Results in Schools

The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) is pleased to acknowledge two of the five New York City elementary schools named as 2019 National Blue Ribbon recipients.

Hellenic Classical Charter School , PS 59 Beekman Hill International School , P.S. 101Q The School In The Gardens, P.S. 40 Augustus Saint-Gaudens Elementary School were among 332 schools recognized nationally by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. All the schools were listed under the Exemplary High Performing Schools category for their high performance on state and nationally normed assessments.

The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) is pleased to acknowledge three TC-affiliated New York City schools for their selection as 2017-18 Blackboard Award recipients.

The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) is pleased to acknowledge two of the five New York City elementary schools named as 2018 National Blue Ribbon recipients.

P.S. 6 Lillie Devereaux Blake School and P.S.183 Robert Louis Stevenson School were among 349 schools recognized nationally by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. Both elementary schools were listed under the Exemplary High Performing Schools category for their high performance on state and nationally normed assessments.

"We believe that our partnership with the TCRWP, which began five years ago on the elementary level...has had a significant positive impact..."Read More

Every day we receive word of yet more TCRWP schools that have garnered awards because of their success. Many of these are New York State schools that have won recognition as '2015-16 Rewards Schools. Read More...

The TCRWP would like to congratulate The Academy of Talented Scholars (TAOTS) P.S 682, which was selected as a National Blue Ribbon School by the US Department of Education this year. Read more..

Congratulations to PS 176 for receiving the National Title I Distinguished School Program award. The National Title I Association selected PS 176 as a superior Title I school and feels their program deserves national recognition for their National Title I program which serves over 1400 Brooklyn elementary school students.
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PS 150 in Tribeca takes pause to reflect on the past year as a Teachers College Reading and Writing Project school. The principal and several teachers took time recently to share their reflections and insights with the larger Project community.
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The Chappaqua Central School District is a nationally renowned suburban school system characterized by highly motivated students, a broadly educated and talented staff, and an actively involved parent community. A deep commitment to a broad and rich curriculum has traditionally defined the Chappaqua schools.

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Fourth graders at Bogert Elementary School are broadening their horizons and developing higher level thinking skills, as they apply knowledge traditionally reserved for Language Arts instruction to their studies across the board.

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Reports keep rolling in about TCRWP schools that did especially well this year. This is a beginning list of schools that are celebrating their progress. While celebrating progress, most of the schools yearn for a test that more closely reflects their hopes for children.

• PS 77—the Lower Lab School
• PS 29—the John M. Harrington School-- in Brooklyn
• PS 40—Augustus Saint-Gaudens Elementary School
• PS 396 in the Bronx
• PS 158--The Bayard Taylor School
• MS 230 in Queens
• MS 223-- Laboratory School of Finance and Technology
• PS 9-- Teunis G. Bergen School in Brooklyn
• PS 249--The Caton
• M.S. 322
• PS 95

The TCRWP would like to congratulate PS 158! This past year the school took on a goal of making sure that their students were all engaged in more productive struggle—that the person working the hardest in the class is not the teacher. The efforts and early stages of this work can be seen on our Danielson videos which were filmed in PS 158 classrooms last fall. Across the year, visitors also got the chance to see the teaching and learning at the school in action when PS 158 hosted all three of our coaching Institutes—Reading, Writing, and Argumentation. The school has also been recognized for notable work with special education students by Insideschools. PS 158 has been acknowledged for having “an extensive special education program, including occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech services, vision and hearing services, and adaptive physical education for the disabled’ as well as team-teaching and self-contained classes” (http://insideschools.org/special-education/noteworthy-special-ed-elementary). No one will be surprised that the school’s scores are high and that it has been named a Rewards School, but it is the students’ work—the depth and quality of the work-- which is the true accomplishment to be celebrated.

