The Queens College School for Math, Science and Technology

BUILDING STRONG ROOTS THROUGH ONGOING INQUIRY TO SUPPORT & STRENGTHEN TEACHING & LEARNING AT PS/IS 499. 

Mission Statement

Our core values are aligned to our District 25’s vision of “Strong roots, Strong schools”. Our 499 community believes in growth mindset with a focus on constant improvement through learning and reflecting individually and collectively to promote ongoing sustainable improvement. Through high quality instruction, curriculum and personal/professional learning, we build strong foundations that embrace differences and support learning and innovation through high levels of student engagement, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, student ownership and agency. We believe that in order to cultivate citizens of the world, we must focus on providing social/emotional supports, as well as culturally relevant practices and civic responsibilities. We must also ensure that we know our students and communities well and foster our beliefs in equity by surfacing patterns and practices that contribute to inequity through the purposeful analysis, use and application of multiple data sources to meet the diverse needs of our learners and to provide access through support, resources and high expectations across our classrooms.  

PS/IS 499 Vision

Our roots strengthen when we build strong foundations for our students as readers and mathematicians through… 

• Individual and collective learning of all our administrators, faculty, staff, and students. 

• Utilization of a routine and transparent data systems to support decisions. 

• Engagement in cycles of professional learning and data dives.   

• Participate in district level professional learning to understand and meet D25 expectations.  

• Strategic planning and delivery of high-quality professional learning opportunities designed to the learning needs of staff and faculty.  

• Collaborate with families and foster meaningful partnerships from early childhood through middle school years that support student achievement and build successful pathways towards college and careers. 

• Fostering excellence by creating opportunities that support empowerment, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity and student ownership of their learning. 

• Integrating and embedding social emotional learning and equity-based practices as part of academic learning. 

• Engage in culturally responsive practices for teaching and learning.  

Our Instructional Focus

499 Priority/Instructional Focus 

Grades K-3 

• Foundational Reading Skills-Learning to Read 

• Fundations 

• Heggerty 

• Refining Our Systems and Structures for M.T.S.S (Tier 1-3)  

• HMH Unpacking and Implementation 

• MindUP Training and Implementation 

Grades 3-5 

• Bridging Learning To Read and Reading To Learn 

• HMH Unpacking and Implementation 

• Refining our Systems and Structures for M.T.S.S (Tier 1-3) 

• MindUP Implementation 

• Building Math Concepts - Access To Regents Readiness 

Grades 6-8 

• Reading to Learn 

• HMH Unpacking and Implementation 

• Close Reading of Complex and Compelling Text across content (ELA, SS, and Science) 

• Refining our Systems and Structures For M.T.S.S (Tier 1-3) 

• MindUP Implementation 

• Building Math Concepts - Access To Regents Readiness 

Our Definition of Equity

Equity for the Queens College School of Math, Science, and Technology community is raising the achievement of all learners by addressing disproportionalities in student performance data. Staff and faculty create equity framed goals based on trends and achievement gaps evident in assessment data. Teachers plan differentiated instruction to promote equitable learning goals for all students.

Our School CEP Goals

(To Be Posted)

District Vision Statement

• Our core values across District 25 drive our vision of “Strong roots, Strong schools”. 

• We believe as a district we must learn, grow and reflect individually and collectively to promote ongoing sustainable improvement. Through high-quality instruction, curriculum, and personal/professional learning, we will build strong foundations that embrace differences and support learning and innovation through high levels of student engagement, critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, student ownership, and agency. 

• We believe that in order to cultivate citizens of the world, we must leverage student strengths and interests with a focus on social/emotional support, as well as culturally relevant practices and civic responsibilities. We must also ensure that we know our students and communities well and foster our beliefs in equity by surfacing patterns and practices that contribute to inequity through the purposeful analysis, use, and application of multiple data sources to meet the diverse needs of our learners and to provide access through support, resources and high expectations across our schools.

District Goals

• ELA Goal- By June 2023, all schools will engage in cycles of professional learning and inquiry focused on targeted data driven literacy-based needs to disrupt disproportionate outcomes, resulting in minimum of a 5% increase in students meeting or exceeding grade level standards as evidenced by the Acadience/i-Ready/NYS assessments.

• Math Goal - By June 2023, school leaders and staff will create data driven and learner-centered mathematics classrooms, enabling students to engage in rigorous mathematics tasks that promote productive struggle and conceptual understanding resulting in a minimum of 5% increase in children performing on or above grade level with an emphasis on the disproportionate percentage of our Black and Hispanic students performing outside the sphere of success as evidenced by i-Ready and the NYS mathematics assessments.by i-Ready and the NYS mathematics assessments. 

• By June 2023, all school-based C.A.S.E teams will engage in cycles of inquiry to build positive relationships and supports for students and families with chronic attendance rates, resulting in a 50% reduction in chronic absenteeism rates across subgroups.