Principal Ned Dale

August Orientation Letter to Parents- please see file link at bottom of page.

July 28, 2010

Hello from Cosgrove Middle School! Can you believe school opens in only 6 weeks? I am truly excited for next year and hope that everyone’s summer has been restful and relaxing so far.   Some of my enthusiasm comes from last week’s “Leadership Retreat,” where several of our teachers, parents, and my administrative team worked together to begin drafting some of our plans and goals for next year.

Our team agreed to three main goals last week that include:

·   Students and staff will actively engage, support, and improve the Cosgrove and global communities.

·   Cosgrove will be a place where students, parents, and staff are positively connected, are inspired to continue learning, and are encouraged to meet our mission.

·    To provide the highest quality learning environment for middle school students by using research and resources to support best practices.

We will have target goals and several action steps for each overarching goal. As you know, we will continue to take a team approach in order to best serve our students during this transitional period of their life. In my house, I have one daughter headed to 5^th grade and another 1^st grade so I am thinking a great about transitions and soon I will be a middle school parent and principal.

I am sure you have read about the recent changes that are facing our students with regard to their ELA and Math New York State test scores from last year. In an effort to learn about the pending changes with the scoring of these exams, I had the good fortune to see Commissioner Steiner present in early July his rationale for these changes.   The focus of his rationale was to prepare all students to be college and career ready by the time they graduate. In an in-depth review of data, 24% of all students entering two and four year colleges were required to take remedial math and English courses that were non-credit bearing. In addition, students who were deemed proficient at the 8^th grade (Level 3 scoring a 650) , later had a one in three chance of scoring an 80% on the Algebra Regents. Students scoring under an 80% on the Algebra Regents were often required to take remedial courses when registering for college. As we focus our energies at Cosgrove, I believe we must look at the term proficient and accept the direction of the Commissioner to increase the level of rigor that our students need in order to be truly proficient for the high school level and beyond. 

 In light of these new scores and changes, I thought about my own daughter going into 5^th grade. How did she score? How will the school respond? As the principal of Cosgrove, I can assure all of you that the following actions will take place: 

1.       Each student who scores a Level 2 will be reviewed by an AIS provider for that subject (ELA and Math) area to determine the need for service.    Please remember that the NYS assessment is just one indicator in determining the need for services.  We will continue to look at other performance tasks and common assessments to determine eligibility. In addition, individual assessments might be needed in the fall once students arrive to provide the appropriate and targeted service.

2.       Special Education Teachers will meet quarterly with Mrs. Andrea Pascuzzi, Assistant Principal/Coordinator of Special Education to assess their assigned students’ program and services. 

3.       Teams at all grade levels will meet with me quarterly to review and devise action plans for students who are struggling in any core course.   Assistant Principals will meet at least every 5 weeks with 7^th and 8^th grade teams in an effort to closely monitor students progress. 

4.       My administrative team will be continuously assessing the available resources to ensure that students have been given every opportunity to succeed.  

In addition, it should be noted that we will be looking at any professional development that is needed to better train our staff to respond to these recent changes. I have scheduled faculty meetings that include professional development to support the growth and address the issues that face our staff. Overall, we will continue to work diligently to address the needs of our students. 

As you may be aware, Cosgrove had one third of all of the district’s retirements last year. I am thrilled to let you all know that we have been extremely successful in the hiring process this summer. My goal was to bring in the best candidates possible for our students. The new faces at Cosgrove were the elite in each of the candidate pools. In one department, we had over 250 applicants for two positions. We interviewed over twenty candidates for these positions to ensure that we had the best and brightest for our students. It is not a secret that a teacher is the number one reason for a student’s achievement.

By now you should have received the letter with regard to student orientation. Please note that parents are expected to bring and stay with their student while they complete the necessary tasks at Cosgrove. Feel free to go to our homepage to view the letter.   http://www.spencerportschools.org/cosgrove_middle.cfm Please encourage families to register for E-News to stay up to date with what is happening at Cosgrove this summer and all year long.

I hope you are enjoying the warm weather. If I can be of assistance to you or your child, please contact me at 349-5302 or via email at ndale@spencerportschools.org   

Sincerely,

Ned Dale

Principal

HS transition (ppt file - 2,101kb)

Spring/Summer Cosgrove Connection 2010 (pdf file - 11,366kb)

August Orientation Letter to Parents (pdf file - 394kb)

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