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www.qcsd.org
An Update from the Quakertown Community School District
September 26, 2008
QCSD rated among top 50
Philadelphia area schools
Panther Ambassadors welcome sixth graders at Milford
The 32 Milford Middle School Panther Ambassadors (PA) planned and ran an
after school welcome picnic Sept. 12 for sixth graders. More than 110 of the 130
sixth graders attended the picnic.
“This was the second year for the picnic and it was a tremendous success,
largely due to the fact that the adults were a very small part of the planning!” said
Pat Tannous, Assistant Principal who helps teacher Nick Hood, coordinator of the
PA program. “I’m very proud of the Panther Ambassadors, who take the lead in
developing a positive culture among the students at Milford.”
The PAs, led by Shelly
Cowan and Shelby Van den
Burg, planned all the events,
coordinated all the other PAs
and gave direction to the
sixth grade teachers, who
helped to facilitate. They also
directed the planning of the
food, taken care of by parent
volunteers. Parent Jo Ann
Cosgrove directed the food
preparation and distribution.
The PAs readied six stations for the event, then had
to adapt everything to be held inside because it rained.
Each of the sixth grade students and teachers received a team T shirt with a logo
for their team, designed by the PAs. The students who attended had a blast. They
played team building games, get to know you games and kickball. They learned to
line dance and hula hooped!
Teachers remarked about how well the picnic unfolded and how much fun students had. The PAs competed with each other to see who could learn the most
names of sixth graders as they came through their stations. Students made many
connections and “the camaraderie between the students was unbelievable,” Tannous said. Carolyn Bibighaus, an eighth grade PA, told Tannous that she overheard a sixth grader tell his mom, this was the best Friday he had in a long time.
In August, Philadelphia Magazine ran its “Best
Schools” issue with what it considered the top
50 School Districts in the Philadelphia area. Editors ranked QCSD 37th overall. The elementary
schools rated 17th while Strayer and Milford
rated 14th among middle schools.
QCHS came in at No. 66.
The editors explained that in years past, the
magazine judges focused
rankings on high schools,
mainly because only the secondary level provided enough
academic performance data to
do the job. “But now, testing
mandated by the No Child
Left Behind Act allows
achievement tracking across
all levels of instruction.
We’ve used this flood of figures to identify
school systems that stand out from their peers.”
To come up with an overall ranking, statisticians compared district-wide classroom quality
indicators such as standardized scores and
graduation rates for 105 school districts in the
eight-county area. In a separate set of calculations, they ranked the performance of each district’s individual elementary, middle and high
schools against their counterparts; the results,
combined and weighted by number of students
enrolled, provided a snapshot of relative
strengths and weaknesses among — and within
— districts. Be aware, however, that the differences measured are small; most districts could
potentially be ranked 10 places higher or lower
Haycock fifth graders headed outdoors with teacher Luke Witts to the nature
on either list.
trail to look for evidence of decomposers, producers and consumers. The lessons
“I appreciate the marker that indicates the
‘Best Bang for the Buck,’ noted Superintendent and activities were part of the QCSD Ecosystems kit, which teaches about the
interdependence of organisms on one anDr. Lisa Andrejko. “Only 23 earned that distincother. Through the units, students learn that ortion.”
ganisms can be categorized by the functions they
As a bonus, judges pinpointed districts that
serve in an ecosystem; certain factors affect
provide extra bang for the buck — that is, degrowth and reproduction; nature and human-made
liver academic outcomes greater than expected
events can disturb an ecosystem; pollution results
given school spending levels and housing costs
when pollutants interact with the environment and
to live in that district.
can affect the stability of an ecosystem; solutions
To view the entire set of rankings, go to
can affect/minimize affects of pollutants; and
http://www.phillymag.com/articles/
model ecosystems can be used to learn more
the_top_50_school_districts_2008/ .
about relationships on Earth.
Haycock students explore nature trail