Recognizing Excellence!

One of the great privileges I have as a superintendent is to recognize students for outstanding achievement. Over the past couple of weeks, I have had two opportunities to do just that with students at BHS.

Tri-M Induction

On Wednesday, October 16, 2013, an induction ceremony for new Tri-M (Modern Music Masters) inductees was held in Veterans' Memorial Auditorium at BHS. Sixteen students were selected and inducted into this society, which recognizes students with musical and academic excellence. In addition to the 16 students who were inducted into this honor society, Mr. Joshua Guerrez, General and Vocal Music Teacher at CHCS, was inducted as an honorary member. Following the induction ceremony, the audience was treated to a recital by the newly inducted members. They all did a fabulous job playing and singing!

New inductees join current members of Tri-M following their induction ceremony.

Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Excellence Award

At the October 22nd School Committee meeting, I had the pleasure of presenting the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents (M.A.S.S.) Excellence Award to Claire Nauman, a member of the Class of 2014. These awards are given to high school students who have distinguished themselves in the pursuit of excellence during their high school careers. The recommended criteria are: three (3) year cumulative average, rank in class, and personal selection by the Superintendent. M.A.S.S. gives the Superintendent leeway among the top 5% for his/her personal selection. Claire was nominated by Ms. Christine Vigneux, BHS Principal, to receive this award.

This is a very prestigious award given only to a select number of graduating seniors in the Commonwealth. Claire meets all the criteria established by M.A.S.S. and has contributed much to her school community academically, athletically, and through the performing arts and other extra-curricular activities. It is a pleasure to recognize Claire for her outstanding achievements.

Claire Nauman, left, receives the M.A.S.S. Academic Excellence Award

Update on Coffee & Conversation with the Superintendent

Four of the five Coffee & Conversation with the Superintendent gatherings have been held for the first quarter of the year. Four parents/guardians joined us at CHCS, 3 at JBMS, 5 at SRE, and 17 at BHS. I would like to thank all of you who took the time to join us and talk about our curriculum initiatives and assessments that are being used to help us better understand how to help our students achieve at high levels. The conversations have been rich. I would also like to thank Mr. Brian Cameron, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, and the principals who joined me in the dialogue. The last session for this quarter will be held at CSS on Tuesday, November 5th at 6:00 pm. If you haven't had a chance to join a gathering at one of the other schools, please plan to join Mr. Cameron, Ms. Bremer, and me next week. Please call my office at 323.0423 or email superintendent@belchertown.org to RSVP. This will help us plan for enough refreshments and handouts for you.

As always, if you have any questions or comments about this blog, please call the number above or use the email link to contact me. 

Best regards, Dr. Judith Houle, Superintendent of Schools

Coffee and Conversation Dates Set and Celebrating Seniors!

Coffee and Conversation with the Superintendent Dates Set

I would like to thank the 147 parents/guardians of our students for participating in the survey about our Coffee and Conversation with the Superintendent gatherings. The topics of our fall quarter gatherings, based on your responses, will be our new curriculum - mathematics in particular - and information about the PARCC assessment pilot some of our students will be taking next spring. You are encouraged to the session at your child's school, however, if you have a scheduling conflict and wish to attend a different session at another school, you are welcome to do so. You are also welcome to raise any other concerns and questions you may have about our schools. 

All gatherings will take place from 6:00-7:30 pm. The fall quarter meetings will be held on the following dates:

• October 17th, Chestnut Hill Community School
• October 21st - Jabish Brook Middle School
• October 23rd - Belchertown High School
• October 24th - Swift River Elementary School
• November 5th - Cold Spring School.

Please RSVP by calling the Superintendent's Office at 413.323.0423 or emailing superintendent@belchertown.org so we are sure to have enough refreshments and handouts available for you. We look forward to having you join us for these gatherings!

John and Abigail Adams Scholars Recognized

Ms. Vigneux, Belchertown High School Principal, and I recognized 65 seniors who were named as John and Abigail Adams Scholars. This prestigious award gives students who scored in the advanced level in either English Language Arts or Mathematics and Proficient or higher in all other aspects of the MCAS test free tuition at any state college or university in the Commonwealth. If a student does not elect to attend one of these post-secondary institutions, it is still a great accomplishment that can be listed on college applications. Congratulations!

John and Abigail Adams Scholars

Spirit Week at BHS

This past week was spirit week at BHS. The week was full of celebration for our students, designed to build community. Our seniors posed for their annual photo on the stadium field, all decked out in their black and orange Oriole colors!

Seniors pose for their Class of 2014 photo

Spirit week at BHS has come to an end, but JBMS will start their spirit week on Tuesday, October 15th. The week will culminate in the first dance of the year on Friday, October 18th! The students are looking forward to building community throughout the week.

As always, if you have any questions about this blog post, please feel free to call me at 413.323.0423 or email me at superintendent@belchertown.org.

Best regards, Dr. Judith Houle, Superintendent of Schools

Common Core State Standards and Belchertown Curriculum and Adams Scholarship presentations

Last week's post was about the new PARCC assessments and the pilot that our students will participate in. The Massachusetts State Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the adoption of these assessments in October as the potential replacement to the current MCAS system in the next few years. As I mentioned in that post, they are designed to measure student learning on the Common Core State Standards.

What are the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and why the change from our former state standards?

The Common Core State Standards are a set of common curriculum standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Forty-five of the fifty states in the country, including Massachusetts, have adopted them as the basis for their state curriculum frameworks. They were developed to ensure that we are sufficiently preparing our students for college and career in the context of skills that are necessary for success in the twenty-first century. The Common Core State Standards web site describes the history of their development that was led by the National Governors Association for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Joining in the development were teachers, school administrators, post-secondary educators, parents, and experts. The standards:

• are aligned with college and work expectations;
• are clear, understandable and consistent;
• include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills;
• build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards;
• are informed by other top performing countries, so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society; and
• are evidence-based.

One of the big changes from our former state standards is the clearer set of expectations by grade level versus a cluster of grades that teachers would then have to figure out how to sequence themselves. This clearer set of expectations has fueled our own curriculum development in Belchertown. Our English Language Arts and Mathematics curriculum guides have been fully aligned with the new Common Core. For more information on the Common Core State Standards, click here.

What are our next steps in Belchertown?

Our next steps are to ensure that all our educators become fully familiar with the standards and expectations for student learning and to translate that into content delivery with proven instructional strategies to ensure that our students achieve the highest levels of achievement possible in our classrooms.

New curriculum and news on our assessments, including the PARCC pilot, will be topics of conversation at our first Coffee and Conversation sessions with the Superintendent, scheduled for the next few upcoming weeks. More details to come on these in the next few days.

John and Abigail Adams Scholarships

I am pleased to announce that 65 members of the Class of 2014 are eligible for John and Abigail Adams Scholarships as a result of their performance on the MCAS! Ms. Vigneux, BHS Principal, and I will be presenting the award letters to the recipients on October 10th at BHS. I will post a photo from the event on my next blog post - stay tuned!

As always, if you have any questions about this post, please feel free to call me at 413.323.0423 or email me at superintendent@belchertown.org.

Best regards, Dr. Judith Houle, Superintendent of Schools