School-Community+Profile

Several years ago, if someone asked me what I would be doing with my career in life, I am not sure that I would have answered that I was going to be a teacher. After completing undergraduate experience, I began my teacher career as a substitute teacher and then a Title-One Aide. In 2008, I was offered a job with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia as a 6-8 grade teacher in a rural catholic school in Bucks County. When I first pulled up to the school, I was honestly a little apprehensive about what would be contained within this much older, smaller looking school than the large, new public schools that I was used to. What I found wrapped in the very close nit community astounds me to this moment. The amount of history and love that St. John the Baptist holds is just amazing. A first look at St. John the Baptist leads you to believe that a population consisting of lower to middle income families live in this community. Take a second look and you find so much more than the eye can hold. St. John the Baptist is a quaint school of 9 classrooms nestled in upper Haycock, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Students from seven surrounding townships are welcomes to attend here. Although there is a population of 29,094 people, affording a catholic education has become increasingly difficult. Due to this, there are only about 185 students that attend St. John’s School, yet many more are registered with the parish. Of the individual families that make up the St. John’s family (yes, it is truly a family), come from a middle to upper economic class.
 * Introduction **

St. Johns is the third oldest parish in the Diocese of Philadelphia and the oldest parish in Bucks County. In 1737, the Walking Purchase of land, made by the sons of William Penn from the Algonquian and Delaware Indians, bought Catholicism to Bucks County. During the same year, the two sons, Thomas and Richard Penn, warranted “a grant of land” to Edward McCarthy. The following year, he was deeded the land along with adjacent property which was deeded to his brother, Thomas. The McCarthy family immigrated to America from Ireland, where Catholics were being persecuted by the English. Penn’s sons switched from Quaker to Anglican, not far off of Catholic, hence their will to pass the land to the McCarty’s.

When early farmer-colonists settled their land, they resorted to clearing the forest and brush in the area. The families relied on farming, hunting, and gathering crops. Their days were filled with labor. Most of the colonists felt this was not enough for their children. Just like us parents today they wanted better for their children. Theses parents wanted their children to learn their deep roots of God and to learn their basic subject matters of reading, writing and arithmetic. John McCarthy, son of Edward, stated in his will that he was a portion of his inheritance to be directed towards educating the next generation of his family as his generation and previous generations were all illiterate.

There is evidence of the first schoolhouse existing on the McCarthy property in 1784. This first school house acted as the home of education until 1798, when the new, larger church was built. Attached to that church was a new schoolhouse was stood active until a fire in 1853 closed its doors.

After the fire, there was talk of the Pennsylvania Railroad running through Haycock; it was set that this town would be the station for the train. Not willing to stop the education of their youth, a different idea was raised in 1861. The new school would be known as St.Theresa’s Academy, a boarding school for young girls of prominently wealthy families that would be traveling the railroad. This academy was run by the Immaculate Heart of Mary sisters. Aside from caring for the academy, these sisters also provided the education for all the children of this parish. The Pennsylvania Railroad never happened and seven years after its opening, the academy closed and the building was used as the parish rectory and Catholic Elementary Education. In 1925 a separate, two-room schoolhouse was built across from the church. Fifteen years later two more rooms were added on.

Finally, in 1959 the present St. John the Baptist elementary school was build. Today, this school represents all that St. Johns has been though. The tenth generation of the McCarty family, Rosanne, works as our Spanish teacher. With a huge thank you to William Penn’s sons for providing the land to the McCarty family, we are able to ensure that the Catholic faith and the educational needs of the children are met and exceeded. St. Johns is truly an awesome place to work and be part of the family. Just as the early farmer-colonists wanted the best for their children in education, we work today to ensure these families a good quality education for their children. Our children of St. Johns scored above the 92% on their national testing. We have also won awards for our incorporation of technology. These children help me to realize the awesomeness of being a teacher.

**Philosophy ** St. John the Baptist Catholic School is a school that prides itself on instilling life-long lessons of faith and respect. After some farther investigation into the philosophy and mission of Saint John the Baptist, I uncovered our hopes and dreams for providing a profound education for our children. In 1994 the staff members of St. John’s created a philosophy and mission statement for the school. The staff, under the direction of Carolyn Pyatt, Jan Walker, and Vivian Zimmerman, the current principal, created the following philosophy for St. John’s. Pyatt, Walker, and Zimmerman published that the vision and intent of Saint John the Baptist Catholic School administration and faculty is to develop for the students, an awareness and ownership of our Catholic Identity. Incorporating the teachings, prayers and example of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, we prepare our students for a life of commitment and service to the Church and the community.

