State of the School Update
from Mrs. Kerins, Principal
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The Pope John Paul II school community is welcoming, warm, and vibrant! It is a pleasure to be your principal and I am looking forward to a bright and exciting future. Since our arrival in July, Mrs. Tarquinio and I have taken a “deep dive” into the school culture, instructional program, and Catholic identity. In order to best serve our students and support our teachers, we will continue to assess all programs throughout the year. Now that we are two months into the school year, we want to share with you our vision for the future of Pope John Paul II Regional Catholic Elementary School.
In order to best understand the vision, we must understand the history of the educational system in the United States. Before education was compulsory, children attended school in a one room school house. Students enrolled in school at all different ages levels and their education was customized to whether the student was just learning A, B, C’s or reading Shakespeare. In the Industrial Era, school became compulsory and education was modeled after the factory production line. Children were funneled through in age cohorts with a one-size-fits all curriculum.
In the 21st Century, this one-size-fits all industrial model of education is no longer effective. Education has shifted from rote knowledge to an education which encompasses all that is needed to succeed in the 21st Century workforce: creativity, innovation, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and collaboration. In fact, we are preparing students for jobs which have not even been invented yet. So how do we, as a school community ensure our students are receiving a first class 21st Century education? First we must move away from the one-size-fits all model of education and address the needs of our students, whether they are trying to overcome learning challenges or they are gifted learners.
PJPII envisions a school which develops a personalized learning experience for every student with an emphasis on active learning
.
For those of you who work in the field of education, you are familiar with the pendulum swing of educational trends. It is important to the administration of PJPII that we choose programs, curriculum materials, and teaching strategies which are based on research, sound practice, and meet the diverse educational needs of 21st Century students. The curriculum itself is developed by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and consistent with the Pennsylvania Standards. The curriculum materials and instructional practices are decided at the school level. One benefit of being a private school is that we are not hamstrung by government regulations and state testing. Below are some research based practices which are helping to shape our vision.
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Catholic Identity
The reason for the existence of Pope John Paul II Regional Catholic Elementary School is our Catholic identity. Recognizing our Catholic mission, the faculty and administration have increased the number of liturgical celebrations and are continuing to foster relationships with our partner parishes. As the saying goes, “Christ is the reason for this school, the unseen but ever present teacher in its classes, the model of its faculty, the inspiration of its students”.
Literacy
In order to personalize reading instruction, we believe it is time to think beyond the basal reader which does not allow for student choice nor does it provide appropriate reading levels for all students. A guided reading approach makes it possible for teachers to match books to readers and support successful processing. The research-based literacy framework developed by Fountas and Pinnell (2006) provides for rich language-based experiences with a variety of texts in whole-group, small-group, and individual settings. The instructional framework includes interactive read-aloud and reading workshop mini-lessons in whole-class groups, literature discussion in small heterogeneous groups, guided reading in small homogeneous groups, and individual reading conferences. The faculty and administration are currently exploring reading programs which will improve reading instruction for all students and hope to begin the first phase of implementation in the Fall of 2018.
Adaptive Learning
All children have different strengths as well as different gaps in their learning. What if we could allow each individual student the opportunity to spend time working on the skills they personally need? Adaptive learning technologies have made great technological advancements which allow for real-time differentiation by adjusting content in-the-moment and delivering the exact instruction a student needs. Teachers can track the data and assess exactly how to help students based on their strengths and gaps. We will be piloting two programs to determine which program is most effective for our student body. Schools across the country which are effectively using this technology are seeing large gains in their standardized testing results.
STEM and Inquiry-Based Learning
We know that jobs in STEM career fields are outpacing the rest of the job force. STEM is not a specific curriculum, but rather a philosophy. STEM integrates the scientific method, engineering, and math principles to solve a problem. Technology is integrated as a tool to solve a problem through research, collaboration, and presentation. STEM concepts and activities are woven throughout our science program already, but the faculty and administration are working to not only strengthen the STEM activities, but to make Pope John Paul II on the cutting edge of STEM integration. We will continue to invest in technology and hope to include next year’s fifth grade in our 1:1 technology initiative and provide each fifth grader with a Chromebook. As part of STEM, we aim to improve math instruction using an inquiry-based learning approach, much like the methodologies used in Japan, while still emphasizing math fact fluency and the understanding of traditional algorithms. STEM and Inquiry-based methodologies allow for hands-on, deep, transferable learning.
Handwriting
The recent research on handwriting shows that handwriting has a significant impact on reading, writing, and language abilities. Anecdotally, teachers across the country are noticing a significant decrease in fine motor skills. While we recognize that our children need to be technologically competent, handwriting, as the research has shown, is still an important part of our children’s development. We include information about handwriting for you in this address to convey our commitment to this important component of literacy instruction. Penmanship is a hallmark of Catholic education and is here to stay!
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We all recognize the importance of a brand. Our children can identify the golden arches of McDonald's from a very young age. Pope John Paul II has re-branded and redesigned the logo to better illustrate the diversity of ages we serve, honor our legacy, and emphasize our Catholic Identity. You can read more about the new logo in our latest
newsletter
.
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Financial Sustainability
In the private sector, when a business sells a product, they sell it to make a profit. Catholic schools have never sold our “product” for it’s true cost. The parishioner rate for the 2017-2018 school year is $4,200. The true cost to educate each student is
$5,300
. The average parish subsidy per student is $668. For this reason, Catholic schools need to make-up the difference ($432) in cost through fundraising and the financial support of generous benefactors. For families who have a sibling discount, the gap between cost to educate and tuition is even wider.
Your support in our fundraising efforts are vital to our financial sustainability.
In order to ease the tuition burden on families, the administration and Board of Limited Jurisdiction is working on developing other sources of revenue as well as additional support for tuition assistance to sustain school operations in the future.
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What improvements are being made with operational money?
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Needs
Roof repairs
Bus loop patching
Door security upgrades
Security camera upgrades
Gymnasium bleacher repair
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Wants
Gym Floor refinishing
Acoustic paneling for the gymnasium
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Please consider purchasing a least one ticket for the Dollar and Saints Raffle. Families who buy/sell at least one ticket will be entered in a drawing to be selected as Principal or Vice Principal for a Day!
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The administration and the teachers have been working to develop a vision to improve the already wonderful education program offered at Pope John Paul Regional Catholic Elementary School. The portion of the vision we share with you here is not all-encompassing and is a “living plan” which may evolve as education changes or our needs change. We have big aspirations, but are mindful that Rome was not built in a day!
We want to thank you for choosing
Pope John Paul II Regional Catholic Elementary School for you child's education. We feel blessed to call you family!
Sarah Kerins
Principal
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