JOINT INTERVENTION TEAM (JIT)
Many of you might have thought that you saw some unknown people visiting your classes the other week, and you would be right. For three days, from November 28- 30, Peeksill High School was the subject of a JIT Review. “JIT” stands for Joint Intervention Team and the purpose of the visit was to make an assessment of Peekskill High School. The reason for the visit is that Peekskill High School was found to be one of the 1,300 schools in New York State that was not making adequate yearly progress according to NYS standards. The simplest way to look at the problem is that not enough PHS students are passing Regents and not enough are graduating on time, but the review looks at many other factors. The team looked specifically at our school by breaking it down to the different populations that make up the whole school. They looked at the success rates of African American students, English Language Learners, Special Education students, Hispanic students, White students, and students form low income households, as well as the school as a whole.
According to the State Education website, members of the JIT have expertise and/or certification in such areas as: school organization, leadership, curriculum content, assessment, instruction, special education, English as a second language and/or cultural relevancy. They review schools in the following areas:
- Collection, Analysis and Utilization of Data;
- Teaching and Learning;
- School Leadership;
- Infrastructure for Student Success;
- Professional Development; and
- District Support;
While the team will be reporting a full report to the School Board on December 20th, Superintendent Willis shared some of the team’s comments with the PHS staff after the visit. Mr. Willis said that the JIT reported that they observed a positive attitude between staff and students at PHS. The team also reported that PHS staff was open to sharing information and appeared earnest in looking for ways to improve our school. Some of the areas which the JIT intimated that might need to be addressed included: reducing the amount of lectures in class and utilizing innovative ways to encourage student involvement,updating curriculum and technology, and developing improved programs for our English Language Learning students and students receiving special education support. The JIT recommendations carry a lot of weight and while our school is not in jeopardy of being closed, some changes will be made in the very near future.
Mercury reporter, Angelique Santiago, spoke to some teachers about the JIT review, here is what the teachers had to say:
Ms. Mannion ( 9th Grade Social Studies)
Q: How do you feel about having the state here?
A: Welcomed them; hoped for constructive criticism and help for us to keep what we have that’s working.
Malcom
Q: How do you feel about having the state here?
A: Great, that they see what we are doing; hope they would analyze our weaknesses and make recommendations that will make things better; then maybe student performance will get better.