Deer Park Students Show Their Knowledge
District-wide Scores Rise; Double-Digit Gains in Many Areas
The Deer Park School District’s commitment to educational excellence can be seen in the latest New York State Assessment results. Deer Park student scores have improved, or remained at a high level, across the board in grades 3-8 on the 2008-2009 Math and English Language Arts (ELA) exams. Many of the impressive gains over the 2007-2008 school year can be attributed to the cooperative hard work and dedication of the district’s students, teachers and administration.
“Greater emphasis was placed on using individualized student reports and teacher reports,” said Deputy Superintendent Eva J. Demyen, who led the effort. “Curriculum was rewritten in both disciplines to strengthen student attention in areas where they showed prior deficiencies. The key was not to teach to the test, but to focus on New York State core curricula and use the best practices to deliver the concepts, skills and processes that are needed at that particular grade level.”
The district-wide effort has been implemented and its positive effects are already benefiting students and their academic careers. The following are the percentages of students meeting or exceeding the New York State standard by scoring in Levels 3 and 4 of the respective exams.
Grade Level ELA 07-08 ELA 08-09 Math 07-08 Math 08-09
3 83––––> 83 97––––> 98
4 75––––> 87 90––––> 90
5 83––––> 87 87––––> 93
6 80––––> 90 90––––> 93
7 72––––> 90 92––––> 97
8 61––––> 74 74––––> 94
“We are all very proud of our students and the fact that they are achieving a significantly higher level of success on these exams,” added Superintendent of Schools Elizabeth Marino. “It’s a testament to the many hours of staff and curriculum development our educators put in. Our goal is to continue to improve teaching and learning; so that we can be the best we can be and help the children of Deer Park achieve their full potential and exceed expectations.”
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Students Meet a Healthy Challenge
Middle School Class Writes Winning Recipe in Nationwide Contest
Robert Frost Middle School Family and Consumer Science students were recently named the winners of the Stirring Up Health recipe contest sponsored by the Healthy Kids Challenge organization. The goal of this national effort is to encourage students to enjoy healthy eating and physical activity as part of their overall lifestyle.
Healthy Kids Challenge is a nationally recognized 501(c)3 nonprofit organization led by registered licensed dietitians with years of school, program and community wellness experience. For over 10 years, the organization has pioneered the path of onsite and distance assistance.
Robert Frost students applied their culinary curriculum to create the “Deer Park Paco,” an innovative combination of a pizza and a taco using all natural ingredients. In class, students prepared different versions of their recipe and conducted taste tests voting for the school recipe winner. Students then submitted that recipe to an esteemed panel of Healthy Kids Challenge judges who selected the winning chefs. Recipes were judged on originality, creativity and taste and contestants also were required to submit essays explaining how they planned to make positive changes in their lives and the lives of others by making and encouraging better nutrition decisions.
In reward for their winning entry, Frost students were visited by Chef Thomas J. Delle Donne of Johnson and Wales University who worked in the kitchen with the young chefs to teach them about kitchen tools and techniques. Slicing and dicing during a live demonstration, Chef Thomas introduced students to the latest technologies in food science, creating edible molecular based snacks and using the students winning recipe to recreate the Deer Park Paco with them.
“I truly believe that it is imperative to educate students on healthy eating and cooking habits,” said Chef Thomas. “While they are young we need to empower them with proper ways to prepare and eat as opposed to commercial advertising, exposing them to snack foods and sugar loaded treats. One of the ways we can do this is to show them the best practices and provide reasons why good health and moderation are keys to a happy life.”
Deer Park’s Home and Career Skills winning recipe can be viewed at http://www.healthykidschallenge.com/?q=content/kids-recipe-contest-winners.
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High School Teen Becomes an Ambassador for Safe Teen Driving
High School student Mohamed Abbas recently lent his voice to radio and participated in a public service announcement (PSA) campaign aimed at informing teens about the dangers distractions can pose when operating a car.
Mohamed was selected to join other student representatives from across Long Island to participate in the campaign, which is being conducted by Allstate Insurance Company. Based on fatal accident statistics, the increased number of cars on the road and the fact that holiday weekends (Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day) and activities such as the senior prom historically result in increased alcohol use and subsequent drunken driving, experts identify the spring and summer months as the “100 Deadliest Days for Teen Driving.”
Mohamed’s PSA, which he recently recorded at the studios of WBLI radio station in West Babylon, will air on 106.1 from now through Labor Day weekend. Earlier in the school year, Deer Park was awarded a $1,000 grant from the Allstate Foundation and hosted a program at the high school entitled Direct The Drive: Show Off for Safety for which Mohamed was involved in coordinating. Under the program, high school students performed their own music videos and commercials about the dangers of distracted and reckless driving for their peers and the community.
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Arts in Action
Through the Arts in Education program John F. Kennedy Intermediate School students had the opportunity to work with professional artist John DiNaro in a school-wide beautification project. Students in Laurie Schwartz’s classes created visual pieces of art to be placed throughout the building hand carving and painting wooden carousel animals and a signature dragon with the inspirational message “believe” written across its body from sketch drawings. Adding their personal style to the project, they decorated their animals with jewels and beads.
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