Dear Staff,

Welcome to a new school year! I would like to take this opportunity to let everyone know how excited I am to be a part of the Family Life Academy Charter School. I look forward to working with everyone as the new principal of our school.

I am inviting every member of our school community to adopt the theme “ACCEPTING THECHALLENGE” for this upcoming school year. I know that FLACS has some wonderful and educationally sound instructional practices in place. I believe we can make them more systemic throughout the school in order to obtain significantly increased NYS student scores. I also believe that the single greatest determinant of learning is not socioeconomic factors or funding levels; it is great classroom instruction.

When I think about great classroom instruction, I remember a wonderful teacher I had the privilege of working with for several years. Every year his students would achieve high level 3’s and level 4’s on their NYS Exams. When I observed him teach this is what I saw - a clear, organized, and effective instructor. What was most exceptional is that he did nothing unusual. In other words, he did nothing that any teacher couldn’t do or hasn’t already learned to do.

He was clear about which standards he expected students to learn on any particular day. He provided samples of the kind of work he expected, and then had students analyze and discuss the samples. He explained and modeled each specific skill-with students’ involvement, while using technology to support his lesson. He would first have the new students practice the new skills briefly in
pairs, then individually while he circulated throughout the classroom. He called on students randomly to share, to ascertain what they were learning. When this teacher felt that students were ready, he assessed how they had learned the new skill. He monitored the students’ progress throughout the school year, conferencing with them and making revisions to his curriculum map and lesson
plans accordingly. He utilized student data to accelerate the teaching and learning in his classroom.

As part of our theme this year, I personally accept the CHALLENGE to provide you with the necessary professional development to meet and exceed our academic expectations for the school year. Our schools’ performance goal for the 2011-2012 school year is to achieve double digit gains on all NYS exams. I believe working together we will not only accomplish but surpass this goal. I look forward to working with you this upcoming school year.

Respectfully,

Angel Rodriguez, FLACS Principal