Head of School answers perceptions @ the November Coffee!

More than30 parents gathered at the “Coffee with the Head of School” at the Fine Arts building on the Northside campus this morning. I hosted the gathering and gave our parents the chance to say hello to each other and to hear some of the things that we have been addressing during the last month as a school and administration.

At the event I had the chance to go into detail regarding many of the rumors or perceptions that parents have heard about during the last month of school. I also had the chance to address some of the concerns that parents had when they filled out our parent survey earlier this school year. All the parents had great questions and many of them gave great ideas for future opportunities. I was very excited about all the support and encouragement that the parents are expressing about the openness of the administration and the ability they have to have an open exchange of ideas at these meeting.

Topics discussed in detail:
• Academics program at NCA

ü  SAT Scores in 2011

o   NCA Verbal/CR = 530                    National = 497

o   NCA Math = 543                             National = 514

o   NCA Writing = 543                         National = 474

o   NCA Composite = 1073                  National = 1011                                                          

o   NCA = +62 points over National Sat Score

ü  98% of students Attend Further Education/90% attend 4year institutions

ü  Class of 2011 Earned 1.5 million dollars in scholarship & 29% earned more than $50,000 individually

ü  Examples of some of the colleges and universities attended… Duke University, Wake Forest, Oxford of England, Wheaton College, High Point University, Georgia Tech, and New York University

 
We also spoke about uniforms and some possible changes that are being addressed as we head into the Fall Forum in November. We spoke about technology and the jump that NCA has taken to make sure that our students are involved in the learning, participate, and feel engaged. The meeting covered the $34,000 that was spent in making this technology jump possible this year.

I hope that you have the time to join us at our next “Coffee with the Head of School” on Thursday, November 10, at 8:00 a.m. in the Fine Arts Center. It is a great opportunity to fellowship together and get questions answered in a casual environment while sitting down alongside other school parents.

Come join us @ NCA!

Northside Christian Academy takes a huge jump in the world of technology!

I truly believe that in order to sustain, enhance, and improve our early education through 12^th grade curricular we must be up to date in our technology. In order to prepare student for their entry into college and career academically, our educational programs must be continuously reviewed, updated, and improved with excellence in mind. Many parents have been concerned about our progress when it comes to technology and its integration in the classroom. In the following paragraphs I will try to explain how quickly we have been able to improve the learning environment at Northside since our announcement at the State of the School in February.

Northside has added new technology in every 3^rd grade through 12^th grade classroom by putting over $33,000 into the updating of our classrooms. We have added projectors and Mimio interactive teaching tools for our teachers and students. Full integration is a unique benefit of the MimioClassroom family of product. Each of the tools is an easy-to-use, powerful technology on its own, but all of their products are designed to work together, using powerful MimioStudio software. That means less setup work for our teachers and more time to teach!

We have turned our ordinary whiteboards into an interactive whiteboard-instantly. The MimioTeach interactive system makes it easy. This device helps connect our computer to a standard projector and access everything on our teacher’s computer from their whiteboard. Our teachers can now create engaging lessons with our new Mimio Studio software. We can also create interactive assessments on the spot. We have added MimioVote assessment systems that lets our teachers gauge student understanding instantly, at any point during a lesson, with maximum class participation. It simplifies assessment, grading, and record-keeping. This system helps display and discuss the results with our students immediately. We have also added the MimioView document cameras to our science labs in order to allow our students to instantly capture pictures and live video. These cameras help us to instantly access editing and storage features, as well as show textbook content, objects, or live demonstrations.

Please stay tuned for a technology article that is being written in University Magazine regarding technology and Northside Christian Academy. Everything we do at NCA is with our students and their future in mind!

Go Knights!