PARENT HANDBOOK

School Philosophy

 

Through collaborative work, we are able to share leadership, promote excellence, and directly impact the lives of children and families.  Everyone is well versed in the mission statement:

 

Creating conditions in which all children are prepared to learn and succeed in a multicultural community can only be achieved by forming partnerships among school, family, and community.  At Midtown West, we seek to carry out this mission by taking individual and collective responsibility for developing and addressing the human potential of our children.

Our dedicated school community makes its vision take shape:

• By maintaining a clear and focused sense of purpose
• By our personal commitment to helping all children maximize their abilities and potential
• By maintaining high professional standards for our staff and high expectations for all children
• Through the building of a school community by creating connections and strengthening ties among various partnerships of parents, staff, students and community
• By recognizing and celebrating the great diversity and cultural richness of our students, parents and staff

through the assessment of children based on a whole child perspective.  This may include observations, recordings, narratives, progress reports, family conferences, checklists, performances and presentations.

The Midtown West School is a collaboration between Community School District Two and The Bank Street College of Education. It is an educational setting, which focuses on the following components: a school for children that is a working model of the thematic constructivist approach associated with the Bank Street College of Education; a literacy-based, standards-driven curriculum, which encourages individuality, and interactive learning, and supports the implementation of The New Standards. Students are expected to reflect on the quality of their work and to reach their full potential as active learners; a place where diversity is celebrated and collaboration between families and school encouraged; an educational laboratory for research and assessment related to how children learn and how best to prepare teachers to teach them; a professional development institute for the preparation and continuing education of teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators, working in elementary education. As such, it serves as a resource not only for the families in the community within which the school is based, but also for professionals and educational personnel from other school and institutions who would like to avail themselves of the school program.

We are committed to creating an environment where children, parents and staff from different ethnic, cultural, linguistic and economic backgrounds can work together to achieve a truly integrated, nurturing, academically rigorous school community.

Midtown West is proud of our successful collaboration with community partners and our groundbreaking initiatives, all of which help to develop outstanding educational programs.