Dear Friends,

As we approach testing season, indeed, it is already upon us, many of you have asked why we here at DeSales follow the Common Core Learning Standards and administer these assessments.  This is a great question for, as many point out, we are not a public school.  If you look back in my blog you will notice that I have addressed this very question on a variety of different occasions.  You will notice that I have been very vocal with my concerns about the assessments lack of accountability for all facets of a child’s life, they do serve a necessary purpose in education.  The administration of properly formatted tests that provide generalizable and valid results allow schools to effectively evaluate their program and tailor their programs to accelerate student learning.  With this in mind, I would like to offer the following.  Recently, Sr. Carol Cimino, Superintendent of Education for the Diocese of Buffalo put very succinctly, why we in the Diocese use the assessments and I wanted to share it with all of you.  

Why We Administer NYS Testing

Rational  sent on 2/12/15 by Sr. Carol Cimino

Once again, as testing season draws nigh, we anticipate that parents will, once again, seek to have their children “opt out” of the NYS testing. I thought it might be helpful to you to provide parents with a rationale for why we administer NYS tests, and why it is important that our student s take the tests.

1. NYS test results are used to analyze the effectiveness of instruction. They measure students’ ability to express their understanding of what was taught.
2. NYS test results are exhaustively used to determine, by item analysis, the precise areas in which our students are both deficient and successful.
3. NYS test results are NOT used to evaluate our teachers. The results help us to design professional development programs in each school.
4. NYS test results are used to diagnose students’ academic needs. Should a student opt out of the tests, we cannot determine what kinds of help and remediation that student requires.
5. The administration of NYS tests allows our schools to receive from NYS, Academic Intervention Services, which is financial aid that is used to train our teachers to meet academic needs of students. Without at least 95% participation, our schools cannot avail themselves of this training.
6. The NYS test results are not included in the students’ permanent records, but kept separately.
7. Students will be engaged in some kind of standardized testing throughout their academic careers, and not giving them some experience, especially when the “stakes” are low, does them a disservice.
8. NYS test results, on a school scale, allow principals and teachers to compare their results with those of other schools.
9. NYS test results are not used to punish either students or teachers; they are only one of many tools that the school uses to assess its instructional effectiveness.

As always if you have any questions please do not hesitate to call, write, or if you are in the area, just stop by and ask.

Peace,
Scott

Dear Friends,

 As I write, we are fully immersed in our registration process for the 2015-2016 school year and looking to solidify our operating budget for next year.  Like many organizations, several of our costs fluctuate with the changes of society, but as a private, Catholic school, we face the added obstacle of projecting enrollment and, as I have written you in the past, enrollment is the single most determining factor for any private school when they look at setting tuition.  Many times I have been asked, what exactly goes into a budget for a school?  How is the money allocated?  With these questions in mind, I recently presented an overview of our budget and where our allocations are spent.  Please feel free to look over the attached budget and, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to call or just stop by.

 

DeSales Budget Presentation

Peace,
Scott

 

Dear DeSales Family,

Over the last decade, education has undergone many major changes: the spiraling amount of assessments given to students of all ages, the emphasis placed on those assessments for both students and teachers, and a comprehensive realignment of curriculum under the Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) to name just a few.  To better put things in perspective, the curriculum that was in place when I entered kindergarten so many years ago our current three-year-old pre-kindergarten students are surpassing within the first few months of school.  As such, DeSales has engaged in a wide-ranging internal and external analysis of our curriculum and teacher strengths to determine if we are taking full advantage of what we have to offer our families.  What we discovered is that while we offer a very strong program that helps our students to excel, with a little tweaking, we can take our programs to a completely new level. 

Simply stated, DeSales will become the premier literacy program in Western New York with literacy defined as the braiding of reading, writing, and technological citizenship together to nurture the development of students that develop a lifetime love of learning, allowing them to excel in any venue.  With that in mind, our early elementary students, pre-kindergarten through second grade, will focus on the fundamentals of reading.  When a student leaves second grade they will have a solid foundation in reading.  From there, grades three through five will progress to the next logical step, writing.  These middle/late elementary grades will help students learn to effectively express their thoughts in a wide variety of genres.  Middle school will mark the culmination of these two fundamental curricular needs together.  Students will delve into more complex fiction and non-fiction texts, comparatively analyzing them from a variety of viewpoints.  Finally, with our introduction of an increasing number of tablets into the classrooms will allow our students to become comfortable in an ever-changing technological society. 

 With these thoughts in mind, we have fine-tuned the placement of some of our teachers to take better advantage of their academic strengths.  So, for the first time, I am pleased to present our 2015 ~ 2016-faculty list. 

Pre-Kindergarten Tues/Thurs and M/W/F	Mrs. Shipley
Pre-Kindergarten Full-Day and 5 Day Half-Day	Mrs. Chase
Pre-Kindergarten Aide	Mrs. Klee
Kindergarten	Mrs. Pellicano
Kindergarten	Mrs. Rosenberg
1St Grade	Miss Agostini
1st Grade	Mrs. Webster
2nd Grade	Mrs. Robinson
2nd Grade	Miss Trombitas
3rd Grade	Mrs. Gilbert
3rd Grade	Mrs. Kraatz
4th Grade	Mrs. Caldwell
4th Grade	Mr. Granchelli
5th Grade	Mrs. Sheehan
5th Grade	Mrs. Thompson
Middle School English Language Arts	Mrs. Merrill
Middle School Math	Mrs. Fraass
Middle School Religion/ Director of Religious Education	Mr. Schuster
Middle School Science	Mr. Welt
Middle School Social Studies	Mrs. Engel
Art	Mrs. Kruse
Library/Technology	Mrs. Rahill
Music	Miss Rarick
Physical Education/Health	Mr. Wilson
AIS Literacy K-4	Mrs. Crofts
AIS Literacy 5-8	Mrs. MacClaren
AIS Math ~ Middle School Math	Mrs. Kowalski
Special Education	Mrs. Wade
School Counselor	Mrs. Badura
Spanish	TBD

 

With this exceptional line-up of very talented teachers, please join me in registering for the 2015~2016 school year. 

In His Name,
Scott