Mineola and BOLD

I have been asked by a few people to further explain Mineola’s involvement with BOLD systems.  We have used BOLD for several years to organize and produce our “voting books”.  The company uses an electronic data base to alphabetically organize all registered voters by polling place.  They just completed reorganizing our books to change from 4 to 2 polling places next month.  Last year we purchased the web based version of the program as a cost saving measure.  Traditionally we hired one person per book to maintain the ‘poll list’ a mandatory list of all people that voted.  BOLD has an electronic ‘pen’ that scans a bar code under the persons signature.  The scan automatically creates the poll list.  Therefore we only needed one person to monitor the book and scan the poll list.  The return on investment for the cost of the pens was one year. This year we will begin to see the savings.  The poll list is also available in real time via the web – that is where the controversy arises.  Since it automatically generates a list of who voted people could call nonvoters to come out and vote.  Mineola does NOT do this.  The system is password protected and the District clerk and I are the only people with access to the system.  We do not generate any lists nor do we call anyone about voting.  We strictly use the system for managing Election Day and try to make it as cost effective as possible.

Unplugged Week 2013, April 29‐May 5, 2013.

Can you do it?  No screen of any kind for a week?  No Television, texting or video games; instead you can read, play outside, draw, play  music, create something.  You could even speak to one another!

Assessments shouldn’t be “an event”

As our State assessments come to a close I have had some time to reflect on all of the controversy surrounding this year’s exams. I think it really comes down to the fact that we all are guilty of placing too much emphasis on one single exam. More importantly, the State exam will never measure the Common Core as accurately as a teacher can. Therein lies the most important work we have as a school district; how do we measure student work on Common Core standards that accurately aligns with the State exam. If we do this work correctly there should be a strong correlation between report card grades and the grade a child receives on the State exam. The conversations among teachers, students and parents would be very different. Everyday assignments and homework need to focus on specific standards. Rubric need to become more commonplace and students need to be perfectly clear about the skills and competencies they need to master to move from one level to the next. Consider this 4th grade rubric for Reading for Literacy.

Teachers need multiple “data points” of student work to demonstrate what level a child is performing. “Data points” are achieved by teachers assessing students. Not once or twice but consistently and objectively. The rubrics create the basis for the conversation. Discussion and samples of ‘elaborate vs. adequate’ will allow students to see the specific areas needed to move between levels. Assessments aren’t events; they are common occurrences that provide meaningful information to improve student achievement. Next year we will begin this monumental shift. Our elementary report cards will reflect grades in standards. This will not be easy, but through a collaborative effort I am confident we will create an exceptional system hat accurately depicts student work.

Congrats Marissa Karasz

Congratulations to Marissa Karasz for winning the Town Of North Hempstead Earth Day T-shirt Design Contest. Many students also submitted designs and were recognized at last night’s event. They included: Nuvia Velasquez, Nicole Boshans, Will Andrade, Jasmine Muchlis, Yajaira Zambrano, Jinal Patel

Standardized Testing was an issue 1845 too!

When I taught American history I used to love to find quotes from 100 years ago that could have said today. It always amazed me how accurate the saying “The more things change, the more they stay the same” This weekend I read an interesting article in the NYT Sunday review section. Seems like Standardized testing was an issue in 1845 as well- take a look.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/opinion/sunday/the-first-testing-race-to-the-top.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Repeat

On April 10th, a team of students from Mineola Middle School competed in the 2nd Annual Kid Wind Challenge at the Cradle of Aviation. Middle school and high school students from all over Nassau and Suffolk counties designed, constructed and tested a wind turbine with the goal of generating the most electrical power in 60 seconds. Team Mineola, which was comprised of Ryan Duffy, Ryan DeMagistris and Jorge Mejia-Manzano had won 1st place two years in a row. The team of students worked closely with Mineola Middle School’s educators, Steve Parke (Technology Advisor), Harry McLaughlin (Physics Advisor) and Vince Interrante (Math and Science Advisor) in the design and construction of their winning turbine. The event, with over one hundred participants, was sponsored by National Grid.

