SOUTH BRUNSWICK: BOE gets science, social studies report

By Ed Birch, Special Writer
   Teachers from all levels of the school district reported the success of the Science and Social Studies curriculums at a recent Board of Education meeting.
   The goals of the science program is to prepare district students to be lifetime learners, critical thinkers, effective communicators, and wide decision makers, according to district officials.
   These goals are accomplished through the use of New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards at all grade levels.
   ”The schools maintain an environment that promotes intellectual challenge, creativity, social and emotional growth, and the health physical development of each student” said Assistant Superintendent Joanne Kerekes.
   She said progress in science education is judged on student assessment testing, mid-term exams, establishment and performance in specially designed science performance projects, and year-end testing.
   Students in grade 4 are assessed by the NJ ASK Science Testing Program.
   In the district, 96 percent of students have been rated proficient or better on these examinations. According to the report, the state average for 2012 was 92 percent proficiency. The third and fourth grade program includes research projects connected with the Planets and Ecosystems.
   Middle school proficiency is rated at 94 percent in grade 8 in 2012, while the state average of same grade students was 82 percent, according to the report. Among the science topics covered in the middle schools are; Geology, Astronomy, and Phylogenetics
   Seventy-seven percent of South Brunswick High School students participating in the tests were rated proficient or better on 2012 standardized tests, according to the report.
   The state average of proficient students taking the same examination was 59 percent.
   In addition, 91 percent of students who participated in the Advanced Placement examinations in the high school received passing grades on the College Board year-end standardized examination that will lead to college credits, according to officials.
   This allows the student to participate in higher level courses and could lead to a financial savings against costly college tuition bills, according to district officials.
   District social studies programs are also seeing an increase in test scores at all levels, according to the report.
   The program goals include making students understand multicultural prospective, learning how to reconstruct the past to give students a historical prospective, and the examination of social norms and emerging personal identity, according to the report.
   Courses of study for elementary school students include family, local neighborhoods and geography, citizenship, Lenape history, the American Revolution, state and national governments, and ancient civilizations.
   Middle School curriculum topics include India, China, Greece, Rome, China, and Japan.
   Students continue learning geography and are introduced to Political Science, Economics, and Behavioral Science, according to the district.
   Later middle school topics include American Colonization, the American Revolution, westward expansion, and the Civil War. A trip to Gettysburg is the highlight for seventh and eighth graders tied to the social studies program.
   High School core courses include American Government, United States History, Global Studies, and a newly designed study of Personal Financial Management, according to the district.
   The most recent data released by the College Board reveals that 96 percent of the 201 local students who have participated in the Advanced Placement testing program received passing scores on the battery of examinations in 2012.
   Subject areas of the program and the testing include European and United States History, Government and Politics, United States and World History, and Psychology.
   Highlights of the High School social studies program include the Inaugural Ball, sending packages to our troops abroad, many book studies, and the annual trip to the Holocaust Museum.
   Both subjects are constantly being monitored for revisions and as technology and world current events evolve, Ms. Kerekes said.