SUPPORT GOALS
- To challenge students academically.
- To help students become lifelong learners.
- To foster a sense of community pride through our social curriculum. This includes Responsive Classroom strategies and Community Service Learning.
- To teach students to think critically about their connections to their world through their learning.
- To help students understand that acts of kindness are both respectful to themselves and others.
FOREST AVENUE OVERVIEW
The Forest Avenue School focuses on programs which serve the many diverse academic, social, emotional and physical needs of school age children. The instructional program emphasizes the development of problem-solving skills. The Forest Avenue School works with the home and community to maintain an environment which promotes exploration and discovery in order to help each student learner build a positive self-image.
The Forest Avenue School is a public school in the Hudson Public School District in Hudson, Massachusetts. Hudson is a small town, situated in the middle of Massachusetts. Hudson has 18, 000 residents and enjoys strong support for its schools. The student population at Forest Avenue School reflects the Hudson population, of which one-third are of Portuguese descent from the Azores, Portugal or Brazil. In the student population, 20% qualify for free or reduced lunch.
The standard for school improvement in Massachusetts is one of the most rigid and rigorous of any state. The standard for adequate yearly progress is set even higher. Schools must make steady and consistent progress toward all students achieving a MCAS score of 240 , which is equivalent to the 75th to 80th percentile on nationally-normed tests. The DOE has established strict guidelines for all public schools in the state. Forest Ave.’s report card towards meeting these high goals is linked to its web site. In addition, the school must make steady progress toward this goal for every sub-group within the school. These subgroups include, special education students, English language learners, and members of each racial group. At the same time that pressure on the schools to improve performance has increased, state funding for education has been compromised and critical grant programs have been curtailed.
For twelve years, Hudson has kept its focus on long-term improvement goals that are modified yearly. We have been able to:
· Implement new, more academically challenging curricula in all curricular areas at Forest Ave.
· Establish an innovative and highly functional curriculum support structure that has created a consistent scope and sequence in the core subject areas, provided leadership for the professional development of the staff, and supported the implementation of innovative and rigorous curriculum programs
· Move from whole group, uniform instruction to differentiated instruction in order to better address the needs of all student
· Shift our instructional emphasis to student-active, inquiry-based instruction
· Reduce class size
· Institute character educational and service learning programs that enhance the social environment of the school, the social skill development of students, and academic performance
· Implement a standardized testing system to assess student performance and a teacher evaluation system that is focused on improving instruction
Our class size keeps students from falling through the cracks. Responsive Classroom provides us with programs, strategies, and training to discuss critical issues with our students. Class sizes along with excellent teachers are the primary determinants for success for our students. Students and teachers build relationships in this school. We care about one another. This may not be measured with standardized test scores, but it will be measured by students' individual successes; by helping students care for and respect one another, by understanding how freedom and democracy work in this country.