In the second week of school, Janney students, staff and parents began to get into the full swing of things as conversations shifted from culture and routines to applying those behaviors to academic work and citizenship.

The upcoming week promises to be a busy one! After the Labor Day vacation on Monday, Tuesday evening brings the next School Improvement Team (SIT) Facilities meeting where committee leads will continue to refine designs for Janney's addition, a Room-Parent Orientation, and our first PTA meeting of the year. Third through Fifth graders will take the DC-BAS prerequisite skills assessment on September 8th, 9th and 10th. Many activities will also be underway, including Band, JIM and JED, the recycling team, Notebusters, safety patrol training, and a day of service to commemorate the events of September 11th. Classes will adopt a space on the Janney campus as we build a sense of respect and stewardship for our community. The Jamboree committee has also planned a fantastic week of morning gatherings (the schedule of these events will be posted on the janneyschool.org website on a weekly basis).

As you may have noted thus far, each week in this letter I will not only include information about the daily activities at Janney, but also a sense of the larger picture in order to answer several questions: What are our goals, both in the long and short terms? Why have those goals been set? Where are we in achieving those goals? These inquiries will be framed around our developing Local School Plan (in the areas of teaching and learning, knowledge development, climate and culture, parent and community engagement, leadership and vision, and resources), our values (achievement, inquiry, equity, collaboration, reflection and experimentation), our key conversations around inclusion, efficacy and purposeful decision-making, and the areas in which these objectives overlap.

Because we are busy collecting data to create our Local School Plan, and because our teachers are busy collecting data to best address the needs of our students, I would like to address the terms "purposeful decision-making" and "data," and their role in improving our work at Janney. With the introduction of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 and measures of Adequate Yearly Progress in our public schools, we entered a new era of accountability towards raising the academic achievement of all students. Since then, this critical goal has brought the use of data to drive decisions into the forefront, but it has also raised questions around the effective use of high-stakes testing in our schools.

At Janney, the use of data will go well beyond a response to our end-of-year test, the DC-CAS. Instead, many types of data will be used towards purposeful decision-making, accurately determining strengths and areas of growth along with measuring our responses. At the core is the belief that all students can and must achieve at high levels, academically and socially, and that all stakeholders must be involved in making that belief a reality. As an administrator working in tandem with our Local School Restructuring Team (LSRT), it means looking at school-wide trends to set overarching goals. For teachers, the group that research proves has the most impact on student achievement, the use of data means collaborating to adopt practices that directly respond to student needs. Administrators and instructional coaches also collect data on teacher practice to ensure that they receive the support needed to impact their students. Students are taught to be reflective, to understand their own progress and to see that their actions result in improvement. Parents are integrally involved in understanding their own students' progress and how to provide targeted support in and out of the classroom, as well as actively participating in the conversation around the Local School Plan.

It is also crucial that the types of data we use are appropriate to the decisions we are making. Although testing data like the DC-BAS and the DC-CAS are important, multiple or triangulated sources - informal assessments, classroom tests, student conferences, student portfolios, observations, surveys, demographics, attendance, and Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) data to name a few - allow for better analysis. The aim of our response to this broad collection of information is not to reach an end goal, but rather to foster a sense of efficacy or a celebration of effort that leads to growth. Nor are our goals static; we will return to updated data sources to observe the impact of our actions and to reset our responses. I have asked our teachers to ask the question, we are teaching, but are all of our students learning? By making choices that have a clear purpose, growth for all students, not proficiency, must be our goal.

Have a wonderful, and purposeful, week!

Sincerely,

Norah Lycknell
Principal

A Note from the PTA Co-Presidents

We want to provide some information on two items this week: the field and how the Fall Carnival and the Fall Picnic relate.
First, an update on the field. As you've noticed, the field is not in pristine condition. We did put some money into the field over the summer, to make repairs to the irrigation system. We decided to hold off on sodding or seeding the field when we learned that a yet-undetermined portion of the field will be used to stage materials for the public library's construction project. It didn't seem to make sense, nor was it financially responsible, to fix up the field further if it is just going to be destroyed by construction materials and equipment within the next few months. So we have opted to 1) ask that the field be completely refurbished by those city entities that use it for construction purposes, and 2) save and then use our PTA resources to finish the field's rebuilding by adding whatever is needed to make it the best possible.

Second, we are gearing up for Janney's first ever Fall Carnival on October 17th. The Fall Carnival is primarily a fund-raiser for the PTA, and will be open to the entire community. It will include moon bounces, pony rides, craft stations, and other activities. The Carnival differs from the Fall Picnic (September 25th) in that the picnic is not intended to be a fundraiser and is only for Janney families. We hope you will join us for both.

And please don't forget that tonight is the first PTA meeting of the year. We'll be meeting at 7:30 pm in the multi-purpose room. Babysitting is available for parents that need it.

Thanks and have a great week!

