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HERE
to view the Slideshow presented at the 2009 "Under the Big
Tent" Gala
Click
HERE
to view Ms. Olmsted's Brand New KIDLAB website
SPOTLIGHTs
2009 MCAS Results Highlight Many Bright Spots for Neighborhood House
Recently released results from the spring 2009 MCAS test administration show NHCS performing on par with the state across subject areas and significantly outperforming the state in 7th and 8th grade English language arts. At these grade levels, NHCS ranked 12th statewide, surpassing the performance of schools in many affluent, highly-regarded districts including Brookline, Wellesley and Newton. Reflecting on these scores, NHCS Director of Literacy and Social Studies Emily Pratt says, “I am thrilled by our middle school English results and what they indicate about the overall teaching and learning at NHCS. I attribute this success to our talented teachers and the vast number of hours our students spend reading throughout the school year and over the summer.”
The 2009 results also attested to the fact that overall achievement at NHCS continues to improve each year in both English language arts and mathematics. Over the past three testing years, the percentage of students scoring at the advanced or proficient levels has increased 14% school-wide in English and 16% school-wide in mathematics. Sophisticated use of data to analyze student test results has been a growing factor in NHCS’ success in addressing content and achievement gaps.
Previously able to examine student data through the lens of student performance alone, a new measure recently released by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) gives educators at NHCS, and throughout Massachusetts, a deeper capacity to measure how much their students are improving over time compared to other Massachusetts students. Thanks to this new “growth” measure, we know that NHCS students are improving at a faster rate than the majority of their peers across the state; that NHCS’ typical growth in 7th grade English language arts was the highest in the state; and that NHCS is a school in which low-income students are making comparatively “high growth” in mathematics, an achievement for which we were recently recognized by the DESE.
Despite NHCS student performance following an improvement trajectory that outpaces the state average and our strong progress and growth results, the school still fell short of its self-set performance goals, particularly for mathematics, triggering administration to take immediate action. “Based on our analysis of MCAS math results for 2009, it is clear that we need to do more to help students develop their skills with number sense and operations,” says Assistant Headmaster Kate Scott. “We are addressing this issue on two fronts. First, we are investing in professional development opportunities to help us refine how we teach these ideas at the primary grades, where it is critical to have a firm foundation in these skills. And second, we are providing remediation for students in grades 4 and beyond with gaps in their knowledge through intervention programs, such as iSucceed Math and Knowing Math.”
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HEADLINES
Student Applications for K1 Lottery Due February 27
Click Here to download Student Applications for K1 Lottery
Click Here to download
Foreign Language Student Applications for K1 Lottery
Please return completed application to: Neighborhood House Charter School, 21 Queen Street, Dorchester, MA 02122.
For more information please call (617) 825-0703
NHCS Pilots New Model with City Year
Since its inception in 1995 as one of the original fourteen charter schools in Massachusetts (only five of which are in Boston), NHCS has been committed to developing, testing, and sharing successful models and practices in the spirit of charter school
innovation and education reform.
In this tradition, this fall NHCS launched a three-year pilot in partnership with City Year, the Boston-based national service organization, designed to enhance City Year’s impact in urban school systems across the country.
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