Superintendent's Message

Dear Amityville Residents:

With the opening of school well behind us and the winter fast approaching, our students and staff are immersed in their studies, and I am pleased to see in action so many of the exciting, cutting-edge projects and programs in which students are not only participating, but excelling. Whether they are creating informative and relative presentations with the use of leading-edge technology, or exhibiting wonderful talents through the arts for those in our community and beyond to enjoy, our students are making a splash and reinforcing my belief that the children of Amityville are not only on track, but well exceeding expectations.

In order to keep our kids on track and propel them to greater achievements–primarily in academics–our instructional staff must stay on top of the sweeping changes in education that are taking place here in New York State and throughout the country. We recently completed our third Superintendent’s Conference Day of the school year, during which teachers received additional training and shared their knowledge and expertise of the new Common Core Standards in Mathematics and English Language Arts, which will be fully implemented for the 2012-13 school year.

These Common Core Standards have been designed to establish a shared vision between teachers and administrators and guarantee consistency across states. The overall goal is to ensure that academic standards are robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and career readiness in order to compete in a global economy. In the last few years, we have heard from State Education officials that many of our standardized assessments were not effectively preparing students for college. As a result, passing or “cut” scores were raised after students took these exams, causing achievement levels to dip even though our kids were actually making progress.

For ELA, K-12 standards will increase in complexity but will better articulate what students need to know along the trajectory, emphasizing literacy building as a shared responsibility for all content areas and focusing on informational texts, research skills, comprehension and articulation of different points of view. In Mathematics, there will be fewer topics and a stronger linkage of concepts in alignment with the way students in other high-achieving countries learn math, particularly at the lower grade levels. There will also be a greater focus on mastery of complex math concepts such as algebra and geometry via more hands-on learning.

Under the direction of Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Kathleen Gulbin, and our respective department directors, we are well on our way to aligning our curricula so that by the fall of next year, our program will be in full compliance with the Common Core mandate and students will be in prime position to succeed well into college and beyond. Our schools continue to deliver programs and activities to give our kids a leg up on their college education, and in some cases actual credit at no cost to parents or our district (see the fall edition of our newsletter, entitled The Tide).

Another significant change that our teachers are participating in is the development of an Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) plan that takes into account student performance on exams, as well as local standards established by our Board of Education in consultation with the administrative team and myself. Parents and teacher bargaining units will have the opportunity to provide input; however, we have been very adamant to include our teachers in the process so that they have a voice, and so that a fair system of accountability is established to ensure the teachers working with our children are at the top of their game.

I invite you to attend our public Board of Education meetings to learn more about the ongoing changes taking place in public education. If you are a parent, you are always welcome to speak with your child’s principal, as well. I invite you to attend one or more games to witness the hard work of our fine student-athletes. As we enter into the holiday season, there will also be many winter concerts taking place in our schools for you to enjoy the musical talents of the children of Amityville.

Sincerely,

Dr. John R. Williams
Superintendent of Schools