Setting
the Focus for the 2005-2006 School Year
New
Teachers Institute
 Forty-four
new teachers, and a few others who were hired in the middle
of the year, attended a week-long New Teachers Institute.
The Institute is led by Teacher Mentor Laura Grable and Assistant
Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Nancy Carney.
Mrs. Grable and a one-on-one mentor will continue to meet
with each of the new teachers throughout the year. It is mandated
that new teachers receive mentoring their first year. The
District’s mentoring program has increased teacher retention
from approximately 50% to about 85% in five years.
Superintendent's
Conference Day
 Dr.
Roland Fryer was the featured speaker at the assembly for
the teachers during the Superintendent’s Conference
Day on September 6.
He is often referred to as “a rising star in the academic
world”. As a professor of economics at Harvard University,
he is “combining the disparate fields of economics and
African-American studies to produce ground-breaking work that
is attracting the attention of not just academics, but of
anyone interested in what it means to be black in America
today”.*
Dr. Fryer’s own personal story is a testimony to personal
potential. Fryer, who is only 27, rose from a childhood where
he was exposed to drugs, crime, parental abandonment and educational
failure to earn an economics degree in 2 1/2 years.
Fryer talked about “A Unified Theory of Black America:
The Racial Achievement Gap and What to Do About It”.
The title explains the problem. The “Science of Affirmative
Action” and a discussion of incentives may hold some
of the solutions.
(*See http://www.thelavinagency.com/college/rolandfryer.html.)
Administrative
Leadership Workshop
Over
the summer, two elementary principals and several teachers
attended a workshop at Columbia University Teachers College
focused on literacy and reading initiatives. They in turn
shared some of the learning they received with the other administrators
in the district.  Each
summer two more administrators will attend.
In August, Mr. Mike Ford met with all of the school administrators
to discuss leadership styles and how to best help the teaching
staff to excel in the classroom; thereby, ensuring a high
standard of student achievement. He shared a model that started
with a mentoring approach to leadership.
Reading
Comprehension Workshop
 Sarah
Ford, an educational consultant who has been working with
teachers in the district primarily on teaching reading comprehension,
met over the summer with new teachers.
Ms.
Ford emphasizes student discovery, demon-strates a variety
of teaching approaches to meet the needs of the every type
of learner, and instructs teachers in every subject area to
employ the same “language” and steps to improve
student reading comprehension skills in all subject areas.
In addition to workshops, Pulaski Street teachers spent the
summer building a book of lesson plans for teachers to use
to meet the state standards and to help align the curriculum
from one year to the next and make curriculum adjustments
to assist in the transition into grades 7-8.
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