Middle Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Newton Schools Foundation

Exploring Inclusive Counseling Curricula

Purchasing several inclusive, neuro-affirming, anti-ableist counseling curricula for secondary use to explore as a group before deciding on which ones to use across the middle schools for counseling groups and individual meetings.

Exploring Inclusive Counseling Curricula new

Applicant: Jordanna L'Esperance

Schools: All Middle Schools

Date Approved: Fall 2024

Amount: $500

Spring Mental Health Summit

The Mental Health Summit is in its 2nd year. Offered twice a year to the ~130 mental health professionals district-wide for a day of learning and community building. It’s become a much-anticipated space and time …

Spring Mental Health Summit

The Mental Health Summit is in its 2nd year. Offered twice a year to the ~130 mental health professionals district-wide for a day of learning and community building. It's become a much-anticipated space and time for our folks! Our mental health professionals play an integral role in the culture and climate of our buildings and classrooms. The mental health summit, as reported overwhelmingly in feedback surveys afterwards, feeds their souls professionally, deepens their current practice, and provides space for professional improvement with like-roles. Staff who feel supported and joyful are better prepared to provide the same environment for students and their colleagues!

Applicant: Casey Ngo-Miller

Schools: District-wide

Date Approved: Fall 2024

Amount: $10,000

Professional Learning Communities – Creating the Foundation For Personalized Student Support

Train principals to then train teacher teams in their buildings on the expectations for robust Professional Learning Communities (PLC) and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) work and outcomes.

Professional Learning Communities – Creating the Foundation For Personalized Student Support new

Train principals to then train teacher teams in their buildings on the expectations for robust Professional Learning Communities (PLC) and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) work and outcomes.

Applicant: Anna Nolin

Schools: District-wide

Date Approved: Spring 2025

Amount: $34,832

FOCUS Executive Function Curriculum and Training

FOCUS Executive Function Curriculum and Training new

Executive Function Curriculum and Training for Special Educators, Inclusion Teachers and Support Staff (35 staff) The curriculum includes pre and post assessments in the areas of Executive Function. Assessments will be used each trimester to measure progress. Adopting a new Executive Function curriculum in the Focus Program allows for direct instruction over 3 years for students on the Autism Spectrum who have deficits in Executive Function Skills.

Applicant: Renae Fulkerson-Keszycki

Schools: Brown Middle School

Date Approved: Spring 2025

Amount: $2,328.89

Using a Trauma Informed and Culturally Responsive Approach for Behavioral Interventions

This project will extend training provided through a 2023 NSF grant to increase the knowledge and skills of staff in selecting and implementing behavior interventions that are Trauma Informed, Culturally Responsive, and Neurodivergent positive. Many practices used to address students’ behavioral challenges are no longer appropriate because they do not consider the cultural variables, cognitive variations, or potential trauma histories of students. This project will allow NPS to target professional training and support to specific staff (with a focus on Unit C staff) to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge to select and implement interventions that are Trauma Informed, Culturally Responsive, and Neurodivergent positive.

Applicant: James Ellis

Schools: District Wide

Date Approved: Spring 2024

Amount: $8,350

Igniting a Writing Revolution

We will conduct a book-study on “The Writing Revolution 2.0,” with the aim of developing consistent writing scaffolds that can be explicitly taught in the special ed. classroom and generalized to the general ed. setting.

Igniting a Writing Revolution

Applicant: Caitlin Irwin

Schools: Oak Hill & District Special Ed. Programs

Date Approved: Spring 2024

Amount: $245

Psychology Department Book Study

Psychologists will continue our goal of reducing bias in assessment & counseling by reading over the summer and meeting in the fall to discuss and apply learnings in order to design more inclusive comprehensive evaluation and counseling processes. Earlier this year we read Systemic Racism and Educational Measurement: Confronting Injustice in Testing, Assessment, and Beyond, and met with the author for discussion. This led to additional thoughtful departmental discussions about bias in psychological assessments, and allowed us to review our practices and to collaborate on best practices for inclusive, comprehensive assessment and counseling practices which creates more educational equity for all students. We want to continue this work.

Applicant: Jordanna L'Esperance & Toni-Marie Kelly

Schools: District Wide

Date Approved: Spring 2024

Amount: 1,000

Including Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in Middle School General Music

DHH students in the general music classroom pose a unique challenge. All activities related to listening need to have additional visual and tactile components. We want to provide more percussion activities and instruction. We are bringing music education- a historically hearing based activity- to deaf and hard of hearing students through visualization, vibration, and physicality. Like all adaptive lessons, these adaptations will also benefit hearing students by being more multisensory and multimodal learning activities.

Applicant: Jaime Alberts

Schools: Bigelow

Date Approved: Fall 2023

Amount: $1,225

Cultural Kaleidoscope: Researching, Designing, and Promoting the District’s Monthly Heritage Celebration Resource

A few years ago, DEI began the Monthly Heritage Celebration document, and going forward, I’ll expand it for the District. This resource helps educators, students, and families as they look for ways to celebrate and …

Cultural Kaleidoscope: Researching, Designing, and Promoting the District’s Monthly Heritage Celebration Resource

A few years ago, DEI began the Monthly Heritage Celebration document, and going forward, I'll expand it for the District. This resource helps educators, students, and families as they look for ways to celebrate and learn about different heritages. Activities I will engage in include: evaluating needs assessment, setting a timeline, researching and curating resources, evaluating for quality and inclusivity, organizing the document, managing copyrights, designing layout, gathering feedback, promoting awareness, evaluating impact, and planning for long-term sustainability and growth.

Applicant: Eileen Keane

Schools: District Wide

Date Approved: Fall 2023

Amount: $1,600

Futuring: Developing the Next Strategic Plan for the Newton Public Schools

After a 4-part session to develop a Profile of a Newton Graduate, the district and stakeholder groups will work to develop a 3-5 year strategic plan for the district. The entire school community would be affected and enhanced by a new strategic plan, but we aspire to 50 community members participating in the stakenolder engagement part of strategic planning.

Applicant: Anna Nolin

Schools: District Wide

Date Approved: Fall 2023

Amount: $16,800

No Red Ink: Personalized Grammar Instruction

No Red Ink is an engaging and pedagogically valuable tool for Grade 8 grammar instruction. It allows for differentiated grammar instruction and evaluation. We have seen its utility first hand for the past six months, and want to renew the license. Students' English grammar skills are widely varied, and with historically large class sizes in this year's 8th grade, providing targeted instruction for all students is quite a challenge, even for our veteran ELA team. Some families afford tutors to boost skills, and/or have native English family members at home, while others rely solely upon our instruction. No Red Ink allows us to tailor grammar instruction, which helps with engagement and skills growth overall.

Applicant: Becky Cohen

Schools: Brown

Date Approved: Fall 2023

Amount: $3,500

Professional Development and Alignment in Anti-Biased, Culturally Responsive Assessment for Psychologists

Book study of Systemic Racism and Educational Measurement Confronting Injustice in Testing, Assessment, and Beyond, by Dr. Michael Russell, culminating in meeting with the author in the spring and application of what is learned in future years. Over the course of the spring of 2024 and the 2024-25 school year, the psychologists will read Dr. Russell’s book, participate in book groups designed to apply the learning to their own work, and will discuss as a department additional measures, statements, and methods to be added or changed in order to reduce the inherent systemic and build-in bias in assessment. The department will invite Dr. Russell to join for some part of the discussion.

Applicant: Laurie Paul, Jordanna L’Esperance, Toni-Marie Kelly

Schools: District Wide

Date Approved: Fall 2023

Amount: $4,037