• Category 1

    Selected in 2016

  • Grades: pre k - 8
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 145,948
    Student Enrollment: 498
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 29%
    White/Caucasian: 0.1%
    Hispanic: 57%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 0.1%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 0%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:20
    % Reduced Lunch: 100%
    % ELL Learners: 1%
    Founded: 1962
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Nancy Castro
  • CONTACT:
    200 Presidential Boulevard
    Paterson, NJ 07522
    973-321-0280
    ncastro@paterson.k12.nj.us
Paterson Public School No. 28
Paterson, NJ
Doing "whatever it takes" to achieve our main goal: student success.
Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.
Parental involvement is strongly encouraged at School No. 28. Parents routinely visit classrooms and maintain communication with teachers and administrators. PTO Meetings provide a venue for parents to ask questions and interact with school stakeholders. School wide cultural celebrations, i.e. Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month and Asian Pacific Month, are celebrated annually to promote the diversity of our student body. Additionally, our school celebrates events such as Read Across America, Veteran’s Day, Earth Day, and Autism Awareness Month, and students, parents and faculty interact often in an effort to build communal relationships. Finally, monthly events such as Family Literacy Night and STEM presentations are held in order to offer parents and their children a time, a place, and some helpful tips and strategies for guiding their children. These evenings are orchestrated in order to provide enjoyment, build skills and to benefit the family and the school community.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
One of the most successful activities our school has initiated to strengthen ties to the community is service learning, a critical part of our school culture.

One of the many partnerships School No. 28 has established is a school gardening program. Our middle school students installed 7 raised beds for our kindergarten students to integrate into their curriculum, encouraging healthy eating habits. We also garden on the adjacent firehouse property, and this partnership with local firefighters has been rewarding for both the students and the firemen. The community is free to eat from the garden in the summer and many homeless have access to produce.

Our school is also involved in a community garden project at Tyrone Collins Park where students helped to paint a "Stop the Violence" mural. Each season, plant pots are painted in our school colors to beautify that area. This gives students the opportunity to continue beautifying and showing pride in taking care of their neighborhood.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
As a part of SCHOOL NO. 28’s vision and commitment to integrate the school’s theme of Growth Mindset into the content areas, the instructional program includes units specifically developed to link thematically, while enhancing learning of essential skills in all content areas.

Each year a macro concept is chosen. Macro-concepts are sometimes referred to as “integrating concepts” because they integrate thinking across different disciplines and are broad. Macro-concepts give us breadth and MICRO-concepts give us depth. The Macro-concept chosen for the 2016-2017 school year was "Identity."

The history of the accomplishments of the students at School No. 28 continues to serve as a gateway for excellence. Administrators, teachers, and support staff members work collaboratively to ensure that students receive a high quality education, while preparing students to become leaders in a global society.
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
Our school's top two goals for next year include:
1.) To continue providing an optimal culture and environment where students are challenged.
2.) To continue providing and enhancing a rigorous academic curriculum, while addressing the social and emotional needs of our children.
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
Doing "whatever it takes" to achieve our main goal: student success.
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.
Our school is committed to providing students with the best educational resources and technology. All students in Grades 2-8 use iPads inside their classrooms in order to enhance instructional practices and stimulate student learning. Google Apps facilitates student centered collaborative learning in a cloud based environment.
Using Google Classroom, each student has Drive folders for each subject to help keep them organized.

Student clubs are also designed and incorporated into the school day in order to enable teachers the opportunity to service the students in Grades 4-8 outside of the formal academic classes and to enable our student population to maximize their unique abilities, enhance personal growth, and to develop talents in the areas of greatest aptitude and interest.

Outside programs and competitions include: The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth, New Jersey Science Olympiad, National History Day, Junior Science Olympiad and Math Counts.
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
Teachers’ professional development plans are directly correlated to differentiated instruction. Each professional development plan includes specific methods on how to meet the needs of diverse learners.

The most tangible evidence of researched-based PD is the Gifted Education Graduate Certificate Program offered through Rutgers University, which enables us to not only meet state mandates, but more importantly the academic, social and emotional needs of our students.

The Institute for Learning (IFL) PD enables our district to work towards developing tools and support to improve teaching, learning and leadership. IFL demonstrates what effective pedagogy looks like in each content area and uses cognitively demanding tasks and texts with instruction.

As a result of these PD experiences, classroom instruction is full of high-interest investigations and hands-on activities that motivate students and keep students actively engaged in the science and engineering practices.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
Data is compiled on how to differentiate instruction based on the student’s needs and backgrounds. Pre-Test and Post Tests are used to evaluate student performance. Adjustments are made to future lessons and assessments to reteach and re-assess the concepts in which students are weak.

Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
Our school culture is one of teamwork and involves unrelenting grit. Each academic year, our school is committed to creating a positive learning environment where students can cultivate their interests to experience both academic and social success. One of our primary goals this school year is to instill a growth mindset among our entire school community. We have been focusing on teaching our students that dedication, effort, and hard work lead to success- not simply talent. Each and every day, we must create a love of learning and resilience that is crucial for success, providing an optimal learning environment for our students as we describe in our school mission.
Stats
  • Category 1

    Selected in 2016

  • Grades: pre k - 8
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 145,948
    Student Enrollment: 498
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 29%
    White/Caucasian: 0.1%
    Hispanic: 57%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 0.1%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 0%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:20
    % Reduced Lunch: 100%
    % ELL Learners: 1%
    Founded: 1962
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Nancy Castro
  • CONTACT:
    200 Presidential Boulevard
    Paterson, NJ 07522
    973-321-0280
    ncastro@paterson.k12.nj.us