Principals’ Weekly

November 5, 2008

Note: Because of Veterans Day, the next issue of Principals’ Weekly will be published Wednesday, November 12.

Table of Contents

  • Calendarof keydates and deadlines

Which schools? / Description / When?
***REQUIRED/HIGH PRIORITY***
All / Preparing YourSchool to UseARIS / FYI
Other Administrative Announcements
All / Fall Principals’ Satisfaction Survey / November
Middle / High School Admissions Information Sessions / 11/5-13
All / BEDS Opens / 11/12
Elem, mid / Order State ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies Tests / 11/20
High / Order High School Dance and Theater Comprehensive Examination Materials / By 11/26
Elem / Training on Gifted and Talented Assessments / 12/1-5
CTE / Verify CTE Data / By 12/1
All / Complete Bilingual Education Student Information Survey in ATS / By 12/16
Middle / Submitting Middle School Open House and Audition Dates / FYI
All / Displaying McKinney-Vento Posters (Students in TemporaryHousing) / FYI
All / Monthly Highlights for Student Support Staff and College Advisors / FYI
All / New Teachers Available in Shortage Subject Areas / FYI
All / LAB-R Exam Scores Posted in ATS / FYI
Reminders (Announced in Previous Issues)
All / Complete Special Education Integration Survey / By 11/14
All / Reminders about nySTART Data Verification / FYI
All / Reminders about Periodic Assessments / FYI
Grants, Workshops, and Other Opportunities (New)
Middle / Teaching & Learning’s Closing the Achievement Gap Series / 11/10
High / Teachers Can RSVPfor Opportunity from Richard Avedon Foundation / By 11/14
High / Workshop on Differentiating Instruction in the ELA Classroom / 11/20
Middle / Workshop on Differentiated Instruction for Middle School ELA / 11/20
Mid, high / Students Can Enter Green Light Contest / By 12/1
Mid, high / Teachers Can Apply for Mathematics Teacher TransformationInstitutes / By 12/3
Elem / Workshop on Comprehension Strategies in the Early Childhood Classroom / 12/4
High / Free Seminar on Jewish Rescue during theHolocaust / 1/21
Mid, high / Students Can Enter Science and Technology Competition / By 1/31
Grants, Workshops, and Other Opportunities (Reminders)
All / EarlySupport and Outreach for Level 1 and Level 2 Eighth Grade Students / FYI
All / Parent Coordinators Should RSVP for Best Practice Fair / By 11/5
Mid, high / FreeTechnical Assistance Session on New SIFE Diagnostic / 11/6-14
Elem, mid / Workshop on Supporting Students who Struggle with Decoding / 11/7
Mid, high / Workshops for Counselors on High School Application Processing System / 11/10-21
Middle / Workshop on Differentiating Math and Science Instruction in Eighth Grade / 11/10
All / Workshops to Support Arts Education Liaisons / 11/12
All / Apply forFree Dance Costumesfor Students / By 11/14
Middle / Workshop on Project-BasedLearning and Middle School Exit Projects / 11/17
All / Workshop onUsing Self-Questioning Strategies to Boost Comprehension / 11/18
Middle / Register for Workshop on Building Schoolwide Model of Comprehension Strat. / By 11/18
Middle / Apply for Shubert Foundation Broadway Junior Musical Program / By 11/19
Elem, mid / Workshop on Content Area Reading in Science and Social Studies / 11/21
All / Upcoming ELL Professional Development Opportunities / Fall
All / Professional Development on PeriodicAssessments / Fall

***REQUIRED/HIGH PRIORITY***

Preparing Your School to Use ARIS

All schools

This fall, all New York City educators will be able to log on to the updated Achievement Reporting and Innovation System (ARIS). Your school will be able to use ARIS to view student data, explore instructional resources, share effective practices, and collaborate with colleagues in your school and across the city.

There are two important steps you can take now to prepare your teachers to take full advantage of this powerful resource:

1. Participate in and select teachers to participate in training sessions.

Principal Training Sessions: You are invited to register for a half-day training session, designed to introduce you to the new data and tools in ARIS and to help you develop a plan to enable teachers at your school to get the most out of this new resource.

The updated version of ARIS, available online now, includes new data and tools to help teachers improve student outcomes, access instructional and other resources, and collaborate online. During the year, data sets will expand to include complete profiles of students across grades and learning objectives, and tools will grow to provide a full set of customizable functionality that supports exploration of data and content, collaboration, and innovation by educators and families. For more information about how these data and tools will grow throughout the year, visit

To preview what you and your staff can explore in greater depth at training, you can log on to ARIS now at your DOE e-mail username and password. Later this month, you will receive postcards you can use to invite your staff to log in, too. But first, we suggest that you log in, check out the student information and collaboration tools already available, and think about what kind of support your teachers will need to begin using this resource to improve their instruction and help your students.

