New elementary level report cards for East Providence students are almost complete

EAST PROVIDENCE — Work on new elementary level report cards for children in grades K-5 is all but completed and the finished project is just about ready for use, assistant superintendent Dr. Celeste Bowler told the school committee at its meeting Tuesday night, Oct. 11.

Dr. Bowler, who oversees early learning and elementary schools for the district, announced the committee convened reviewing report cards for youngsters had only a few last details to iron out before the report cards can be presented to teachers for use this term.

The 14-member group compiled questions for a survey being sent out to school personnel and the parent community. The committee met several times throughout the past year to correct qualms expressed about the previous grading system and its standards.

"The word is truly 'final,'" Dr. Bowler said about the status of project at last week's meeting. "The committee has worked long and hard. They put in a lot of thought. And we've had some very rich and deep conversations."

Kindergarten students will have a report card different from those pupils in grades 1-5, allowing for more specific explanation of a child's progress and grasp of the learning materials by their teachers.

"We've been working on a guide to the report cards so teachers have an idea on what's new, how standards should be graded," Dr. Bowler explained, adding members of the committee will remain available for consultation and, if necessary, workshops for teachers on the subject matter may still be offered.

"We are at the finish line," Dr. Bowler concluded. "We just have a little more to do and we are done."

At-Large committee member Joel Monteiro, who was at the forefront of the discussion to revise the previous incarnation of the elementary report card, praised the efforts of Dr. Bowler and the committee members.

"This was everything I was looking from a layman's perspective," Mr. Monteiro said. "Not being an educator, but as a parent I can now understand how my child is performing and how I can best support and work with teachers."

Middle schools update

Dr. Sandra Forand, the administrations counterpart to Dr. Bowler as the assistant for middle and secondary schools, last week offered up a brief update on matters at Riverside and Martin Middle Schools.

Dr. Forand told the committee all of the Google Chromebooks had been distributed to the core content classrooms at Riverside and Martin, adding "it's really exciting to see what's going on."

She said "students are really engaged and excited" to be working with such programs as BrainDrop, the Summit Learning platform and the Google Classroom initiative which includes using Google Docs, Gmail and Google Calendar.

Special Needs update

Director of Pupil Personnel Julian MacDonnell updated the committee on matters surrounding Special Education in the district. He said the administration has been informed by the Rhode Island Department of Education to expect a school support visit, likely in April of next year, as part of a five-year review.

Mr. MacDonnell said as part of his department's continued professional development offerings, two workshops, one in the fall and the spring, will be presented by the Autism Project. The workshops will focus on teaching methods for children with Autism Spectrum Disabilities or ASD.

In addition, Mr. McDonnell made mention of the next East Providence Local Advisory Committee For Special Education meeting that takes place Wednesday, Oct. 26, at the Martin Middle School Library. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. The theme of the gathering will be a discussion of strategies to help nurture the mind and the impact of brain-based research on learning and teaching methods.