Casimir Pulaski School # 8

100 4th Street

Passaic, NJ 07055

Tel. 973-470-5508

Mr. Rafael Fraguela, Principal

Deborah Cuoco, Administrative Secretary

Raquel Mendoza, Administrative Secretary

2012-2013 SCHOOL SNAPSHOT

Pulaski School No. 8 is home to 600 students in grades K-3. We have a staff of more than 70 including teachers, support staff, secretaries, custodians and an administrator. The goal of the school is to address the academic as well as the social and emotional needs of all the children while in a safe and comfortable environment. We believe that all children can learn.

Our staff benefits from professional development by attending in-service all day workshops provided by our district. Literacy and math coaches also turn key additional training sessions throughout the year. In addition, our monthly walkthroughs and weekly grade level meetings afford teachers with visitations to other colleague’s classrooms and to openly discuss comments that are made. They permit new ideas to be taken back to the classroom and implemented. Moreover, we recognize the importance of having highly qualified teachers on staff and all of Pulaski School No. 8’s instructional staff fall within this realm. Furthermore, many staff members have or are currently receiving advanced degrees in education.

In order to motivate and encourage students’ success differentiated instruction is embedded in all our content areas. The information needed in order to prepare these lessons is extrapolated from various sources of data that are collected throughout the year. Our goal is to provide opportunities for all students to meet their highest level of academic performance in the classroom. During the instructional part of the day we continue to promote the use of literacy centers, Everyday Math activities, hands on science exploration, and process writing.

We have developed an In House Skill Analysis (IHSA) Pilot Program which will continue to target at risk students in Kindergarten through Third Grade. This Pilot Program committee prepared pre-and post test assessments to track how students are performing on state core knowledge skills in Mathematics and Language Arts-Literacy. Our committee is working with Curriculum Alignment using our own Pacing Charts or curriculum maps in order to plan instruction and develop post tests at the end of each unit. The units of instruction are prepared to make sure the teachers pace themselves and their students so time is not devoted to less important objectives. Our committee is demonstrating their willingness to learn curriculum alignment, create pacing guides and prepare pre-and post test assessments. A bulletin board by the entrance of our school shows the entire school growth or lack of it using graphs in color. Teachers are using the results to address students’ growth (creating an individual action plan for students in need of improvement) as well as drive their classroom instruction. The individual Action Plan given to students becomes a contract between the parents, the teacher, the students and the principal. Meetings with the parents are scheduled to analyze the progress or lack of progress.

This philosophy is further strengthened by our many after school programs for our struggling students and inquisitive parents. Programs, remedial in nature, for kindergarten and grade two special education, along with an immersion program for grades two and three bilingual, and NJ ASK test preparation are all after school programs that have been successfully implemented this year. For parents we have included basic math, computers, ESL, family math and science programs and counseling. As you can see, these activities not only address academia but also the social aspect of one’s life.

Rafael Fraguela, Principal