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MeettheTeacher:QuincyCarpenterChef LauraShares aFavoriteRecipeMCCPSMusical:Intothe Woods

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ext to the quest for peace,our nation’s most importantgoal is the development of ahigh quality educational enterprisethat will prepare all young people forlife in a fast, changing, complexworld. Indeed few people disagreewith the belief of Clifton Fadiman:“There is an intimate connectionbetween the survival of democracyand the quality of our public educa-tion system.” With this thought in mind, thephilosophy and attitude of school offi-cials become rather important. I wasreminded of this during a recent visitto a thriving business establishment. While waiting in line, I noticed thefollowing poster on the wall. It wasespecially stimulating because theemployees obviously subscribed to themessage. I believe this philosophy isas appropriate to schools as it is tobusinesses, and I have chosen to sub-stitute the word student for customer:• A student is the most importantperson in any school.• A student is not an interruptionof our work. He or she is thepurpose of it.• A student is not just a statistic.He or she is a flesh and bloodhuman being with feelings andemotions like ourselves.• A student is one who comes tous with needs and/or wants. It isour job to fill them.• A student is deserving of themost courteous and attentivetreatment that we can provide.• A student is the lifeblood of ourschool. Without him or her wewould have to close our doors.The focus of the future will be inservice and excellence to our students.These words inspire and allow me tosupport the challenge and commit-ment we educators have to the qualityeducation at the MarbleheadCommunity Charter Public School

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ver since the first report cards wereissued in the 1800s, schools havestruggled to find the best way tocommunicate with parents and studentsregarding academic growth. When MCCPSopened in 1995, a relatively traditionalreport card was adopted and letter gradeswere used to describe academic achieve-ment. However, even in our earliest days,the founding teachers (myself included)were determined to create a more compre-hensive method of communicating studentprogress. Letter grades just didn't do it forus. We wanted parents and students toknow and understand more than a lettergrade could communicate.Not surprisingly, we were not alone inour quest; attempts have been and werebeing made all across the country to craftthe perfect report card. Some districts/statesremained grounded in the past while othersrefused to be limited by tradition and daredto implement new strategies. As a reform-driven school, MCCPS experimented with avariety of reporting formats before decidingthat we must create our own. The innova-tive C.U.E. Report (CommunicatingUnderstanding through Evidence) was born.It was created as a direct result of MCCPSeducational pedagogy merging with theneeds of parents and students. This web-based system of reporting has allowed par-

March 2009 | Volume 1,number 2

Our Quest

The MCCPSGrading System

FFICIAL

UBLICATIONOF THE

ARBLEHEAD

OMMUNITY

HARTER

UBLIC

CHOOL

“

There is an intimate connection between the survival of democracy and the quality of our public education system.

”

—

Clifton Fadiman

See

Grading

,page 3

Sabrina and Mr.Sullivan dissecta frog.

Students are the purpose of our work.

Meetthe Teacher:

Quincy Carpenter

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eople are always curious about QuincyCarpenter’s name—a fittingly unusual one for ateacher with so many interests.In fact, Ms. Carpenter went for three days with noname at all. Mom and Dad just couldn’t agree. But onday three, Quincy’s dad—“one of the most creativeand interesting people I've ever met,” she says—thought of it while riding the train home from work.She gathers he liked how it avoided any sort of "label" (male, female, or race) and had an element of patriotism to it. A native of Lansdale, Pennsylvania, Ms. Carpentermajored in French at the University of Delaware, andfell in love with painting when she studied abroad inParis. Before coming to MCCPS this year, she taughtFrench, Sculpture, Photography, Painting andDrawing at the Bryn Mawr Summer Institute for theGifted for three years. During the school year, sheworked at Gunning Bedford Middle School inDelaware, teaching Visual Arts for three years andGifted Education for two.The 29-year-old teacher combines her passions atMCCPS by teaching French to 6th, 7th and 8thgraders and running an enrichment to create sceneryfor the school’s upcoming musical, Into the Woods.“We’ve got so much talent here at the school,” Ms.Carpenter says. “The thing I look forward to most onmy drive from Cambridge each day is how positivethe attitude is. I know I'll be greeted every morningwith smiling faces.”In her free time, Ms. Carpenter enjoys hiking,bicycling and traveling to new places, as well as try-ing new restaurants, listening to music (especially the Amelie soundtrack), watching movies and readingbooks. She’s also busy planning her wedding in August to a Harvard Business School student with anequally interesting name: Shane. Welcome, Quincy!

