School-Wide Newsletter

New York Academy hosted an amazing Halloween Party at The Kids Center. A buffet dinner was provided with delectable desserts, there were lots of "scary" games, a photo booth, best dressed costume contest, ghoulish arts & crafts, and a super witch mixing magical potions. The New York Academy School Community knows how to celebrate the tradition of Halloween!

On November 17, the students' first report card of the year will be coming home.

This year, New York Academy is implementing a standards-based report card.

Different from traditional report cards and grades (i.e., A, B, C, D, F) used in the past,

a standards-based report card lists the most important learning outcomes students should learn in each subject at a particular grade level. Standards-based report cards are appreciated by parents because they are more informative of a student's academic progress. The most important guidelines of a standards-based report card include:

• Criterion-referenced scores against clearly stated learning goals.
  
• Zeros are not given.
  
• Academic performance and work/study habits are separated.
  
• The score is based on the most recent evidence of achievement, rather than on a mean average of grades.
  
• Reporting includes summative scores and is guided by formative assessments.
• Formative assessments and work (homework, quizzes, exit slips, etc) are designed to deepen learning and guide instruction. It "counts" for learning!
• Students may reassess - there is a clearly stated opportunity cost and window.

The following is a sample of our criteria-reference Scoring Rubric for the achievement of standards:

New York Academy is a progressive American international school. Our students are engaged in learning, and learning to learn!

How we instruct and engage students in learning is just as important as the knowledge, concepts, and skills our students learn! New York Academy uses research-evidence best practice including the workshop approach, cooperative group learning, learning centers, guided instruction, direct instruction, and maker learning with the design thinking process.

We are committed to guiding our students to learn with a sense of social responsibility to make the world a better place. Our are ethical individuals and global citizens.

We have adopted the American Education Reaches Out (AERO) Standards, which are a robust set of learning outcomes for all subjects with high expectations for academic achievement. The AERO standards serve as the curriculum framework for many of the top international schools around the world.

New York Academy has established six School-Wide Learning Results (SLRs) for our students to become:

1. Independent Learner

• I am curious.
• I explore, discover, think, and create.

• I self-direct my learning life.
• I am passionate about learning.

2. Effective Communicator

• I am an active listener.
• I am clear and thoughtful of my words.

• I am a conversationalist.
• I am a writer.
• I am a presenter.

3. Critical Thinker

• I reason critically as a habit of mind.

• I think creatively as a habit of mind.

• I think about my thinking.

4. Dynamic Achiever

• I set goals to accomplish.
• I take risks.
• I am willing to learn from my mistakes.
• I reflect on my strengths and growth areas.

5. Ethical Individual

• I am mindful.
• I am fair, honest, and respectful.
• I understand right and wrong.
• I make good choices when no one is looking.

• I have integrity.

6. Global Citizen

• I have perspective, empathy, and compassion.

• I celebrate different people and cultures.
• I care for others and respect differences.
• I am socially responsible.

• I choose to act and serve others.

The New York Academy curriculum has integrated principles and best practice of the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum and the Understanding by Design Approach, including Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions, which are embedded in our Units of Study across all subject areas.

What are Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions?

Enduring Understanding

• A ‘big idea’ that is transferrable and applied to solve problems beyond the classroom and in the real world.

EXAMPLE
When oppression is met with resistance, conflict results.

(be it a dictator or a bully on the playground)

Essential Question

• A ‘big question’ not answerable with finality in a lesson or brief explanation, which stimulates thought and is open to interpretation.

EXAMPLE

What do some people become a bully?

(open to interpretation, reflection, and debat)

The New York Academy curriculum makes explicit and intentional students’ growth with Critical Thinking, which are cognitive processes. These critical thinking skills are used to make meaning, understand complex situations, generate solutions to problems, and nurture new insight:

1. Activate and Connect Background Knowledge

2. Visualize
3. Generate Questions
4. Make Inferences

5. Gain Perspective & Empathy

6. Compare & Contrast
7. Identify Cause & Effect
8. Analyze & Synthesize

9. Conclude & Predict
10. Determine Importance

11. Monitor Comprehension

The New York Academy curriculum, across all subjects, makes the learning outcomes for each lesson explicit and intentional with Learning Points.

These are statements of what a student is to know (knowledge), understand (concepts), and able to do (skills). Our Learning Points are crafted from the AERO Standards, but written in student friendly terms:

EXAMPLE
LP: Readers make meaning by thinking about the character’s desires and struggles across the events of the story.

New York Academy individualizes learning with data-driven, differentiated instruction. We employ many formative assessments, which guide us to challenge students at their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), or “just right” level – not too hard and not too easy:

• Early Childhood Readiness Assessment
• P.A.S.T (Phonological Awareness Skills Test)
• D.S.I. (Development Spelling Inventory)
• D.R.A. 2 (Developmental Reading Assessment)

• On Demand Six Traits Writing Assessment
• Mathematics Concepts and Skills Assessment

Finally, the New York Academy recognizes that the social and emotional development of the child is just as important as academic achievement.

We encourage and affirm our students’ efforts and accomplishments.

We employ the Responsive ClassroomTM approach, which reinforces, reminds, and redirects students to make positive choices with respect, honesty, and self-discipline.

New York Academy is currently engaged in the Accreditation Process with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) through the self-study process.

• MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6 - PICTURE DAY
  
• THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9 - SPORTS FIELD DAY
  
• FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17 - REPORT CARDS HOME
  
• THURSDAY AND FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23 & 24 - AMERICAN THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY