This school year so far...

Greetings! We are coming to the close of our 5th month in school and this is the first time I have written since the beginning of the school year! There is a perfectly good explanation for the hiatus.

I was "warned" and in fact have seen for myself the statistics of this incoming class of 6th graders. I was told they are very low. The scores do not reflect any increase, year-over-year, in "test scores". Unfortunately these "test scores" have become an indicator of "true teaching and learning". With this bias in mind, I determined that I would hit the ground running. The results of formative and summative assessments proved the caveat reliable and accurate.

Only 35% of the incoming class were proficient/advanced in reading; a very low number that has steadily declined since this entire group was in the 3rd grade. Sad!

Well, lucky for me, I like a challenge! Lucky for them, they have a teacher who will work tirelessly to prove all of the nay-sayers wrong! I informed my students that this would be the first year that they will see an increase in test scores and true learning! I have worked tirelessly in the teaching of English/Language Arts and the subject of "Life" in general and am "humbly proud" to report that there has been a steady increase in scores on the various benchmark assessments leading up to the "big one", the PSSA!

I am proud of my students! I believe in my students! They will be successful as students! I will be successful as their teacher! I am a strong proponent of public education! It can work! It will work! I just want the world to beware, there are several 6th grade students leaving John B. Kelly Elementary School and they are ready to take on 7th grade and the rest of the world! We are room 105 and we are coming through! Ready or not, here we come!