ASCD
Educating the Whole Child for the 21st Century Award
Port Jervis
Middle School honored for providing safe, supportive educational
environment for students
POSTED: JUNE 8, 2010
 Port Jervis Middle School is the proud to be one of the first
recipients of the NYSASCD Education the Whole Child for the 21st
Century Award. NYSASCD Executive Director Dr. Anthony Mello
presented the award to Middle School Principal Cynthia Benedict
and Assistant Principal Brett Cancredi at the June 3 Board of
Education Meeting.
The Middle School is one of four
public schools in New York State the NYSASCD is honoring for
establishing an learning environment that focuses on more than
just academic achievement. Over the past few years, the Middle
School has initiated programs that fully prepare students for
work, college, and citizenship by keeping them healthy, safe,
engaged, supported and challenged.
The Educating the Whole Child Program is an initiative of one of
the country’s leading non-profit, professional organizations for
education administrators and senior teachers - the National
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).
New York educators are now working through the state affiliate -
NYSASCD - to support the whole child initiative locally.
The award program was created to recognize schools that carry
out and fully support the five tenets of the Whole Child
initiative – healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.
The application process is highly competitive. Schools must
demonstrate they meet the five tenets, present evidence to the
degree which the tents are being implemented, provide data to
measure success of tenets, and show the relationship between the
tenets and the school’s vision/mission.
Schools that meet the criteria undergo a site visit by members
of the selection committee. ASCD members Dr. Edward Sullivan, a
department chairperson at SUNY New Paltz, and Dr. Joanne Lane,
assistant superintendent of Sullivan West School District,
conducted the site visit at Port Jervis Middle School, where
they spent the day meeting with school administrators, teachers,
students, and parents.
Sullivan said, “There is too much emphasis today on testing and
test scores. We need to do more to motivate students and engage
them in learning. When we visited Port Jervis Middle School, we
found a school culture that clearly supports student learning
and engagement. Programs such as the Seven Habits of Highly
Effective Students, community outreach activities, health fairs,
and proactive assemblies all provide a framework that supports
the needs of the whole child.”
To learn more about the NYSASCD Education the Whole Child for
the 21st Century Award, please visit the
National Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development Whole Child web site.
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