Training is an important part of that support. Participating in principal training will enhance your ability to provide instructional leadership to your teachers, who will soon have access to ARIS for the first time. At training, you’ll have a structured opportunity to evaluate how ARIS can support your school’s work this year and a chance to learn more about how you can use Web 2.0 tools to pool knowledge and problem solve with colleagues.

On October 14, you received an e-mail inviting you to register for ARIS training. If you have not already done so, please use the link in the email to confirm your session or request a new session. If you have any questions or need to request another copy of that link, please contact .

“School Expert” Training Sessions: Later this week, you will receive an e-mail inviting you to select up to two members of your school staff to serve as “school experts,” partnering with you to help teachers at your school begin using ARIS to view student data and improve instruction. School experts will participate in a full day of training this fall and a half day of training this spring.

School experts should be members of your staff who are influential among their colleagues and have some experience working with computers and data. We strongly encourage you to consider selecting classroom teachers as your school experts and to include at least one Inquiry Team member. To view suggested school expert selection criteria, and for more information about training opportunities for teachers at your school, visit the Principal’s Guide to ARIS Training, available online at

At school expert training sessions, your teachers will learn how to use ARIS to:

  • Examine school, classroom, and student data to improve outcomes
  • Access and contribute to a library of instructional resources contributed by educators citywide
  • Get involved with communities of practice throughout the city
  • Identify educators who have similar interests and face similar challenges, and collaborate on solutions
  • Organize and share work documents with team members and colleagues

2. Manage student data access for your staff.

In ARIS, principals have access to student-level data for all students, and teachers with official classes in ATS and HSST have access to student-level data for their official classes only. All other school staff do not have access to student-level data. However, you can manage the data access that you and your staff have in ARIS by using the “Assign ARIS Role” function in Galaxy.

You can take the following steps to manage the data that you and your colleagues can see appropriate student data in ARIS:

  • Confirm your student-level data access by verifying that you are coded in Galaxy as a “Head of School” or “Interim Acting Principal.” If you are coded as one of these roles, you will have access to data for all students in your school. If you are not coded as one of these roles, you can click on the “assignment” link and to your assignment to “Head of School” or “Interim Acting Principal.” The change will be forwarded to your ISC for approval before it goes into effect.
  • Grant schoolwide data access to appropriate staff, including Inquiry Team members, your data specialist, and other members of your school staff who have an instructional need to see student-level data for your whole school (e.g., assistant principals, guidance counselors, and other staff who work with students across the student population at your school). Detailed instructions are in the “Guide to Assigning ARIS Roles,” available online at

If you have any questions about using the “Assign ARIS Role” function, please contact r (212) 374-6646.

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Other Administrative Announcements

Fall Principals’ Satisfaction Survey

All schools / Event: November

The Fall Principals’ Satisfaction Survey will launch in approximately two weeks. You will receive an e-mail from the Chancellor that contains a link to the survey and instructions. Please do not forward this link to your colleagues; it is customized for your school.

Your feedback on the services and support that you receive from your SSO, ISC, and the central offices is very important and will help us continue to improve services, so we encourage you to participate in the survey.

If you have any questions regarding the survey, e-mail .

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High School Admissions Information Sessions

Middle schools / Events: November 5-13

High school applications are due back to guidance counselors by December 2. Students and their families still have a chance to attend an information session about the high school admissions process. Sessions are scheduled from November 5-13 throughout the city. Each session will run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Translated materials and interpretation services will be available at all the sessions. Parent coordinators and guidance counselors are encouraged to attend one of the sessions. For a complete schedule and a flyer, visit Please share this information with your students and their families.

For more information, please e-mail r call the Office of Student Enrollment at (212) 374-2363.

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BEDS Opens

All schools / Event: November 12

The 2008 Basic Educational Data Survey (BEDS) will open November 12and close January 16. Because the survey is used to determine your schools’ percentage of “highly qualified” teachers under NCLB, it is extremely important that you completely the survey carefully. You can access the survey, along with an online training manual and the BEDS designee form, on the DOE intranet at (Scroll down and click on the BEDS icon.)

The designee form allows you designate up to two of your staff members to assist in the data entry for the survey. These designees should be familiar with school operations and master scheduling. If your designees are the same as last year, you do not need to complete the form.