Color Night 2013

I had a wonderful time Friday night watching the Middle School’s annual Color night. The gymnasium was packed with spectators as over 150 girls competed. Many young men also were involved led by Emcee extraordinaire Harrison Pavlou. Congratulations to all of the participants and Captains:
Entrance Chloe Katinas Katrine Gulinao
Joanne Pedretti Jesse Kivatisky
Dance Joanna Graca Halle Gumpel
Danielle Pusey Sofia Cataliotti
Cheer Samentha Valmond Bruna Ferreira
Juliana Lupo Kaitlyn McCarey
Mural Samantha Kessler Maya Narvekar
Jenna Anderson Cara Ilchert
Tech Benjamin Cohen Alicia Healy
Alex Marchiselli Sophia Pereira
Design Preeti Singh Christa Post
Jenna Cox Sarah Carbain

Kudos to Mrs. Palumbo and Mrs. Salesi for a job well done.

A Teachable Life Experience

Physical education teacher Suzanne Vitale from Jackson reunited with some of her students today, utilizing her post-superstorm car accident as a teachable moment .  The accident resulted in a lower limb amputation and a broken shoulder for her, and although she is not yet cleared to return to work, she has missed the students so much that she came to teach them about life with a prosthetic limb and how she is not letting it limit her abilities. Greeted with many hugs and well wishes, Ms. Vitale and the students have kept in touch through letters during the past few months. Her courage and drive to regain normalcy is inspiring not only to the kids, but to the adults surrounding her as well. We wish her the best of luck on a full and speedy recovery.  Catch her CBS interview here: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/04/06/cutting-edge-technology-helps-woman-who-lost-hand-during-sandy/

Congratulations Julie Falotico

Julie Falotico was selected as the Channel News 12 Scholar Athlete of the week, recognizing her all round success in the classroom, service, and athletics. We have only had a total of five students selected since 1990 when it first began including Tom Owens, Jonathon Debrich, Daniela Santa Maria, and Katie Zunno. Julie will be given a 1,000 dollar scholarship in June.

Work hard- try your best

What happened to the notion of “working hard and trying your best?” While I understand the uproar over the new State exams I don’t understand the “opt out” movement. For the last two years I have been very vocal about the problems with changing the curriculum and assessments at the same time. Add the fact that these exams are being used to evaluate teachers and it is a recipe for disaster. The State acknowledges this by already telling us to expect a 30% drop in scores. The entire situation is untenable, but that isn’t a reason not to take the exam. What are we teaching our kids? If we don’t like something we should walk away from it? Are we to believe that if enough students do not take the exam that they will go away? The opposite will happen. If the district doesn’t meet a 95% participation rate we run the risk of becoming a FOCUS District. This designation is the new term for not meeting NCLB standards. As a FOCUS district we will have MORE restrictions placed upon us by the Federal and State governments- both with strings attached to monetary aide. Opting out (which is not permissible) is not the answer. The unintended consequences of these actions could be detrimental to the district over the next 3-5 years. In addition without a State score children that would have received mandated AIS services would not qualify. The outrage should be directed at the State Regents and the Commissioner of Education. Only they have the ability to slow things down and ease into some of these changes. By my estimation it will be at least three years before we will have a solid understanding of what the exams are and how to best prepare our children for them. Mineola has had the foresight to anticipate the problems with the State exams; that is why we administer the NWEA’s. This assessment, while not perfect, provides better information about the growth of individual students. No single moment in a child’s education experience can define them. One exam cannot define them. An educational experience is all of the wonderful experiences our kids have every day. The more stress we place on them about exams the worse the situation. This year in particular we are all in the same boat. Let’s remind our kids to work hard and try their best, everything else will take care of itself.