Principal's message
MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL
MR. PANTELIDIS
The 2008-2009 school year is off to a very fine start with many exciting activities and learning experiences taking place in our elementary and middle school classrooms. Our school enrollment continues to grow and we welcomed 657 students at the start of this school year.
PS/IS 171 strives for high levels of academic and social achievement and encourages a strong partnership with parents. Our academic program is standards based and seeks to build a strong foundation of skills for all of our students. We strongly believe that students learn best when they have high attendance and ‘on-time’ performance is closely monitored at each grade level. PS/IS 171 has expanded to include grades seven and eight during the past two years. Students in the middle school experience the challenges of departmentalization and the independence of managing assignments from core and related arts teachers. Extracurricular activities for our students include our newly implemented Patrick Henry Prep After School Program, C.H.A.M.P.S. athletic programs, Chess Club and Student Government.
PS/IS 171 has been recognized for excellence in many respects:
• Received “Excellence Reward” for Outstanding Performance by Department of Education
• Top 10% of all New York City Schools
• “Well Developed” School – Quality Review (2007 and 2008)
• Winner of the 2007 Broad Prize for Urban Education
• Video Study Project Selected for Department of Education Recognition
• Recognized by New York State Department Education as High Performing/Closing the Gap School
The faculty at PS/IS 171 is committed to meeting the needs of all students through comprehensive programming and differentiated instruction. Students are provided with challenge through enrichment activities, as well as, review and reinforcement through our various support programs. According to results from the April, 2008 “Quality Review”, Patrick Henry was recognized as a “Well Developed” School and commended in a variety of areas including: dedicated administration, highly competent staff, effective systems and procedures to support behavior and student attitude, professional development with mutual trust and respect, strong partnerships with academic and community organizations, parent involvement and communication and student support services.
During the 2007-08 school year, significant strides were made to differentiate instruction for students through analysis of multiple sources of data including portfolio assessment, state tests, periodic assessments and informal assessments. A major goal this year will be to expand our efforts to use data to ensure that we meet the needs of all of our students. In addition, will are working to incorporate differentiated instructional strategies across the curriculum to meet the individual and ongoing needs of students in each classroom. Significant aids that support our instructional program include our School Based Support Team, newly revised ‘push-in’ model for our Academic Instructional Specialists (AIS), extensive classroom library and teacher professional development resource libraries. We are continuing to focus our energies to strengthen
our home-school partnerships through monthly parent workshops focused on both academic and social issues. We encourage parents to attend these informative workshops each month.
For the 2008-09 school year, PS/IS 171 is working to enhance the instructional program through the following goals:
• Extend the model for uniform data collection in order to better analyze the performance and progress of individual students and sub-groups.
• Implement a school-wide model of differentiated instruction
• Develop and implement a comprehensive middle school model that addresses the academic, social and emotional needs of our students
• Extend the focus on writing process strategies to improve student ability with emphasis on expository writing across the curriculum
• Initiate a uniform school-wide inquiry based approach to science instruction.
On behalf of the entire staff at PS/IS 171, we pledge our efforts to provide a high quality educational learning experience for your child. We feel fortunate to have such excellent students and caring parents as members of the Patrick Henry School family.
With Warmest Regards,
Dimitres Pantelidis, Principal