WHAT’S NEW(S) AT MCCPS — MARCH 2009

Nutrition News Plus a Recipe

We asked Chef Laura to share a recipe thatis a favorite of our students.She thoughtfor a moment,and then chose her pulled pork.Servedwith veggies,it’s a nutritious and delicious lunch.

Recipe for Pulled Pork:

INGREDIENTS:

1 (4-6 LB.) Pork Butt(preferably bone-in)2 cups cider vinegar2 cups water2 cups BBQ sauce1/2 cup brown sugar4 to 6 cloves of garlic minced1 tbsp fresh ginger,minced1 med.white onions dicedsaltand fresh ground black pepper

Ms.Carpenter uses artto gether students excit-ed aboutFrench.Chef Laura DeSantis

AGNA

H RTER

Magna Charter

is the officialnewsletter of MCCPS.

Magna Charter Staff& Contributors

Dr.AlbertArgenzianoJeff BarryKathleen CormierNina Cullen-HamzehKay O'DwyerEmil RonchiMike RuthLaura SmithNancy Marland Wolinski

MCCPS Board of Trustees

Emil Ronchi,

Chair

Cathy Vaucher,

Vice Chair

Dr.John Sullivan,

Treasurer

John McEnaney,

Clerk

Nina Cullen-HamzehCynthia CanavanMattCroninChris FauciBob Sousa

MCCPS School Staff

Dr.AlbertArgenziano

Interim Managing Director

Nina Cullen-Hamzeh

Interim Academic Director

Eileen Perry

Assistantto the Directors

Molly Wright

StudentServices Coordinator

Jed O'Connor

Director of Special Education

Jeffrey Barry

Business Manager

MCCPS

17 Lime StreetMarblehead,MA 01945Phone:781-631-0777Fax:781-631-0500www.marbleheadcharter.org

Our Mission

MCCPS fosters a community that empowerschildren to become capable, self-determining, fullyengaged individuals who are critical and creativethinkers committed to achieving their highestintellectual, artistic, social, emotional, and physical potential. We are dedicated to involving, learning from, participating in, and serving our schoolcommunity and the community at large.

Volume 1,Number 2,March 2009

PREPARATION:

Preheatover to 300 degreesIn a deep roasting pan (or deep braising pan with a lid)place the pork buttin the pan and season with saltandpepper.In a separate bowl,mix all the remaining ingre-dients.Stir until all ingredients are incorporated.Pourmixture over the pork buttin the roasting pan,leteachside for sitfor about20 minutes.Cover pan ( if you don’thave a lid cover with foil and make sure edges are tight)Cook for 2 hours.Turn the pork buttin the pan and cookfor 2 more hours.Take foil or lid off the pan and cook foranother 45 minutes.Check for tenderness by sticking asfork in the meatand if itgoes through with little force itshould be ready.Letcool and then with a fork or tongspull the pork apart,then heatback in the oven if need-ed.

OTHER SERVING SUGGESTIONS:

Corn Bread,coleslaw,braised apples,braised cabbage or simply on a bunwith cheddar cheese

GRADING

Continued from page 1

ents continual and timely access to students’ assess-ments, assignments, individual goals, behavior refer-rals, and attendance data. It is our expectation that theC.U.E. will be an accurate reflection of each student’sdemonstrated level of understanding in relation to thestrands articulated in the State’s Curriculum Frame-work for each subject, and it is our goal that studentswill demonstrate at least a proficient level of under-standing in each strand in each subject by the end of the school year.To date, parents have generally been pleased withthe C.U.E. One parent recently wrote: “WOW! Thatis an incredibly detailed and comprehensive perform-ance assessment of my student...I can only imagine theamount of work it takes to produce it, so thank you.It's much more valuable to me than a standard A/B/Creport card. Thank you. My child loves the school.”The MCCPS Charter requires that parents areinformed regularly about their child’s academicprogress, and the C.U.E. is designed to do just that.The C.U.E. is a comprehensive system that provideson-going, detailed, and timely assessment of studentwork. Students and parents can keep track of assign-ments, can know the results of tests as soon as teacherspost them in their grade books, and can identify aca-demic areas that need extra attention. When checkedregularly, the C.U.E. can be a very effective tool for stu-dents and parents.

