Is there a certain type of student that is best suited for McCarthy-Towne?
All students have the opportunity to thrive at McCarthy-Towne. Our philosophy is to present materials in a variety of ways in order to accommodate different learning styles and help students develop their own set of problem-solving strategies.
How does McCarthy-Towne provide structure in the classroom?
Teachers at McCarthy-Towne integrate structure into the classroom. Expectations of students are made clear. Students help create orderly classrooms by creating rules and consequences for classroom conduct along with their teachers.
The Responsive Classroom is an approach all teachers are familiar with and many teachers use. Within the course of a day, all students have a schedule of expected tasks and designated times for choosing activities. Teachers post daily schedules and map out plans and goals with the children during meeting times throughout the day. Teachers help guide children toward making responsible choices with systems using tags or sign-up sheets for work areas. During times designated for free choice activities, such as recess, children are also given clear expectations regarding what is respectful, productive behavior.
How do students and parents know how the student is progressing? Are report cards used?
Students are given feedback on daily assignments, with requests for corrections and commentary on work. Self-analysis is emphasized. Students develop criteria with which they may critique their own work with teachers' guidance.
Parents are given a number of opportunities to make their own assessments of their child's work. Completed work typically comes home on a weekly basis. At the end of unit studies, parents may be invited to classroom "open houses" that feature student-led classroom tours, where children display, highlight and explain work done during the unit study.
Parent-Teacher conferences are held at least twice a year. Teachers may also host child-directed or other midyear conferences. Teachers and parents also communicate in person, by telephone or by email if there are any concerns at other times of the year. Letter grades are not used routinely. An end-of-year written assessment is shared with parents at the end-of-year conference and saved in the student's cumulative records folder.
Are textbooks and particular instructional methods used?
Teachers are not bound exclusively to any teaching method for most instruction, but instead draw from a variety of sources, methods and texts. This provides flexibility for teachers to adapt curriculum to individual and class needs, changes in information and curriculum mandates. For various disciplines and units, some "core texts" form the foundation from which teachers develop their instructional plans.
Why is there an emphasis on personal goal-setting and cooperation with others?
Part of the McCarthy-Towne philosophy is to emphasize collaboration and cooperation. Students are encouraged to help each other, to see the benefits of working with each other, and to delight in everyone's achievements.
Students are encouraged to challenge themselves to improve their own performance and to set higher standards for themselves over time. With the guidance of their teachers, students develop their own set of criteria to judge themselves.
McCarthy-Towne discourages competition within the school, in order to create a safe environment for children to set goals for themselves and to take risks.
Do students work in groups?
In addition to individual work, students develop and use collaborative skills frequently in class. Assignments in class and in music and physical education often challenge students to cooperate and learn from each other while building other skills simultaneously.
Teachers are able to identify individual students' progress by observing the group interactions, presentation, and individual performance.
How do McCarthy-Towne students compare to students from other Acton schools on test scores?
Each year students in third through sixth grade take the MCAS. Acton students score very well on these tests, and students at McCarthy-Towne compare favorably with students at other Acton schools.
When the McCarthy-Towne students get to the Junior High, how do they compare to other students?
The Junior High and all of the elementary schools have an ongoing dialogue regarding student progress. Junior High faculty and staff report that they see little difference among students from the six elementary schools (including Boxborough.)
How are the arts integrated into the curriculum?
Visual arts are integrated into students' daily curriculum jointly by teachers and our Arts Integration consultant. Students develop both observational and imaginative skills. Art is seen as a powerful descriptive tool that can be used in learning, just as language can. Students create visual art projects in their classrooms, often over an extended period of time, using mediums including ink, pencil, tempera paint, clay, watercolors, papier mache and torn paper. McCarthy-Towne emphasizes the artistic process rather than the product, which can be seen by work on display during all phases of creation.
Performing arts may be integrated into the classroom experience through writing and performing plays, in improvisational acting out of stories, and in oral presentations in costume.
What if my child is not artistic?
The process of art at McCarthy-Towne is used as a way for all students to express their understanding of the curriculum. It is an opportunity for problem-solving, personal risk, self-expression and exploration. Art as experiential learning offers students and teachers a forum for discussion, inquiry, growth, and assessment.
How does McCarthy-Towne accommodate students with different capabilities?
All classrooms in Acton elementary schools are heterogenously grouped with students of differing abilities. Teachers at McCarthy-Towne, as at all Acton schools, meet the needs of all the students in their class.
As in all Acton schools, special education staff members provide services at all grade levels to students with disabilities as specified within their Individual Education Plan.
Why are the faculty and staff often called by their first names?
Faculty and staff are given the freedom to be addressed by names they prefer. Most choose to go by their first names.
In what ways are parents involved?
Parents are an essential part of the of McCarthy-Towne school. Parents' help is depended upon for daily operation of the school office, library, computer lab, Safe Arrival program, and in various classroom assistant positions.
Parents also provide guidance to faculty and staff by their involvement in the School Council and the Parent, Teacher, Student Organization's (PTSO) committees. The PTSO also does significant fund raising to fund additional classroom assistants and social events, subsidize field trips and on-site presentations, and make purchases of some equipment for the school.
At McCarthy-Towne, each student participates in several field/study trips each year that are made possible by our parent community's willingness to chaperone, to drive, and to raise funds for these trips.