The philosophy of St. John’s crosses many attributes. These attributes include such aspects as religious, academic, spiritual, intellectual, personal, social, physical, curriculum, teaching, and evaluation. In all areas of our daily school life, we show the love of Jesus Christ. We accept the challenge to spread God’s message by attitude and example. That message of Jesus, initiated by the child’s family at Baptism, is developed and nurtured into our day to day activities. We, at St. John the Baptist Catholic School, set the standard; that the love, respect, and caring of Christ is exhibited in our daily actions towards self and others.

The nature of experiences brings about intellectual, emotional, and social growth and development. At the primary level, students develop their intellect through motor and sensory experiences. In grades three through six, there is a transitional period of development. Our children are challenged to proceed with guided problem solving activities that allow for a variety of student learning styles. Our seventh and eighth grade students are able to grasp abstract concepts. By logical presentation, which enlists concrete experiences to stimulate individual interests, the student can proceed confidently.

Basic skills are developed, as the child needs them to fulfill daily activities. In the primary grades basic skills are taught incorporating a variety of manipulative media and technology. Our middle grades also use a hands-on approach to continue the process of basic skills development. Students incorporate these learned skills by problem solving based activities, through the following years. Saint John the Baptist stresses the “whole person”. The nature of the students evolves from an awareness of the world “outside” of him or herself. Through education, the child learns to accept responsibility for the choices he or she makes. In our school, with the teaching of Catholic Christian values, the student is made aware of those choices that would help him to become an asset to society. By encouraging the child’s individual talents, he or she develops a strong image of self. This allows the child to make choices that would lead to positive self-fulfillment.

**Mission ** As previously mentioned, St. Johns is very proud of our mission to teach the strength of faith and education. For this reason, Pyatt, Walker, and Zimmerman created the following mission statement: //“The love of Jesus Christ is visible in all areas of daily life. We accept the challenge to spread God’s message by attitude and example. That message of Jesus is developed and nurtured in our day to day activities. We strive to make the child aware of his or her responsibilities to become an active presence in our church community. We provide various opportunities for the students to become active participants through liturgy, prayer and service. We at St. John the Baptist Catholic School share the love, respect and caring of Christ by exhibiting those characteristics in our actions towards self and others.”//

**Innovative Programs ** While we strive to teach the students to live life using their Christian ethics, we also strive to prepare our students adequately by preparing them for the 21 century by implementing innovative programs. Last year our school won the distinction of a technology award. We were one of only twelve schools to win awards through out the United States. Within our classrooms, we enhanced our teaching with the use of computer, promethean boards, and a variety of multimedia equipment. When I started teaching at St. John’s last year, I began using programs, such as moviemaker, photo story, and glogster, as a mean to take the foundations of the students’ learning and create a whole new means of showing understanding of materials. This year, we received a grant for a mobile cart containing sixteen mini laptops. This cart allows the students to research, collect information, analyze it and build off of that information. Thus far, the students have astounded me with what they have created.

St. John’s also exemplifies their innovation through the activities of its robotics club. We have a computer programmer who works with several students who create robots and formulate them with information, allowing the robots to follow orders. The robotics club has won awards for their create work. This same gentleman is working with one of the eighth graders to create a entirely new computer program. This surely amazes me as the eighth grader is immensely succeeding with his capabilities. The students have so much available to them and they eagerly show that they are students of the 21st century. As we speak, the students are in the process of creating public announcements describing how the church is universal and open to all and why they love being a part of the St. John the Baptist parish family. I set a baseline of what I would like to see. With my current group, I can give them the foundation and what they build will astound you.