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riting and thinking go hand in hand…soshouldn’t students be writing in classes otherthan Humanities? That’s what Jeanne Dowdell, 4thgrade teacher at MCCPS, thought—and convinced hercolleagues.Research suggests that writing in all content areasenhances students’ critical thinking, allows them totake greater responsibility for their learning, promotesreflective thinking and questioning, and helps themmake connections between events, people, and ideas.Through writing, students become active learners, Ms.Dowdell says, which can be helpful in grasping a diffi-cult concept in science or math.Last February, Ms. Dowdell applied for and receiveda grant from The Friends of Marblehead PublicSchools. The grant, entitled “Writing Across theCurriculum,” allowed for the purchase of books andresource materials to be used for school-wide profes-sional development for all faculty in the teaching of writing throughout all content areas.This year, all MCCPS teachers have been reading fromthe text

Teaching Writing in the Content Areas

by VickiUrquhart and Monette McIver, and are vigorouslyinvolved in discussing and planning how to implementthis facet of Professional Development in their classrooms.

Focus on Excellence

Ms. Dowdell has also been working with theDepartment of Elementary and Secondary Education(DESE) to help teachers statewide recognize andinspire outstanding student writing.In the fall of 2007, Ms. Dowdell responded to arequest from the DESE seeking teachers to participate in agroup entitled “Performance Standards Committee for Writing Grades 3-5,” with the stated purpose to examinestudent writing and identify exemplary pieces that wouldbe made available to teachers to use in their classrooms.The group of twenty-five educators, including litera-cy coaches, reading specialists, and classroom teachersfrom across the state, met monthly over the past year.Using authentic writing samples from students, theydeveloped a holistic rubric identifying the traits of exemplary writing.Ms. Dowdell finds the DESE work to be very bene-ficial and applicable in class. It provides her with “theability to really evaluate student writing and has rein-forced the importance of sharing good writing withkids,” she said.Thanks, Ms. Dowdell!

WHAT’S NEW(S) AT MCCPS — MARCH 2009

VOLUNTEER OPPSSports News

Thanks to all who are helping us in manyways!

Volunteers needed:

•To help the kitchen staff.Ongoing help need-ed in the MCCPS kitchen.Fun,working envi-ronment;no experience necessary! PleasecontactChef Laura DeSantis (ldesantis@mar-bleheadcharter.com) if you can give as littleas one hour per week or month.• To run or help staff an enrichment.We arealways looking for adults with time and/ortalents.Please contactMolly Wright(MWright@marbleheacharter.com) if you canhelp.Adults needed to supervise student-run enrichments,too.It’s been a busy basketball sea-son atMCCPS.The school field-ed three teams – Boys’Varsity,Girls’Varsity,and Junior Varsity.Boys’varsity is currently 2-6with wins againstExcel andInnovation Academies whilegirls’varsity is currently 1-7 witha win also againstInnovation.The JV’s came up shortof a winbutfoughthard and improvedon the defensive end.The varsity teams will be on the road for the remainder of the season and conclude by playing inthe Charter Cup Tournamentin Lawrence where they are guaranteed a minimum of three games.Thanks go to Head Coach,Mike Ruth,JV Coach,Tim Stonecipher,Ryan Redmond,and HowieRothblattwho came on as the varsity assistantcoach and shared a wealth of knowledge with us all.Thanks,also,to the parents who helped with the concession stand.

Write Well,Write Often

Boys’BasketballGirls’Basketball Students have fun writing with Ms.Dowdell.

"Writing Across the Curriculum" and the school's production of Into the Woods (Junior) has been made possible,in part,thanks to a grantfrom The Friends of the Marblehead Public Schools.FMPS raises funds to underwrite excellence in Marblehead’s schools.The organization’s goal is to use the money itraises toinspire students and teachers while promoting creativity and innovation.FMPS awarded $100,000 in grants for the 2008-09 school year.