Island Trees Town Meeting Covers Common Core, NYS Test Prep

Story by Chris Boyle. 

The Island Trees School District held a town meeting Wednesday to keep parents informed of the sweeping changes to education occurring throughout New York schools as of late, including updates on the new Common Core learning standards and NYS assessment preparations.

Due to the meeting running over-schedule, a planned presentation on the district’s budget was postponed.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Charles Murphy addressed preparations taking place through the district for the new state-mandated NYS assessment tests, which he said were meant to help and identify students in need of additional help in their educational endeavors, especially in light of the adoption of the state-mandated Common Core learning standards.

“We’re working hard at getting the kids to understand the new core curriculum and these new expectations,” he said. “It hasn’t been easy...the state has been a little late in coming out with what the expectations were, and we’re working to catch up with their mistake.”

Murphy said that Island Trees was pulling out all the stops to get kids ready for the tests.

“We do have a lot of extra help and test prep courses before school and after school,” he said. “This way, we can get the kids on the right road as far as performing well on the assessment tests.”

Part of the preparation for assessment testing is the district’s establishment of a new K-6 Math program, which Murphy said is due to enter rotation with students as of the 2013-14 school year.

“It’s related to the new Common Core standards,” he said. “The state came up with what the expectations are in about November, and because of that, we didn’t have time to purchase the new Math series at that time, so we’re now going to be purchasing the new Math series catered to the Common Core area for the next school year so that we’ll have better preparation and better material for the kids to work with.”

Another tool aimed at helping kids progress to higher levels of learning is Apple’s iPad touchscreen computer. Middle School Principal Dr. Roger Bloom spoke about the district’s new Pilot Program which features the device in select 5th grade classrooms this year.

“Last year we traveled to several school districts on Long island that had implemented the use of iPads as a major instructional tool in the classroom,” he said. “And not only in those schools did the students become in engaged in learning, but also the achievement of those students improved. So our goal for this year was to take two classes in 5th grade and put iPads in their hands all day to measure engagement and achievement to see if they truly have an impact on a student’s education.”

iPads are already widely used in the district’s High School. Bloom said that Island Trees 5th graders have had iPads since October, and the current consensus among administration and staff is that the Pilot Program is an early success.

“It’s fascinating to see the lessons that the teachers have prepared on the iPads,” he said. “The iPads can synch with our Promethium Boards, which make lessons very interactive for children. Our teachers have received training, attended workshops, and researched the thousands of educational applications available to see which ones are the most sound for our students and really challenge them.”

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