BENJAMIN BANNEKER ACADEMY

SCHOOL PRIORITIES 2022-2023

1. Increase student attendance by 4% 
2. Strive for improvement in college and career readiness rate through increased enrollment in college-level coursework and rigorous subject areas, increased Regents scores across content areas, and an increase in the number of students achieving a GPA of 80+
3. Increase scholar mastery performance (80+ on Regents exams).
4. Increase (Maintain) Advanced Placement course enrollment (90%+ of Seniors, 60%+ of Juniors, 30%+ of Sophomores)  and examination performance (Score of 3-5)
5. Stakeholders create an enriching professional learning environment that cultivates school-wide socio-emotional development in a supportive atmosphere.  How? Expand and enhance structured and unstructured pedagogue collaboration for increased instructional capacity and student achievement

1. 1. Reduce the number of scholar suspensions by 20% for both general education students and students with disabilities compared to 2021-2022.
   2. Increase scholar opportunity to be political and social change agents through culturally responsive instruction, school-based service, and partner organizations
      1. Encourage opportunities for culturally responsive tasks and projects. 
   3. Encourage a culture of inclusiveness on all levels of our school community
   4. Encourage scholars to take responsibility for their own learning including promoting and expanding the usage of technology solely for academic purposes.
   5. Encourage all scholar athletes to abide by the student athletic contract and uniform policy.

• Create and sustain a peer to peer paid tutoring program aimed at improving assessment scores in regents examinations.

“If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”

Shirley Chisolm

UNIFORM POLICY

 Please be advised that starting September 8th, 2022 all scholars attending Benjamin Banneker Academy will be required to wear the designated school uniform. The main reason for this change is to create a better level of transparency regarding the dress code policy. We have chosen IDEAL as our partner for this new policy. Scholars will have flexibility in the color tops that are worn. Scholars will be allowed to choose their desired footwear. Please be advised that open toe shoes, flip flops are not allowed. This new policy taking effect Thursday, September 8th, 2022. At this point, you should have received a digital catalog with our uniform vendor partner IDEAL.

The purpose of this message is to communicate a scenario that we anticipate can happen starting on day one.

Scenario:

If a scholar comes to school without their uniform the following happens.

Step 1: Parents or guardians may or may not be notified depending on the situation.

Step 2: Scholars  must turn in their phone for the day.

Step 3: Scholars are given a uniform to wear for the day. Scholars’ clothes are bagged and stored in our uniform room.

Step 4: At the end of the day the scholar returns the uniform. The scholar’s phone and clothes are returned.

We strongly encourage you to discuss this policy with your scholar.

NYCDOE PRIORITIES

4 Principles 

The 2021-22 recommendations help schools reflect upon and refine their practice in order to strengthen the integration of culturally responsive, social, emotional and academic learning for every student in every classroom. These instructional principles for schools are not intended to simply layer more requirements, but rather to serve as an umbrella through which we view all other efforts, initiatives, regulations and engagements.

In the 2021-2022 school year, there will be active time for schools to reflect on key learnings from the pandemic, as well as on prior years’ successes and areas for growth, in order to create and refine strategic plans within existing structures that focus on achieving equitable outcomes for their students.

Specifically, the 2021-2022 Collective Commitment to Accelerating Learning calls on schools to address the instructional principles below:

1. Develop and strengthen a welcoming and affirming school environment.

• Implement daily relationship building practices to foster supportive and inclusive communities in every classroom and school building so that students feel safe, affirmed, and are ready to engage in joyful and rigorous learning experiences.

• Hold space for students, families, and staff throughout the school year, using one-on-one check-ins, restorative circles, town halls, and other strategies, in order to foster healing centered school communities and gather feedback to continue to create, sustain, and deepen community.

2. Ensure high expectations and rigorous instruction for every single student grounded in an asset-based mindset.

• Integrate explicit teaching of SEL in core instruction and engage students in culturally responsive, cognitively demanding tasks that require them to think and act critically, apply their new learning and prior knowledge to transform the world around them and ensures all students engage in evidence-based foundational literacy that equip them to read, write, speak and, listen deeply and critically.

• Recognize every student brings assets with them into the classroom and comes to us ready to learn, achieve at high levels and engage with rich, challenging content.

3. Implement inclusive curricula and assessments that center student voice and collaboration.

• Use high-quality instructional materials, written from racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse perspectives, that reflect and affirm all students’ identities, lived experience, and culture, provide insight into the identities and experiences of others, and result in learning experiences that reduce or eliminate barriers allowing for greater access for diverse learners.

• Deeply engages all students in a knowledge-building approach through critical reading, writing, listening, and speaking with rich, meaningful culturally responsive grade level content, where every student sees themselves reflected in the content they are learning, has the opportunity to grow their knowledge about the world around them, and learns processes that helps them grow as learners.

• Leverage the knowledge we have gained as a system to integrate technology in innovative ways to enhance and extend learning and assessment.

4. Center time for ongoing and targeted professional learning communities.

• Foster purposeful adult learning communities to strengthen the capacity of educators to create welcoming and affirming environments that center students’ histories and lived experiences and make learning responsive, rigorous and relevant. Utilize adult learning communities to critically examine data, learn together, explore new approaches, and take risks.

• Strengthen dynamic cultures for adult learning where educators have brave spaces for critical and continuous self-reflection in order to best facilitate practices to ensure student success.

NYCDOE PRINCIPLES

Seven Academic priorities

1.   Literacy for All – literacy for all K-12

       2. Ensuring a Culturally Relevant and Sustaining Curriculum in Every School.

We will ensure all schools have a CR-SE aligned curriculum beginning this fall, pushing students out of their academic comfort zones and freeing teachers from time-consuming development. 

     3. Developing our Students as Digital Citizens 

The pandemic led to an unprecedented investment in technology, with over 800,000 devices purchased by DOE and schools.  The Academic Recovery Plan leaves remote learning behind but builds on this technological advantage by guaranteeing all students K-12 have access to digital devices and ensuring all students become fully fluent digital citizens for the new economy.

       4.Inventing in Special Education 

The pandemic disproportionately impacted our students with disabilities.  We will make every resource available to better support students with individualized Education Plans (IEP’s).  This will expand our focus on both younger students and those preparing for life after graduation.

       5. Providing Greater Support 

Multilingual learners (MLs) and immigrant families are valued and supported at the    DOE.  We will provide culturally responsive support that gives students and their families equitable access to resources and opportunities that help students succeed inside and outside of the classroom.

       6. Ensuring our students are College -and Career-Ready

We will ensure every student, whether heading to college or a career, is better prepared for the next step in life.  

       7. Social – Emotional Support