The COnnection
MARSD Central Office Newsletter- October/November 2017
A Message from the Superintedent - Dr. Majka
Greetings from the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District.
It has been a busy time at Central Office and we have many exciting new changes to share with you. First, we are changing the format of our newsletter for the 2017-2018 school year. Beginning this month and moving forward, the Central Office newsletter will be shared on a bi-monthly basis, with a spotlight on a different department within Central Office every other month. To kick off the new school year, the first newsletter will spotlight the Office of Curriculum & Instruction.
C&I has some new faces in leadership that I would like to take this opportunity to introduce. First, Mr. John Bombardier who has served the district as a Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the past five years, now leads the C&I team as the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction. We wish him continued success in his new role. With Mr. Bombardier's transition to Assistant Superintendent for C&I, the district was able to hire two new Directors of Curriculum to provide curriculum leadership at the elementary and secondary level. We welcome Dr. Elford Rawls-Dill as our new Director of Curriculum & Instruction for Grades 6-12. Before being named as a Director of Curriculum and Instruction 6-12 at Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District, Dr. Rawls-Dill served as a principal at Long Branch Public Schools, The Titusville Academy, and as a Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the Asbury Park School District. In each of his leadership roles, Dr. Rawls-Dill has fostered an environment conducive to social and emotional growth, innovative exploration, and academic excellence. At the elementary level, we welcome Mrs. Mona Tobia as our new Director of Curriculum and Instruction for Grades Pre-K-5. Mrs. Tobia brings a wealth of knowledge from her experiences within the district at Lloyd Road Elementary School and Matawan Aberdeen Middle School. All three of these dynamic individuals are committed to excellence within our district. Please join me with a warm welcome to all, as we work together to offer the best educational programs and environment to our students and staff.
"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all." - Aristotle
PARCC Success
Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District saw significant success in our PARCC results for the Spring of 2017. Please take a moment to view the PARCC PowerPoint that was presented at the Board of Education Meeting on September 25, 2017. In addition, a link to the standardized testing schedule for 2017-2018 is provided for your convenience. Please take a moment to mark those dates on your calendar.
The following are notable improvements in PARCC testing from previous years:
· Increase in the number of students participating
· MARSD exceed State Average in the area of Math
· MARSD exceed State Average in the area of Language Arts
· Growth in Mathematics
· Growth in Language Arts
High School Happenings
National Merit Scholarship Program
Tomorrow's Teachers
Leadership Academy
Middle School Milestones
Firing Up The Kiln
Achieve 3000 Implementation
Elementary Events
English Language Arts - Literacy by Design Implementation
Literacy by Design (LBD) is a research-based reading and writing framework, which utilizes whole class, small group, and independent reading to meet the needs of all students. Literacy skills in LBD are linked to science and social studies content, which are aligned to the NJ Student Learning Standards. This integrated approach helps students make connections and foster deeper levels of understanding.
As we progress throughout the school year we will monitor the LBD program and further assess the possible adoption of the program in other classrooms and at other grade levels within the district. Stay tuned for further updates regarding LBD from the Curriculum & Instruction Department.
Fundations
Over the past decade, Wilson Fundations has been a recognized leader in bringing multisensory, structured language programs to elementary classrooms. Based on the Wilson Reading System principles, Wilson Fundations provides research-based materials and strategies essential to a comprehensive reading, spelling, and handwriting program.
This program will provide important foundational skills, with a fun approach to reading. The emphasis for our students in kindergarten and first grade will be:
- Phonemic awareness
- Phonics/word study
- High frequency word study
- Reading fluency
- Vocabulary
- Comprehension strategies
- Handwriting
- Spelling
We are please to offer this program to our students, as we strive to make life-long literacy something that starts here at Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District.
School Closings/Four Hour Sessions
Don't forget to mark your calendar! All district schools and offices will be closed or operate on a four hour session on the following dates:
No School Thursday, November 9th and Friday, November 10th
Thanksgiving Holiday
Four Hour Session Wednesday, November 22nd
No School Thursday, November 23rd and Friday, November 24th