BEDS summary reports (available from the “NCLB Report” link located to the left of the survey page)will be updated nightly beginning in early December. Each report will include a summary report of your teachers’ certification status.

Workshops on the survey will be held later this month. Contact your ISC for information about training in your borough.

If you have any questions about the survey, call BEDS support between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. at (718) 935-3515. If names are missing from your survey roster, e-mail the file number, first and last name, and date of birth for each missing name to . Please do not e-mail any Social Security numbers.

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Order State ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies Tests

Elementary and middle schools / Deadlines: November 20, January 14

The State Education Department has mailed letters to all principals regarding online ordering procedures for the 2009 State ELA, math, science, and social studies exams. The deadline to order English Language Arts tests (grades 3-8) isNovember 20. The deadline to order math (grades 3-8), science (grades 4 and 8), and social studies (grade 8) tests is January 14. These exams are mandated by the state and must be administered according to the state’s schedule. For additional information, contact your assessment implementation director or Grace Pepe at .

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Order High School Dance and Theater Comprehensive Examination Materials

High schools / November 26

All high schoolsoffering a dance or theater sequence will receive an order form to request materials for the performance on-demand section of the Comprehensive Examinations in Dance and Theater. This section of each of these examinations will be administeredduring Regents Week on the afternoon ofFriday, January 30. All high schools that are planning to participate in either or both of theseexaminations should return the order forms to their assessment implementation director by November 26. A memo that describes the scope, administration, and scoring of the exam will accompany the order form. You can read these memos online at

Should you have any questions regarding the Dance exam, contact Joan Finkelstein at or the theater exam, contact Paul King at .

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Training on Gifted and Talented Assessments

Elementary schools / Events: December 1-5

The gifted and talented assessments will be administered beginning in January 2009 to all students who submit the request for testing form and who were born in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. Assessments will be administered by trained administrators. Borough wide training for the administration of the assessments will take place starting the week of December 1.

Please send an early childhood representative and your assessment coordinator to the training. These two representatives will train other staff at your school on the test administration process. Please register for the training with your assessment implementation director starting November 15.

  • Queens: December 1, Albert Shanker School for Visual and Performing Arts (Q126)
  • Brooklyn: December 2, Magnet School of Math, Science, and Design Technology (K010)
  • Bronx: December 3, PS/IS 54
  • Manhattan: December 4, High School for Dual Language and Asian Studies (M545)
  • Staten Island: December 5, Petrides Complex

Additional updates on gifted and talented admissions:

  • Translated versions of the Gifted & Talented Test Information Handbook 2008-09 that include the OLSAT practice tests will be available later this week on the Principal’s Portal.
  • Translated versions of a letter for parents about the handbook are available at
  • Please remind families of your students that there are two remaining information forums on the elementary school gifted and talented admissions process – November 5 at PS 84 in Manhattan, and November 6 at JHS 194 in Queens. Please note that these forums only cover the elementary school gifted and talented admissions process, not the middle school or high school admissions process.

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Verify CTE Data

CTE schools / Deadline: December 1

All high schools that offer Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs of study should update and validate the HSST Sequence Page by December 1. These schools should document the name of their program (with CIP code), the associated courses, and the students enrolled in that program. Updates should reflect program status as of October 31 (please note that prior term information is maintained on HSST). Please make sure that your course sequence name (name of the program) is consistent with the program of study name that you plan to use on VTEA or program approval applications for this year. You can view a list of current program names at

The data generated in HSST will be used to evaluate and determine eligibility for VTEA funding and for program approval evaluation, so it is critical that it be as accurate as possible

For additional information on completing this data verification process, please review the “Entering CTE Codes” document on the HSST SharePoint site at

Please also note that the DOE receives funding for students enrolled in CTE courses that are independent electives, as well as courses that are part of established programs of study. Please be sure that you account for all students enrolled in CTE courses who are not reflected in the sequence page by flagging CTE elective courses as CTE on your course modification screen in HSST.

For additional information, contact John Becker at r your application support liaison. You can also contact Miriam Sondheimer at .

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Complete Bilingual Education Student Information Survey in ATS

All schools / Deadline: December 16

The Bilingual Education Student Information Survey (BESIS) is available in ATS until December 16. The survey captures information on students identified as English Language Learners, including their placement in a bilingual, ESL, or dual language program. Data from the survey is used to determine the amount of state aid schools receive for Limited English Proficient students and to determine compliance with state accountability requirements. Please designate an ESL teacher, data specialist, or bilingual coordinator to be responsible for compiling, entering, and confirming BESIS information.