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Overcast Schools To Watch may come to Oceanside
Oceanside Middle School could receive elite recognition from program
Schools to Watch, a national program adopted by New York state, may soon be making its way to the Oceanside School District.
At a recent school board meeting, Oceanside Middle School Principal Allison Glickman-Rogers presented a plan for the district to apply for the program in the coming months. If selected, the middle school could potentially be named one of the country's model middle-level academic institutions.
Islip Middle School and Jericho Middle School have earned this recognition in past years.
"Our staff is very excited about this possibility," Glickman-Rogers said. "Our goal, if chosen, would be to earn this honorable designation and sustain it."
Schools to Watch identifies and publicizes schools across the country that offer top-notch middle-level education. The National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, a committee comprising more than 60 educators, researchers and officers of national associations and foundations, launched the program 11 years ago. The four elements the committee uses to measure a school's success rating are developmental responsiveness, academic excellence, social equity and organizational structure and process.
The purpose of the program is not to reform a school as much as it is to evaluate it according to those standards. "We hope that as a goal, it can inject pride into our school and help the staff and students a great deal through evaluation," said Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Robert Fenter, a former OMS principal.
According to the program, schools chosen by the committee serve as role models for other schools seeking to improve. An ideal school is one that is committed to continue to improve even after being recognized.
"Our staff feels that the four elements are consistent with what makes up a strong middle-level education," said Fenter. "Our middle school embodies each of the principles to a very strong degree. We are academically excellent, but also socially equitable and organizationally structured, as evidenced through the teams established in grades seven and eight."
