{"id":955,"date":"2011-08-19T10:05:34","date_gmt":"2011-08-19T14:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=955"},"modified":"2011-08-19T10:06:02","modified_gmt":"2011-08-19T14:06:02","slug":"kennett-schools-2011-back-to-school-means-new-school-new-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=955","title":{"rendered":"KCSD 2011: back to school means new school, new programs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kennett<\/em> <\/em>Consolidated<\/em> <\/em>School District<\/em> prepares to go up and running for the 2011-2012 school year with course modifications, refined grading practices, and a new school <\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By P.J. D’Annunzio,<\/strong> Staff Writer, KennettTimes.com<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The new Bancroft Elementary School is just one of many changes parents and students can look forward to for the 2011-12 school year in the Kennett Consolodated School District.<\/p><\/div>\n

KENNETT SQUARE \u2014 Change is coming to Kennett Consolidated School District\u00a0for the upcoming school year and students all across the board stand to reap the benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStudents at Kennett High will acquire their technology credit in different manner than they did in the past,\u201d KCSD Superintendent Dr. Barry Tomasetti said, \u201cIn the past we used to have one course; it was a Microsoft office course. Now we\u2019ll be starting with the social studies department and ensuring students use technology in an integrated manner.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Much like a senior project, students will embark on a technology-based endeavor to receive credit. For example, \u201cstudents may create a blog on a social studies topic, they\u2019ll get the program started and carry on conversations with other students, or it may be a spread sheet related to something in social studies,\u201d Tomasetti said. Eventually the district plans to integrate the technology credit in other curricular areas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kennett High School is also offering new English Literature classes, \u201cAlong with our honors and AP English we\u2019ll have college prep classes that are maybe of a little higher interest. The emphasis is on things that the kids like to read,\u201d Tomasetti said. The new literature classes include Science Fiction\/Fantasy, Popular Literature, Literature in Sports, and Adaptations from Text to Film.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the new school year comes a change in attitude toward grading at Kennett High. These new attitudes and practices\u2014based on research by the three most prominent figures in the grading construct field\u2014focus on educators communicating and working with students to complete and understand assignments rather than issuing zero credit for missed work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking to teach resiliency and mastery,\u201d Kennett High School Principal Dr. Michael Barber said, \u201cWe\u2019re putting an emphasis on working with students and not accepting \u2018I don\u2019t have my homework\u2019 or \u2018I don\u2019t have that assignment.\u2019 We won\u2019t be satisfied with that\u2026we want students to do\u00a0the assignments\u00a0because we know those are critical things in the learning progression that helps students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For pre-secondary students the reformation of the elementary system within KCSD consists of the shifting of territories for New Garden and Greenwood Elementaries, the opening of Bancroft Elementary, and of the conversion of Mary D. Lang Elementary into a kindergarten-exclusive center, offering full-day kindergarten as opposed to the AM\/PM half days formerly applied.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLast year was the first year we had full day kindergarten and the assessments we gave our students demonstrates that the kids were farther ahead of any kindergarten class we\u2019ve had in the past. And that\u2019s a good thing because now we have to get ready to meet those students in first grade because their achievement is much higher,\u201d Tomasetti said, \u201cthis increased reading achievement will last throughout their elementary career and builds the basis for reading to learn as opposed to learning to read.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In terms of science education in the elementary schools, teaching will be enhanced by the introduction of Polyvision Boards, similar in most respects to Smart Boards. An emphasis on technology is in use to increase student engagement through participation along with new National Geographic science curriculum.<\/span><\/p>\n

At Greenwood Elementary the \u201cStar\u201d program is being introduced to provide successful students with enrichment and struggling students with remedial attention. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a half hour of each student\u2019s day. It\u2019s going to be a pullout, it will be either acceleration or a remediation process,\u201d Tomasetti said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The remediation would focus on very specific areas within the students curriculum, for example, simplifying fractions, and would serve to bring struggling students up to speed.\u00a0 Students\u2019 progress or lack thereof is evaluated by formative assessments (teacher observation) and benchmark exams, of which there are three per year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, the opening of Bancroft Elementary is drawing many former charter school students back into the district. This helps the district not only in terms of enrollment but also fiscally as each student that comes back into the district brings a return of $10,000 or $20,000 for a special education student. Bancroft is slated to be operational for the beginning of the school year; its dedication is scheduled for October 29, 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kennett Consolidated School District prepares to go up and running for the 2011-2012 school year with course modifications, refined grading practices, and a new school By P.J. D’Annunzio, Staff Writer, KennettTimes.com KENNETT SQUARE \u2014 Change is coming to Kennett Consolidated School District\u00a0for the upcoming school year and students all across the board stand to reap […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":969,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[186,185,184],"class_list":["post-955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-back-to-school","tag-bancroft","tag-kennett-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}