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Indiana Avenue School #18 is a learning organization that is committed to the success of all students. Our students continue to outperform others throughout New Jersey, as supported by the data included in the New Jersey School Report Card, in various content areas and at different grade levels. Although we continue to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as defined by the New Jersey Department of Education, we have much more work to do to meet our vision of 100% student achievement on the NJ ASK in all content areas at all grade levels.
The faculty and staff work hard to ensure that all students meet their respective grade level expectations in all content areas, and these highly-qualified professionals implement a variety of instructional strategies to reach this goal and to meet the needs of our diverse learners. On a daily basis, the faculty delivers lessons that are relevant, student-centered, and require students to utilize critical thinking and problem-solving skills. These lessons ensure that all of our learners remain engaged and on-task throughout the school day. In addition, these instructional practices allow our teachers to deliver the Woodbridge Township Board of Education approved programs that are aligned with the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards. Our programs prepare our learners to perform at high-levels on a variety of measures of student achievement, including the NJ ASK, and they also prepare our students for success at the secondary school level. We embrace the importance of establishing this solid academic foundation in all of our elementary level students, which we know will foster a lifetime of learning.
Our commitment to infusing technology throughout the curriculum continues. The building’s wireless capabilities allow students, faculty, and support staff to access a variety of educational resources found on the World Wide Web. Students and faculty utilize netbook, laptop, and desktop computers, interactive whiteboards, and audio/visual streaming technology software to support and enhance many of our academic programs. As a result, our learners regularly utilize different technologies to participate in a variety of interactive lessons to support our K-5 curricula, which includes: Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Information Literacy, Art, Music (vocal & instrumental), Health and Safety, and Physical Education. Additional program services, including Academic Support Instruction, Leveled Literacy Instruction, Child Study Team services, ESL, speech therapy, and an off-site gifted and talented program, are available to meet the needs of our diverse student population.
To further supplement the district curricula, we continue to implement programs such as Peer Tutoring, Read Across America, Safety Patrol, Physical Education All-Stars, School Spirit Day, and Mix It Up Day. Our Grade 4 Science Symposium is a popular co-curricular program among our students that allows them to do the work of young scientists. As part of this program, our students generate questions, develop hypotheses, outline procedures, collect and analyze data, and report their findings during an evening poster session to the School #18 community. One component of our character education program, Project Wisdom, provides both students and faculty the opportunity to read the daily Words of Wisdom to our school community. These daily messages challenge everyone in the building “to make it a great day or not…the choice is yours.” To further encourage all of our students to achieve at high-levels, we honor select students with the following awards throughout the school year: Academic Honor Roll, Student of the Month, Golden Rule Award, and a Citizenship Award.
Opportunities for community members to become involved with the Happy Knights of Indiana Avenue School #18 exist through several organizations and programs, including the PTO and the Iselin Community for Education (ICE). All parents and teachers who are part of the School #18 community have the opportunity to become active participants in our PTO. The PTO supports and enhances many or our educational and co-curricular programs to enrich the educational experiences for all of our students. Two popular examples of such programs include our Family Game Knights and Game Show Mania. As part of ICE, School #18 collaborates with the other elementary and secondary schools located in the Iselin section of the Woodbridge Township School District to provide additional academic and social programs for all of Iselin’s learners. ICE has a variety of collaborative events planned for this school year, including various Woodbridge Reads events; NJ ASK information sessions; the Winter Carnival; and a Celebration of the Arts.
Our learning organization also provides opportunities for our certified staff members to continue to learn and develop as professionals. Our school-level Professional Development Committee regularly analyzes student achievement data and surveys the faculty to develop and plan continuing education opportunities for our teachers. These opportunities allow our teachers to further develop their knowledge and skills in a variety of areas to maintain their focus on the technical core of our organization, which is teaching and learning. In addition, these professional development opportunities allow our certified staff members to focus on any areas of concern identified through data analyses to ensure that our students meet their respective grade level expectations.
In closing, I invite you to visit our focused and pleasing learning organization. Indiana Avenue School #18 is safe and secure, clean, and exceptionally maintained by our custodial staff. This attention to the building and grounds allows our students, teachers, and support staff to remain focused on teaching and learning. I look forward to continuing to build on our prior academic successes and to achieving our vision of 100% student achievement on the NJ ASK in all content areas at all grade levels.
Go Happy Knights!
