2006-2007
DRMS serves students in 5-8th grades and student enrollment in the 2006-07 school year was 439. The student population is 13.2% SPED and 98.2% white. There were 30 teachers and 80.1% of core teachers were Highly Qualified. This was our first year working with DMS and we began the implementation in December. It was determined that the JFYNet Academic Support classes would be made up of students who were at-risk in math and they would use JFYNet’s MCAS Express curriculum in math as a supplement to class work. The target group was 8th graders, but 5th-7th grade students were also scheduled in the lab. Students came to the lab approximately twice per week, generally pulled-out of electives or recess to attend. The two biggest challenges with this first-year implementation were that one, the computer lab teacher was not a content-area expert and two, there was little communication between the computer lab teacher and the subject area teachers regarding what students should be focusing on during lab time. Despite some barriers to student progress, toward the end of the year, the teacher did identify and set-up two students (who required some extra help) to work directly with the JFYNet Site Coordinator, Jeanne Chiang. This seemed to boost the students’ confidence and refocus their attention on mastery. DMS has the potential to build the JFYNet program and make it more successful. The administration cares about the students and is eager to implement good programs. Also, the lab is new and is well-managed by the lab teacher. The main suggestion for a future implementation would be to foster communication between classroom work and lab work. For more information on the implementation, please contact Jeanne Chiang at jchiang@jfynet.org

Web site link: Dighton-Rehoboth Middle School