**Testing Scores and Measures of Achievements ** The nation has set requirements that all children should be assessed to see where they academically stand. The goal is to assess what they have learned. Each state has their own annual assessment test which is used to see where the school matches the nations is their academics. Here in Pennsylvania, we use the Pennsylvania’s System of School Assessment, or PSSA, to assess the students. While the public schools follow the use of PSSAs, catholic schools across the nation follow the TerraNova standardized tests. We institute the TerraNova tests in March of each year. The students are tested on reading, vocabulary, reading composition, language, language mechanics, language composition, math, math computation, math composition, science, social studies, and spelling. Every year, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia sets expectations of where they would like to see the students score. At the end of last year, we received a letter from the Archdiocese informing us that we, as a diocese, exceeded their expectations. We, at St. John’s, not only scored higher than expected, but also scored well above the national expectations. At the end of the 2008-2009 school year we were in the top 92% for achievement scores. We were so excited; yet, we cannot let this allow us to fall back on what we strive to provide for our students. It actually raises our benchmark as we know that we can achieve.

Below, you will see the results of the current eighth grade students at St. John’s. I will be referencing their TerraNova scores last year. These assessment rankings are based on a class of eighteen students. All subject matter specific grades were reported above average, except for mathematics which fell just below the top benchmark for average.

//Over all normal reference scores nationally//- 81.1% //The median national percentile for subject specific//- Reading 83.0%, Language 84.7%, Mathematics 73.0%, Science 76.3%, Social Studies 82.5% //The Mean Cognitive Skills Index (CSI)// is 114

It is our goal that each student be evaluated fairly and made to feel welcomed, respected, special and valued regardless of his or her ability level. Evaluations are based on different learning strategies and are constructed by the teacher to include those students with special needs. We construct evaluations for students that are both subjective and objective. Our faculty implements “rubrics” developed and approved by the Philadelphia diocese. Students are evaluated using working portfolios and self and/or peer evaluations as well.

**Interpretation of Environment ** I finally made the executive decision. Public school positions are few and far in between here in Pennsylvania. I spend most of my education, elementary school and college, attending catholic school. It was time to give back. I collected all of my required materials to apply for a position here. After submitting the required materials, I received a phone call from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, who does the interviewing for the school to hire from. Within days of interviewing with the Archdiocese, I received a phone call from St. John the Baptist Catholic School. I had never ventured to the area where this school was located. On the day of my interview, I drove forty-five minutes north to meet the principal and pastor. I was in for a surprise, a good surprise. St. John the Baptist is located in more of a rural setting. The school was surrounded by open land and the quaint school was nestled on several acres of property. To my eyes, it portrayed and image of peace and tranquility. It was not until I opened the front doors that I realized that there was peace and tranquility and so much more. While the elements surrounding the location of the school, and a look of lower middle-class, I should have realized that there would be more solidarity in this location then most public schools surrounding me.

The neighborhoods that make up St. Johns are a rather quite place. There is not much in regards to crime. Unfortunately with the rural location, there are many vehicle accidents. The main road I take is dotted with memorial sites for those who have died. Most of the accidents are a result of drunk-driving, falling asleep or hitting deer. There is not much along this particular road, aside from bars and quick stops. It is a very safe environment. The longer I work at this particular school, the more I realize the strength of the community. Everyone knows everyone else. I never really thought these types of towns existed.

On the first day of school, as I walked in through the doors of St. John the Baptist, I was veering on the edge of apprehension. It was a new experience for me. I was just starting with my first full-time position. Questions were running through my head. Were the other teachers going to accept me? Was the secretary going to accept me? St. Johns is a small group where the students have been attending with same peers for all their years here. How were the parents going to feel about a young teacher coming into their a school to teacher their children? I was greeted at my classroom door by parents who just wanted to introduce themselves and share with me how excited they and their children were to meet me. This was the moment that the energy of family and community really showed through.

Aside from being a faith oriented school, St. Johns is also a very deeply community bases school. As a the Student Council administrator, we have coordinated many fundraising or collection activities for the Lord’s Pantry (our food pantry for the locally hungry), holiday toy drive, financial collection for Catholic Charities and supplies for abused women and children. Aside for these collections, the students also fulfill service requirements for their Confirmation preparation. One would think that the idea of service stops outside the school, but this school family is so involved in their community that we hear countless accounts of the work they do. I can honestly say that I have been truly blessed to be a part of this community. The school community, along with those surrounding it, always looks out for each other. St. John the Baptist is a wonderful community bases on Christian morals and beliefs. It is a community exemplifying the ideas of education, family and friendships. While we may not be a school blessed with help from the government in providing the educational resources, we have been given the gift of providing education with what we have available to us through grants. We take the little that we have and ensure that our children walk away with the most that they can have. St. John the Baptist is truly an exceptional community to be apart of, both as an educator and a family member.
 * Conclusion **