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 Nicole
Lindeman
Transformation Officer
Office of School Transformation
William S. Hackett Middle School
45 Delaware Avenue
Albany, NY 12202
E-mail:
nlindeman@albany.k12.ny.us
Phone: 475-6518
With the help of a $3.3 million State Education
Department grant, the City School District of Albany is bolstering its
ongoing efforts to raise student achievement at
Albany High School and William
S. Hackett Middle School.
The School
Improvement Grant, awarded in August 2011, supports a variety of
programs and staff positions at both schools. For the 2011-12 school
year, the grant provided $1.6 million to Albany High, $1.4 million to
Hackett and $289,000 at the district level. The district also can, and
will, apply for School Improvement Grants for the 2012-13 and 2013-14
school years.
The district
received the grant after State Ed identified both Albany High and
Hackett as persistently lowest-achieving schools because they
consistently under-perform on state exams. The enhancements the grant
supports at both schools are in line with State Ed’s review of each
school as well as
the district’s strategic plan, “A Vision for Tomorrow.”
Continuing to transform Albany High School
Efforts to
restructure Albany High began in September 2010, when the U.S.
Department of Education awarded the district a three-year, $7.5 million
grant to divide the school into four smaller, themed academies. The
School Improvement Grant supplements the school's transition, which
officially began with the start of the 2011-12 school year.
The state grant:
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Continues the position for
overseeing school-improvement efforts, held by Dale Getto since the
start of the 2010-11 school year.
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Strives to raise academic
rigor by increasing chances for all students to take advanced
coursework such as Advanced Placement and International
Baccalaureate classes, as well as project- and inquiry-based
learning.
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Provides more supports and training
for teachers who work with students with disabilities and students
for whom English is not a first language.
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Supports expanded use of
teaching with technology.
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Supports
summer camps for incoming freshmen to ease the transition from
middle school to high school (click the highlighted link to learn
about what's available for summer 2012).
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Expands programs for
students to make up credits. These programs include:
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Saturday Academies
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APEX learning, a
web-based program that helps students catch up and get ahead on
coursework
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AVID, or Advancement Via Individual Determination, a college
readiness program.
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Supports a part-time family
engagement coordinator to get families and the community more
involved in school activities.
Supporting Hackett Middle School
Under the grant, Hackett
converted to a two-house
structure with an assistant principal and guidance counselor assigned
to each house and a building principal overseeing the whole school. The
district’s plan to raise achievement at Hackett includes many of the
same strategies that will be implemented at Albany High. The School
Improvement Grant's plan for Hackett also contains:
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A new position -- school
improvement manager -- to oversee the improvement efforts. Former
North Albany Academy Assistant Principal David Amodeo serves in that
role.
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Student advisory periods, one 55-minute period per week where
teams of students and staff meet to discuss students' academic and
non-academic needs, character and the overall school climate.
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Summer transition camps in
2012 for students who will enter in sixth or seventh grades
(depending on their feeder elementary school).
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More learning time through
extended-day programs, apprenticeships, longer English classes and
math seminars, among other strategies.
Throughout the district
At the district level, the
grant supports two positions. Nicole Lindeman serves as a transformation
officer responsible for oversight of the full school-improvement program
for Albany High and Hackett. The district also hired a technology
specialist to help both schools better integrate instructional
technology.
The grant also:
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Helps support a new teacher
evaluation system.
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Identifies and rewards
teachers improving student achievement and high-school graduation
rates.
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Puts in place a system for
measuring changes in instructional practices resulting from
professional development.
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Uses data to identify and
carry out teaching strategies that meet the needs of all students.
For more information, contact Nicole
Lindeman at 475-6518.
You also can read the
original announcement about the grant award and an
update on the funding by clicking the highlighted text.
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