Annual Report - Colonial School District

Whitemarsh teachers honored by West Chester University
Two teams of teachers from
Whitemarsh Elementary School
were honored with 2011 Educator
500 awards from the West Chester
University 3e Institute. The teams
were led by past Educator 500 award
recipient Susan Hope and Kathleen
Young. Hope’s team included Jill
Klein, Kirsten Young, Simie Krieger,
Shana Genkin, Kristen Gamble
and Kristy Langis. Their project
was a “Take a Vet to School Day”
celebration in honor of Veterans Day.
Before the event, students read
books about Veterans Day and
patriotism and wrote thank you
cards to veterans. The day of the
event, students presented a play
about the history of Veterans Day,
sang patriotic songs and participated
in discussions about veterans’
experiences. The event provided the
opportunity to show veterans how
much the students value their service
and gave a rich learning experience to
students by bringing history to life in
the classroom.
Young’s team was comprised
of Shana Genkin, Alan Mizgorski,
Lisa Swartwood, Kim Nardo, Jeff
Yeakel, Kristy Langis, Erin Secker,
Toby Salmon, Cathy Campbell, Jan
Canterbury and Frank Whitehead.
The team collaboratively
designed and implemented a unit to
incorporate Jan Brett’s literature with
all content areas and specialist areas.
Students were immersed in Jan Brett’s
writing by analyzing her literary style,
identifying literary elements and
18
(L to R): 3E Executive Director Patricia Benes, Kristy Langis, Kirsten Young,
Simie Krieger, Susan Hope, Kristen Gamble and Principal Donna Drizin.
Front row (L to R): Kristy Langis, Erin Secker, Lisa Swartwood, Cathy
Campbell, Jan Canterbury and Principal Donna Drizin.
Back row (L to R): 3E Executive Director Patricia Benes, Kim Nardo, Jeff
Yeakel, Toby Salmon, Alan Mizgorski and Kathi Young.
themes, emulating her writing and
engaging in lively book talks about
the author and her craft. Using map
skills, the students traveled to the
various countries and continents from
the settings in Jan Brett’s books while
at the same time discovering new
animals and their habitats. Because
of this integration and collaboration,
District announces administrative changes
Prior to the start of the 2011-2012 school year, new
Colonial School District Superintendent Dr. MaryEllen
Gorodetzer announced several building level administrative
changes.
Jason Bacani, principal at Ridge Park Elementary School
(RP), became associate principal at Plymouth Whitemarsh
High School (PWHS). Dr. Michael McKenna, Colonial
Elementary School (CES) assistant principal, is now principal
second grade students were highly
engaged in this study.
The Educator 500 are considered
entrepreneurial educators who
believe in the power of collaboration,
innovation and resourcefulness
in bringing best practices into
classrooms.
at RP, and Karen Gebhardt, PWHS associate principal,
moved to CES as assistant principal.
“I believe these moves will have a positive impact on the
District and provide expanded leadership and administrative
opportunities for all involved,” said Dr. Gorodetzer. “We
are fortunate to have a strong administrative team. I look
forward to working with Jason, Mike and Karen in their new
administrative roles.”
Yearly Progress (AYP) targets
Fifth graders in the CSD ranked second in the county in
both math and reading. In math, 94.6 percent of CSD fifth
graders were proficient or advanced, while 90.6 percent were
proficient or advanced in reading.
Colonial eighth graders were also among the county’s
top five in math, placing fourth with 91.8 percent being
proficient or advanced. The
eighth graders were ninth in
the county with 94.3 percent
proficient or advanced in
reading.
CSD 11th graders were
third in the county in math
with 82 percent scoring at
the proficient or advanced
levels. The same students
were fifth in reading,
with 87.9 percent being
proficient or advanced. In
2005, Colonial 11th graders
ranked 19th in the county
in both reading and math.
Just last year, the CSD 11th
graders ranked 10th in the
county in math.
“While it’s exciting
to see the improvements that the high school has made
compared to the rest of the county, it’s even more rewarding
to see students excited about math,” said Superintendent
Dr. MaryEllen Gorodetzer. “Whether it’s through the
innovative integrated math curriculum that challenges
100.0
90.0
80.0
70.0
60.0
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
83.5
2011 PSSA Math % Proficient or Advanced
students or the supports put in place to give struggling
students the help they need, Plymouth Whitemarsh High
School offers a program that gives students a strong
understanding of mathematics concepts in an engaging way.”
Classroom Performance
Plymouth Whitemarsh High School (PWHS) students
are also excelling in the classroom. A quarter of the Class
of 2011 graduated with a cumulative grade point average
of 4.0 or better. More
students are taking more
rigorous classes.
PWHS offers more than
20 Advanced Placement
(AP) classes, among the
most of any public or
private school in the
region. Last May, 322
PWHS students took 490
AP exams, and 72 percent
earned a score of 3.0 or
higher. That is considerably
higher than the global
Ridge Park Elementary School Master Teacher Cecilia average.
Quarino discusses a reading assignment with a student. This past summer, 77
PWHS students, including
25 current seniors were honored as Advanced Placement
(AP) Scholars by the College Board in recognition of their
exceptional achievement on the college-level AP program
exams. Seventy-seven is the most students PWHS has had
achieve this honor in any one year. (See story page 12.)
98.0
94.6
76.3 76.9
91.8
60.3
Grade 3 Grade 5 Grade 8 Grade 11
State Colonial
82.0
3