August, 2008

Dear North Street Community:

Welcome to the North Street School web site! I am proud to present to you all the merits, accomplishments, and events that occur at the North Street School. Please visit our numerous pages and helpful links. We know that some visitors to our web site are seeing our school for the first time. We hope this site serves as a helpful resource in learning about our school. We are proud of our students and staff and appreciate you taking the time to become a member of our community. To current members of our school, I welcome you back to the site. I hope you smile at the contents as they bring back fond memories.

The North Street School enrolls around 360 students in grades K-4. We are located in the suburb of Tewksbury, Massachusetts and are one of four collaborative lower elementary schools. All schools and staff work together as a district while differentiating for the specific needs and strengths of our students.

We are an institution that works towards excellence in both scholastic success and character development. We strive for the success of all students by carefully measuring progress and celebrating specific and meaningful growth.

The staff at the North Street School are all highly qualified professionals. I encourage you to visit our staff directory to become acquainted with the faculty. Currently, we have 3 classes for each grade level. Our facilities include 15 classrooms, a library, a computer lab, parent resource room, nurse’s office, psychologist’s office, principal’s office and secretarial space, special education conference room, student service resource area, gymnasium, cafeteria with stage, music/art room, copy center, playground, and numerous murals that decorate the walls with inspirational quotes and academic influences.

Our focus this year is the development of metacognitive reading comprehension strategies and data collection. These measures will help teachers instruct students in the areas of reading strategies that good readers naturally apply to text as well as help our staff record student progress.

In response to ever increasing indexes for proficiency, we have undertaken numerous initiatives. This past year, for example, we provided professional development in the area of instructional strategies for reading comprehension, along with the adoption of student success plans for all students not at grade level for reading in grades K-4. We also hired a literacy coach to support grades one and two and doubled the time of our second reading specialist to serve grades three and four (with a focus on MCAS). We began the important work of articulating the must-have skills at each grade level that supplement the currently adopted Power Standards. We administered DIBELS to grades K-2 and piloted a new reading program at the kindergarten level (where there had been none previously). We continued with our successful MCAS support groups and participated in an online MOCK MCAS through Measured Progress. These programs showed positive growth. Chiefly, in grade 4, the percentage in advanced and proficient categories increased by 12% in ELA following the adoption of leveled MCAS support groups. We were able to accomplish all of these things while honoring the current budget. For example, we received the reading program free as part of a publishing company’s outreach. This program provided the district with free administration and SESAT results (pre and post the program) so we could determine its effectiveness. We also looked at internal assessments to chart progress with our adopted curriculum. This past year, for the first time, we administered a district pre and post math assessment to all primary grades.

Of recent, we also successfully completed a school wide technology goal of staff gaining proficiency in the utilization and integration of technology in the classroom. The staff conducted numerous initiatives such as a technology study group that integrated the first grade science curriculum on matter with student generated presentations on KidPix. Additionally, staff received professional development in the area of technology (online courses, email, classroom websites, web resources, Inspiration, KidPix, SMART boards, TestWiz, and Word). Colleagues also collaborated, co-taught, and modeled lessons using technology; helpful instructional web sites were linked to our school web site; TestWiz was used to analyze our MCAS and IOWA data (to inform instructional practices), and a grant was written and accepted through SMART Technologies that allowed us to purchase two portable SMART boards. Additionally, I am happy to support upcoming initiatives in our school such as the adoption of X2’s grade book and online IEP functions. I am most thankful to Mrs. Trevor, Mrs. Santilli, Mrs. Follett, and Mrs. Adams for leading the building based technology initiatives.

I am proud to extend to you that the professional development that we have undertaken in the past few years has resulted in positive student growth. Specifically, after concentrated professional development beginning in 2003 about supporting the enhancement of math instruction, we have seen prominent gains. For example, in fourth grade, we went from 4% advanced in math in 2003 to 17% advanced in 2006. Additionally, we increased our total advanced and proficient percentage by 14% since 2003. Although 2006 was the first reporting year for grade 3, we saw success in comparison to the state average where we enjoyed scores in the advanced and proficient categories that were 11% above the state’s performance. Additionally, the North Street students had a warning percentage of 3% as opposed to the state average of 16% warning. We look forward to our 2007 results and will share them once we receive the final scores.

Although we have made much growth and are proud of our recent accomplishments, we have just begun our journey. We welcome all parents and community members aboard for the ride. Your help and support are needed and appreciated.

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