ChOLCE. Academy Changing Our Ideas Concerning Education Middle School * High School « Individualized Programming 579 South Barre Street, Barre, Vermont 05641 Phone: 802-479-0012 « Fax: 802-476-0445 {A Program of Children, Youth and Family Services ‘Washington County Mental Health Services, Ine ‘To Whom it May Concern, ‘My name is David Rice and I am the Education Coordinator for Ch.O.1.C.E. Academy, a therapeutic day treatment school in Barre, Vermont. Christine has been the high school math teacher here at Ch.O.1.C.E, Academy since November 2013. Ch.O.1.C.E. Academy is a licensed independent school and an integrated transitional mental health treatment facility/educational center. As the high school math teacher, Christine works with 8th-12th grade students whose math abilities range from low elementary to grade level. Christine not only must work with a broad range of math abilities throughout her week, but she often has to manage a range of math ability within each classroom. ‘we are a relatively small school students are placed in with classmates that don’t always match in ability, so she is required to differentiate her lessons (sometimes to a large degree) forall the students in her class. She also has to contend with significant emotional and behavioral issues with students of which often times are compounded by math anxiety and other general academic and performance anxieties. Christine has done a very good job managing her responsibilities as a math teacher while supporting the mental health needs of the students. Christine's participation in the VMI program could improve student performance in mathematics at Ch.O.1.C.E. ‘Academy by increasing her knowledge of math education pedagogy and math teaching skill. Although many of her students perform under grade level and have significant difficulty engaging in their academic work, that is all the ‘more reason that we need well trained teachers to provide them with the highest quality of math education. All too often in our publie schools, students with high needs and low skills are given to some of the lowest trained teachers, when in reality these students need some of our best trained teachers, As we are a small independent school, we work hard to provide as much teacher education and professional development as we can, but we often fall short in content specific training except fora few workshops now and then, Attending program like VMI that increases content knowledge, enhances classroom practice, gives training in classroom research, and teaches leadership would be of reat value to both Christine and our school. Ch.O.L.C.E, Academy has always valued furthering the education, training, and future planning for our staff and thus consider ourselves a training school for all our employees including teachers, clinicians, and behavior interventionists, As an independent designated agency school our financial resources are limited, but we will do what we ean to provide some short and long range financial support for Christine throughout her degree process. We can also provide her the time off needed to meet her responsibilities in the VMI program and I look forward to attending the seminars and evening meetings as needed, Since we are a relatively new school and in need of further curricular planning and ‘math remediation strategy systemization, we recognize that the knowledge and skills that Christine gains as a teacher leader would help to further the curriculur planning and development of overall mission of the Ch.O.1.C.E, Academy ‘math programs. Finally, Christine has consistently developed and maintained positive and meaningful relationships with her students. She is able to maintain high expectations for her students while creating a caring and nurturing environment that ‘guides the students within the realm their capabilities. She maintains a professional demeanor with her colleagues while also being an easy and comfortable person to be around, Christine is a patient, engaging, dynamic, and passionate educator who always recognizes that in order to be the best teacher can be, she will always remain a student, learning from her colleagues, administrators, community, students and their families. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions. David Rice M.Ed. oe CYFS School and Tutorial Education Coordinator