Scott Cheney and Jonathan McHugh

Janney Directory

The Janney Directory is nearing the production stage but we need your help. Every year, families are requested to review information in the school's database to make changes. We ask the following families to visit the school office to review their child's student information card as soon as possible. As of press time last Thursday, the families are:

Boris
Farhang
Frazier
Ho
Kunaish
McCurdy
Rojas
Sokolowski
Thompson
Varney
Vivanco
Wall
Williams (Madeline)
Yafet

Notes from the Health Suite

Dear Parents:
As a part of the school health program, annual health screenings will begin soon. The targeted grades for the 09-10 school year are PK, K, 1st,2nd, 4th . The dates for vision, height and weight screenings are Monday, September 14th through Wednesday, September 16th. The hearing screenings will follow later in the fall. Both the parents and teacher will be notified of any screening failures. Thanks to all for your cooperation.

--Roslyn Polk, RN

Janney Fall Picnic: September 25th

The Janney Fall picnic is fast approaching and we are in dire need of volunteers to pull off this event. If interested in setup, grilling, serving, cashiering or clean up, please email Julie Slattery at jslattery@bloomberg.net . Families with last names A-K bring a side dish, L-Z dessert. See you September 25th.

A Call for Janney Artwork

Every fall, the school needs Janney artwork for use in the school directory, the school yearbook, the school calendar, and sometimes even school sportswear. Take a moment to draw something about school. It can be a jaguar, a picture of the school building, your classroom, kids playing on the playground, whatever you think represents Janney. Vertical pictures are suggested but not required. Black and white strongly suggested. Place your submission in the Janney PTA box by September 17, marked to the attention of: Rennie Anderson, rennie.anderson@stanfordalumni.org or Anita Seline, amseline@aol.com

Your PTA Dollars at Work

Over the summer PTA funds were used to purchase new pieces of furniture-desks, bookcases, filing cabinets, lamps-for a number of staff, including the principal's office.

Janney Small Grants Program

The Janney PTA has created a small grants program to fund projects that will benefit Janney students and the Janney community. Grants may be awarded to parents, teachers or groups of students. These grants may be used to fund anything from capital items to activities, but cannot fund items that should normally fall within the remit of DCPS funding (e.g. classroom furniture) or that fall under other PTA budget lines (e.g. personnel development). More details will be presented tonight at the first PTA meeting (7:30 pm in the multi-purpose room), and the final documents will be released and available soon.

Furniture Request

We are looking for a conference table (large enough for 10) and chairs for the special education room, and are hoping that one of our parents might have access to these through your work. If you do, please let Ms. Lycknell know. Thank you.

Safety Patrol Tip of the Week

When driving look for clues such as School Safety Patrols, Adult Crossing Guards, Playgrounds and Bicycles which indicate that children are in the area.

--Jackson Todd, Co-Captain

Janney Shopping

www.shoptoearn.net/Janney
Fundraising at Janney comes in all forms - exciting events and fairs, useful on-site sales of books, plants and fruit for those interested, programs such as e-Scrip and Sally Foster, and on-line EASY ways to donate to Janney by shopping as you always do and where you always do - you just need to click through the Janney home page first (look for the Janney Shopping picture)!

By using the Janney Shopping system when you shop at your favorite retailers such as Target, the Gap, Home Depot, Starbucks or Bluefly, Janney will earn a percentage of your order total order. Hundreds of popular and interesting stores participate. Please check the program before you shop! You will not have to register codes or credit card numbers or personally login before you shop, you just need to remember to go through Janney's site before you shop. To read how to use this system click http://www.janneyschool.org/fundraising/Fundraising.htm

Going on a trip? Janney Travel is just as easy! Click on the Janney Travel link on Janney's homepage or bookmark your web browser to the site http://www.janneytravel.com and then buy your plane tickets, book your hotel, rent your car as you normally would. Janney will get a percentage of your travel purchase.

In the Neighborhood

Auditions for the American Youth Chorus
2009-2010 Season

The American Youth Chorus is an after-school music program for children ages 8-14 from DC, MD and VA. The AYC has performed at the Kennedy Center, the U.S. Capitol, the Childrens' Inaugural Ball, and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and has been featured on CBS, CNN and C-Span. Auditions and weekly rehearsal are at The Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H Street NE, Washington DC. To schedule an audition, email Debby_McConnell@CongressionalChorus.org or call 202-799-7993 ext. 182. For more information, visit the website: www.americanyouthchorus.org

Contributing to the E-Newsletter

All submissions to the PTA newsletter should be emailed to Janneynewsletter@yahoo.com. The deadline for submissions is Friday at 3:15 pm. Because the newsletter is reviewed by several individuals before distribution, we must adhere to this deadline in order to get the newsletter to you every week on time.

Please include all text in the body of your email (rather than as an attachment). Small jpeg thumbnails may be attached and can be included in the newsletter. All links or email addresses will be made active (clickable).

If a notice should be run for more than one week, please indicate the dates the notice should be run, or resubmit the notice by the Friday deadline for each week.

Please note there is no longer a box in the Janney office where hard copy newsletter submissions can be turned in. If you have prepared fliers to be included in the Take Home Tuesday envelope, those should be turned into the school office by COB Monday.

We will run notices about community or other non-Janney events of interest to elementary school children as space permits. It is the PTA's policy not to carry for-profit advertisements or classifieds. Thank you for your cooperation.

The Editors