The TCRWP would like to congratulate PS 396! We’re proud to call you one of our own. The number of students considered to be working on grade level in ELA increased from 9% to 24%. This is an even more noteworthy accomplishment when the population serviced by PS 396 is considered. Almost 30% of students at PS 396 are considered to be special education population and the lower socioeconomic neighborhood the school services includes a homeless shelter. PS 396’s Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Nest program has been featured in InsideSchools as one of the noteworthy special education programs in the city with Dorothy Siegel, the project director of the ASD NEST support team, quoted as calling PS 396 "a very good school” (http://insideschools.org/component/schools/school/459). The school’s innovative schoolwide movement program has also been featured in United Federation of Teachers monthly journal. Congratulations to a school that Insideschools.org celebrates for “its can-do spirit in assisting children with special needs in ways that benefit all kids.”

The TCRWP wants to congratulate PS 29—one of its 2014-2015 Rewards Schools! It is important to note that this is a school that rallied against the ELA. Their protest was written up in The Nation earlier this April which also published their Teachers Resolution, calling it a piece of writing which “combines the intellectual clarity of the deeply informed with the urgency that only profound personal involvement can incite” (http://www.thenation.com/blog/179193/brooklyn-teachers-push-back-against-high-stakes-testing#). This is also a school where the kids did superbly well. PS 29 has been ranked as one of the top ten schools in New York State. We’re proud that three of their teachers attended the first Institute in American History and Content Area Literacy led jointly by the TCRWP and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation onsite at Colonial Williamsburg this summer. Congratulations for a curriculum that is not narrowly angled toward test prep but which is rich and offers students the chance to engage in meaningful, joyful work.

Beckett Washington Elementary School, in Beckett, MA, has implemented writing workshop for several years. Most recently, they have adopted the Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing as well as hosted 'homegrown' summer institutes for teachers. This year, MA Secretary of Education, Matt Malone, visited the school to see the students' exemplary writing work. Students in 4th grade were working in partnerships and using checklists from the new writing series in order to set goals for revision. Secretary Malone was impressed with the quality of the students' work and the high-caliber writing workshops the teachers have implemented.

Four students from PS 173 in Queens, a Blue-Ribbon TCRWP school, have received The Morgan Book Project Award for their Renaissance –inspired manuscripts, including a fourth grader who was named for a special award as the top writer in all New York City Department of Education schools that participated in the program.

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Before entering Mary Ulrich’s sixth-grade class at Linden Park Elementary, Jamal struggled for inspiration, and couldn’t summon the energy and attention to dive into a writing assignment.

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Across the country, the need to raise the level of reading achievement is one of the most pressing. In 2004, Public School 173, a K-5 school in Fresh Meadows, New York with over 700 students, 10% of whom are ELL, faced this same problem. Its new Principal, Molly Wang, walked the building of her school with her superintendent and Lead Instructional Supervisor (LIS) and observed that there was a need for some change.

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The New York State Department has announced the high achieving elementary schools in New York State, designating them as Rewards Schools. The TCRWP is proud that approximately 75% of the high performing elementary schools in New York City that are designated as Rewards Schools, have studied with the TCRWP .

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Collins Elementary School has recently been named a Reward School by the N.J. Department of Education. Collins was one of only 57 New Jersey schools recognized for their overall achievements.

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In 2010, Lisa Capone-Steiger was a new principal looking to increase the student achievement at Burnet Hill Elementary School in Livingston, New Jersey. The faculty was concerned that students weren’t reading enough and that they were not showing enough stamina on state tests. Lisa and her staff turned to the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project for support in raising student performance and strengthening the culture of reading.

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“Our work with Teachers College has produced teacher leaders”—Nancy Richardson, Houston County Schools of Georgia.

Over the past eight years, Houston County Schools have been on a learning journey with Teachers College, working with staff developers at particular schools and providing Home Grown opportunities during the summers.

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“It has been our privilege to partner with an organization that shares our vision and sees the inherent value of [The Common Core State Standards] as a driving force for school change.” --Eric M. Casale, Katherine Byrnes, Ryan Scala, & Tracey Frazier, Springs UFSD, NY

2012-13 is our first “official” year working with the project. However, teachers throughout our school have been working for a long time, along with the leadership team, to bring this work schoolwide, and establish shared practices through collaboration. These past few months have been incredible.

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First of all, a big, serious “congrats” to the Riverton Elementary School community — administrators, teachers, parents, support staff and students — for a Cinderella-like one-year turnaround on the school’s test scores. The school’s bump in New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) numbers from 2010 to 2011 is downright startling.

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