I would love to allow anonymous comments but the lovely spammers out there make this impractical because of the additional work required to filter and delete their nonsense.
Posted in Northboro Schools | No Comments »