Positive Vibes

A few weeks ago was report card conferences with my children's teachers. What a fun afternoon it was.  The school holds a book fair during that week. The halls were filled with art and Black History Month reports (I even saw an article about my colleague at Temple (Kinesiology).  I left the school with a great feeling.

These are the days that make me feel good about our school choice. While the drama of the district and education in general nationwide swirls around us, I am convinced that my children are getting a great education and more importantly learning to be adaptable all while seeing their parents and others become involved in their local school.

The Kindergarten classes studied China and this was the result of their artwork.

Aside from my positive vibes about the school we have received some objective kudos as well.

1. Jenks has recently qualified as a Vanguard school, one of the leading schools in the district,based on academic performance, safety, staff and student attendance.  As this program was started under former Superintendent, Arlene Ackerman, we do not get anything but kudos for reaching this level of achievement.  However, it is still wonderful with only about 26 schools in the entire district qualifying for this distinction.  


2. We scored a 1 on the School Performance Index for 2011. http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/uploads/T4/bC/T4bCCi1c6v9RRZPqIQk33Q/SPI_2011_ESMS.pdf


School Performance Index 2011
Elementary and Middle Schools
February 2012
ID Name Type Config 2011 SPI
627 Jenks, J.S. SDP ES/MS 1


Other Northwest Schools:

625 Henry SDP ES/MS 2
646 Hill‐Freedman SDP ES/MS 1
626 Houston SDP ES/MS 1
622 Emlen SDP ES/MS 2
641 Cook‐Wissahickon SDP ES/MS 1
638 Shawmont SDP ES/MS 3





3. Annual Report 2010 http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/uploads/Pj/xW/PjxW9aTR4AKbRuJPLDFvyw/ES-Annual-Report-FINAL-Dupree.pdf


87.0% Proficiency in Math (up from 80.7% in 2009)
76.8% Proficiency in Math (up from 71.2% in 2009)
95.8% student attendance rate