Part+D

=Part D: Understanding of School Needs (2 pages + two sample documents)=


 * __SUB-COMMITTEE MEMBERS:__

** ** ||  || ** || ** || ** || ** || ** ||
 * **ETAYLOR - PARENT COORDINATOR
 * **RPERKINS-MATH COACH
 * **RTINEO-INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COORDINATOR
 * **ARIVERA-MATH COACH
 * **MPOU-MULTICULTURAL ACADEMY SUPERVISOR
 * **ASOW-UFT CHAPTER LEADER

8. Conduct a preliminary needs analysis for your school to articulate the primary areas where you expect your planning efforts will focus. **Please note that in your implementation application, you will be asked to submit a more detailed assessment of needs. For this section, please include the following:**


 * a. Two sample documents from your school’s Inquiry Team work from 2007-08. You are encouraged to provide one example of a strong piece of work and one example of a weaker piece of work. Please provide a brief explanation of each document and comment on how they reflect your school’s strengths and weaknesses.**


 * b. A description of how your needs assessment – including your target population of students most in need and the steps needed to close the achievement gap and improve the quality of teaching and learning in your school – is based on the data underlying your school’s Progress Report, the results of its Learning Environment Survey, Periodic Assessment outcomes, recommendations from the Quality Review, and other available information.**

Students who are persistently failing are doing so not only because of what they do, but because of what we do not do. We have in many cases failed to provide the support needed – academic, emotional and social, at the appropriate time and in the correct way, to get the student (and often their family) over and through their difficult time; so in many cases instead of producing motivated eager learners, we have produced angry, sad children who felt under-valued and worthless, because we failed to see the real issue(s). We failed to understand that perhaps they were just caught in the middle of situations that they had no control over, often blaming them for the circumstances. While these children may have not achieved academically, they are smart, they have found ways to divert our attention away from their educational issues and divert it into other places concerning them. In many cases when you strip away all the layers of defense, what you still have is **a child,** with many needs, which require an enormous amount of help, to get them back on track. Although we are a school community, we must separate out the academic need from the emotional and social need: A ** cademic ** We must determine where the child is academically and although we have curriculums for each grade, we must teach to the child’s actual academic level. We should look at teaching to fill in the gaps of missing knowledge, to bring the child up to standard in math and in ELA only. Understanding that the child may never catch up, we will have at least given the child a chance to experience success in school and to learn appropriate skills for success. ** Social Emotional ** While the above is being achieved, the student can receive onsite counseling and support, for issues that impact their ability to focus and concentrate. We also would make referrals, via linkages we would establish with community based agencies for case management services for the student’s family. We would also establish linkages for mental health services. We would develop a personalized educational and emotional support plan for each child, given their uniqueness and the uniqueness’ of each of their situations. We work closely with the student to turn around what looked like failure to success. In some cases the child will choose options that will not lead to graduation from High School, there our role would be to ensure proper placement into vocational programs, in other cases the child will move on and mainstream in a regular academic setting. But whatever the option chosen, the child and their family will be well informed and supported.
 * c. A description of how you will target persistently failing students, including those who are over-age and may be held over according to our promotion policies.**


 * d. Please attach your school’s Parent Involvement Policy (if applicable) and describe how it is used in your school.**