The School District of Palm Beach County
Department of Adult and Community Education
K-12 Support Programs
|
|
The School District of Palm Beach County |
|
Department of Adult and Community Education |
|
|
K-12 Support Programs |
| Home | |
|
Listed below is some feedback from principals who utilized the K-12 Support funding during past years. -----Original Message----- Hello Dr. Williams, I was going through some data today and I thought that I would let you know that 71% of the third graders that we tracked through tutoring, passed the FCAT. Of the 71%, 58% passed with a 3 or higher! Have a great summer. Do you need any additional information from me regarding tutorial documentation? Thank you, Amy McAllister -----Original
Message----- BOCA RATON ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL February 9, 2005 Dear Mr. Rice, On behalf of the students of Boca Raton Elementary School, I would like to thank you for providing us with the funds to offer after school tutorial and Saturday tutorial for the month of February. We are very fortunate to have a neighboring community school administrator who recognizes the importance of supporting other South Area schools. You should have a feeling of satisfaction in knowing that as a result of your assistance Boca “El” will be able to increase student achievement for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students who attend our tutorial sessions. Thanks to your support, we are able to offer two hours of tutorial twice a week and another two hours each Saturday for this entire month. I also found the 3rd Grade FCAT family Nights that you sponsored earlier in the year to be extremely helpful and valuable. I appreciate the opportunity, and I hope we will be able to work together on similar endeavors in the future, possibly even starting the tutorial sessions at the beginning of the school year. I am grateful that you have chosen to support the programs at Boca Raton Elementary, and I truly thank you for your commitment to education. Sincerely, Peter T. Slack -----Original Message----- Dear Mr. Reilly, It gives me GREAT pleasure to apprise you of the success of our School Wide Tutorial that was implemented prior to the FCAT. Forest Hill Elementary's spring FCAT results revealed a School Grade of "B" and 100% AYP!!! I am very thankful that you were able to assist us with our efforts to provide additional support for our low performing students through the Community School K-12 Initiative, as I was able to hire an additional staff person as a result of the funding from your program. I do hope that the opportunity to apply for funding from your program will once again be available to us this coming school year. Thanks again for your assistance!! Mary -----Original Message----- Hi Gary - I certainly do want to do this again next year. My teachers did a great job, the students really improved. Thank you for your assistance. We look forward to working with you again next year. Marilyn -----Original Message----- Dear Tom, Timber Trace Elementary would like to send you a great big “Thank You” for your assistance in providing us the funds to help our students. This year I focused all of our resources from Adult Ed. On our third grade struggling students… The good news is, we had 21 third graders that qualified to be retained due to not making a level two or higher on the FCAT reading exam. This year we had 5 third graders that did not make a level two or higher. We are so very proud of our students and want to share our joy with you. We are very grateful for the assistance your school provided us. Thank you once again on behalf of the Timber
Trace Staff, -----Original Message----- Hi Mark-- Its nice to hear from you again. I do believe that the adult evening programs have been a significant factor in the improvement of the academic performance of our students. Research is quite clear as to the importance of parent involvement in their children's education, and is well known. Research into the benefits of full service schools and family literacy programs is equally compelling. At this time 58% of Forest Park students are included in active ESOL programming. In addition, there are a number of students who speak English as their second language, but have been exited from ESOL. Obviously, the parents of these students do not speak English as their first language. When those parents attend our evening ESOL or GED classes, they automatically become involved in the educational process. They become concerned with their own academic achievement and automatically become concerned with that of their children as well. In this sense, the evening classes create both parent involvement, and a family literacy initiative. Beyond that, many parents are hesitant to come to school (likely) for two reasons. First, they may believe that their own prior educational experiences and/or English language proficiency levels put them at a disadvantage in dealing with school staff. Two, they are reluctant to come to school because of the customs and social protocols in their native countries. In some cultures, most notably in Haiti, parents are discouraged from being involved in school. Both of these obstacles can be overcome when parents regularly access the school for their own benefit. When parents perceive that school is a place to come for help for themselves, they seem to appropriately transfer that perception to their children. Children's academic performance then improves. I believe that we have seen that happen here at Forest Park. I hope these thoughts help. I've written specifically about the ESOL population, but I think the points are just as valid with regard to all academic offerings to parents. Please let me know if you need anything more.
|