PENDLETON — In an effort to improve its students’ academic achievement, Starpoint High School is starting a new instructional plan to target students who are just getting by.
Principal Gil Licata unveiled the school’s new approach at a Board of Education meeting Monday. Licata showed the members a series of signs that will go up in the school that read, “Mastery equals Starpoint students.” And below that phrase, the signs ask, “What did you do to reach your goals?” He said the goal will be to simply help students do their very best in school.
“Our focus is going to be on student performance,” Licata said. “It’s going to be a teaching tool and it’s going to be reflected in every office. That’s going to be our goal.”
Licata said he will meet with every teacher to discuss individual goals for their classes, followed by a meeting with each of the school’s departments. During the summer, Licata met with all of the content-area specialists, teachers who act as leaders in each subject. Sean Croft, Starpoint’s director of instruction, assessment and staff development, said the group visited some schools in Clarence during one of those meetings. They met afterward to talk about ideas.
“All of the ideas were generated by the teachers, it wasn’t Gil and I saying we need to do this,” Croft said.
Licata said he would meet weekly with student social services, which includes school counselors, a social worker and a psychologist. In those meetings, the goal is to develop monthly and annual plans on how to motivate students to improve.
Part of the high school’s new approach is the academic referral system. Licata said it wasn’t discipline, but rather a way for teachers to find the cause of why a student might may not be doing as well as they can in a class.
“This form goes right to me,” Licata said. “It is then my job to meet with the student, contact a parent or guardian, work with the counselor, do whatever it takes to get this child in the right.”
He added the referral form would also go to the student’s coach or extracurricular activity adviser. Getting them involved could help, because students look up to some of them, Croft said. Croft said students who receive a referral may be scoring in the 80s, for example, but are capable of a 95 average.
High school exams will be aligned with state Regents while mid-term exams will increase in number and look more like Regents exams, Licata said. This will help by allowing the district to find out which students are having difficulty earlier in the year, Croft added.
“We’re going to spend a lot of time this year developing these,” he said. “We’re not just going to make a 500-question, multiple-choice exam. We want to be testing and assessing the skills that they’re going to see at the end of the year.
Quarterly grades of classes will go to all faculty members. Faculty meetings, themselves, will change, involving more discussion on those results, Licata said.
“It’s almost going to be a staff development meeting,” he said.
Licata added the school will eliminate course drops, unless the drop is recommended by a counselor. If kids who are placed in a course that is too challenging, the school will move the student, Licata said. The goal is to help the student who isn’t living up to his or her potential, he said.
“We’ve got to make high expectations,” Licata said.
Contact reporter Joe Olenick at 439-9222, ext. 6241.
Local News
PENDLETON: Starpoint wants to help motivate students
- Local News
-
-
WIlson jumps on the 'bin wagon'
Modern Recycling’s upgraded plan has received a warm response some town residents.
The town plans to go from 14-gallon open bins to 65-gallon carts with lids in April. Modern representatives explained the project, put the recycling truck in action and showed of three 32-pound blue and green carts that can withstand 43 mph winds.
The display carts had transparent sides in order to let the residents know the variety of materials that can be recycled. -
Reform agenda touted
Empire State Development Corporation executive Sam Hoyt visited Lockport on Wednesday to tout Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s state budget and government reform plans.
Changing the way the state does business will bring fiscal relief to counties, cities and towns, eventually, Hoyt suggested.
It’s too bad the reforms won’t kick in before municipalities like the City of Lockport begin confronting fiscal crises, Mayor Michael Tucker said in response. -
Tucker: 'Best days lie ahead'
The City of Lockport government is smaller than it was 18 months ago but is in a stronger financial place, Mayor Michael W. Tucker said in his annual State of the City address.
-
Trio of new classes proposed for Newfane
Newfane High School could have three new business courses in the fall, one of which would center on video game design.
-
Municipalities take wait-and-see approach on SPCA funding
The City and Town of Lockport are each withholding payments to the Niagara SPCA, while other Eastern Niagara County towns are taking a wait-and-see approach.
-
Rocky II
Friends of Deputy Craig Beiter of the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department plan a benefit on Feb. 26 to raise money to buy and train a new dog for the K-9 Unit.
Beiter’s German shepherd, Deputy Rocky, was killed while on duty in December, and the sheriff’s department is close to getting a replacement. -
Basket Factory closes
The Basket Factory has gone out of business.
The owners, Julie Thompson Riegle and Dawn Thompson, made the difficult decision last Monday and put the sign on the door Tuesday. -
No snow is no problem
Unseasonably warm weather didn’t keep Roy-Hart Winterfest from being a fun day for the families who came out to Roy-Hart Elementary School on Saturday.
More than 500 people attended the third annual festivities, which Gasport Lions Club officials said was a big increase from last year. The halls of Roy-Hart Elementary were filled with vendors, programs and movement as excited children rushed from one activity to another. -
Shovel-ready park has perks
At first glance, the big, orange road sign announcing vacant property on Lockport Road as a “shovel ready certified” building site seems a bit gratuitous.
To companies looking for new places to launch a business, it’s not. The sign in their eyes is a welcome mat, for in three words a community pronounced itself ready, willing and able to make a deal quickly. -
Roy-Hart to play the big stage
A group of local students will be performing this month at Kleinhans Music Hall just before a BPO concert.
The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra will welcome the Royalton-Hartland High School Mixed Chorus as part of the BPO’s Community Spotlight program on Feb. 19 at Kleinhans in Buffalo. The chorus will perform under the direction of Carolyn Unitas Roos and accompanied by Janice McKinney. - More Local News Headlines
-
WIlson jumps on the 'bin wagon'
Obama Gives Education Waivers to 10 States
Giffords Aide to Run for Her Seat
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Winter Slamming North Asia, Parts of Europe
Syrian Forces Renew Bombardment of Homs
States, Banks Reach Foreclosure-abuse Settlement
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Raw Video: U.S. Pullout Celebration
Raw Video: Annual Empire State Building Run-Up
Man Killed in Courthouse Shootout
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
Ga Girl Fights Off Kidnapper at Walmart
Nevada Highway Patrol, City Settle Beating Case
Homs Bombardment Continues, Global Outcry Grows
Raw Video: Dog Rescued From Icy Colo. Water
Skip the Coffee Cup and Inhale Your Caffeine Fix
