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2	Paired “Sister” School Option
3	"Sister School Goal:" Sister School Goal: Balance elementary school populations both economically and racially. The Plan: Pair title schools with non-title schools. One school would house grade pre K – 2 students from both schools. The other school would house grade 3-5 students from both schools.
4	"Considerations for Pairing Schools:" Considerations for Pairing Schools: Location of schools School size and total enrollment Minority populations Floor Plans: available K– 1 classrooms
5	"Paired Schools (based on..." Paired Schools (based on location, size, title I/non-title 1) Bowers – Waddell Robertson – Buckley Keeney – Verplanck Martin – Washington Highland Park – Nathan Hale
6	"Schools that meet prek-1 building..." Schools that meet prek-1 building code and space requirements Bowers Highland Park Keeney Martin Robertson
7	"Combined K–2/3–5 enrollment" Combined K–2/3–5 enrollment Total K–5 Combined enrollment 1995 2004 1995 2004 Bowers 490 426 Waddell 464 433 954 859 Robertson 366 386 Buckley 346 322 712 708 Highland Park 332 322 Nathan Hale 319 261 651 583 Keeney 433 367 Verplanck 389 357 822 724 Martin 279 294 Washington 275 305 554 599
8	"Combined K–2/3–5" Combined K–2/3–5 Total K–5 Combined minority enrollment minority enrollment 1995 2004 1995 2004 Bowers 20 % 38 % Waddell 22 % 38 % 21 % 38 % Robertson 21 % 46 % Buckley 23 % 46 % 22 % 46 % Highland Park 24 % 45 % Nathan Hale 28 % 44 % 26 % 44 % Keeney 26 % 46 % Verplanck 23 % 53 % 24 % 50 % Martin 28 % 46 % Washington 26 % 50 % 27 % 48 %
9	"Elementary School Available Classrooms" Elementary School Available Classrooms Needed Needed School # Classrooms K –2 (Full day K) 3-5 Bowers 21 18 Waddell 21 18 Robertson 22 ( 3 modular classrooms) 19 Buckley 20 15 Highland Park 18 (3 modular classrooms) 16 Nathan Hale 18 14 Keeney 20 16 Verplanck 20 16 Martin 11 16 Washington 20 15
10	"Paired Schools in Connecticut" Paired Schools in Connecticut Currently 20 school districts have at least one prek/k – grade 2 school with a paired grade 3-5 school. An additional 14 school districts have at least one prek/k – grade 3 school with a paired grade 4-5 or 4-6 school. This represents 18% of the school districts in the state.
11	"Fourteen of the twenty one..." Fourteen of the twenty one paired schools that existed in 1995 still remain today. The number of years these pairs have been in place range from two to 30 years.
12	"Reasons given for the development..." Reasons given for the development of paired schools: A. An Early Childhood developmental philosophy was adopted by the school system in grades K–2 or K-3. B. Better staff support and training was needed for a developmental reading and math curriculum. C. Decreasing enrollment developed the need to close schools and the students needed to be redistricted to new schools. D. Additional space was needed and not as many classrooms were needed when all the students in the same grade level were placed in one building. E. Enrollment in one elementary school grew faster than in the other. This necessitated a rebalancing of the enrollment so there would be approximately the same number of students in the two buildings. F. Integrate economically diverse student populations.
13	"Positive factors given for the..." Positive factors given for the paired school configuration: A. Greater ability to specialize curriculum, teaching strategies and environment to match the developmental needs of the children. B. Teachers meet more often informally to share strategies. There is less need for frequent formal meetings. C. Provides more options to place a child in the best learning environment based on his or her learning style, strengths, and personality. D. Creates great dialogue and cooperation between teachers teaching developmentally similar children. E. Unifies the curriculum and increases the peer support available when implementing new materials or teaching strategies in the classrooms. F. Results in the creation of progress reports to parents which are more grade level specific and developmentally appropriate.
14	"G." G. Easier to include special education students in the regular classroom because there are more classroom options to match teacher skills and child needs. H. Increases the ability to focus on primary and intermediate student needs since students at both levels have very different needs, abilities, and interests. I. Range of academic and building issues is narrower for administrators and therefore easier to address and solve. J. Staff become specialists in learning and teaching students of a specific age group. K. Greater ability to provide resources and support services because the range of needs is limited to a specific age range.
15	"L." L. School staff knows every child at a grade level because of the close coordination and communication among staff members. M. Family atmosphere is developed for the younger students. N. Parents As Educators Program is more effective because it is developmentally more appropriate and specific to the age of the students. O. School philosophy is more consolidated and encourages the development of such options as multi-age and multi-grade configurations. P. Teaching is more successful and learning is more integrated and of higher quality because curriculum units are planned in collaboration by a large number of teachers. Q. Staff development can better focus on the specific needs of the teachers and students.
16	"Negative factors of paired school..." Negative factors of paired school configuration: A. Intermediate staff must learn about new students and families with no one in the building who has this knowledge. B. Easier to walk down the hallway from second to third grade to get student information than to communicate between buildings. C. No informal discussions about new students and many times appointments scheduled to talk about student problems in grade 3. D. Grade 2 teachers don’t always get up-to-date information about mastery tests because testing not done in their school. E. Longer bus rides for students and increased transportation costs. F. Older students missed in the K–2 schools as role models and peer tutors.
17	"G." G. More discipline problems on the buses with only grade 3–5 students. H. More parent concerns to deal with when there are more kindergarten and grade 1 students in one building. I. Facility and playground changes needed to accommodate different student population. J. Transition in grade 2 is difficult for some children and parents. K. Three years rather than six to get to know the students well. L. Communication between sister schools is difficult. M. Difficult to align K–5 student expectations with two different buildings. N. Two PTA’s cause problems with parent involvement.
18	"Recommendations to enhance paired “..." Recommendations to enhance paired “sister” school success: A. Orientation visits for students and parents are very important. (Former students and parents should be used to help bridge the transition into the grade 3–5 building.) B. Grade 2 and 3 teachers need to visit each other’s classrooms and be given adequate time to talk about curriculum and testing issues. C. Combining the K–2 and 3–5 students on one bus from the same neighborhood helps eliminate behavior problems. (Paired schools would have different starting times – ex. 8:15 am and 9:00 am) D. Common planning time and grade level meeting time is essential for each grade level. (This may mean additional art, P.E. and music teachers.)
19	"E." E. A common school philosophy/mission statement would help to foster cohesiveness in the paired schools. F. Two school advisory committees (one for each school) and one PTA should be established for “sister” schools. G. At least two “sister” school events per year (one at each school) should be planned so students, staff, and parents from both schools get to know both schools and each other. H. Grade 2 and 3 teachers should be brought together at least twice during the school year to coordinate the academic program and the transition of students to their new school.
20	"I." I. On-going discussions and sharing of CMT information should be planned for K-2 and K-5 staff meetings. J. At least two K-5 staff meetings and two sister school activities should be planned each year so staff in the two schools feel they are partners.
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22	"Number of classrooms reduced by..." Number of classrooms reduced by pairing schools: Kindergarten – full day (number of classrooms increased) Grade 1 – 4 classrooms Grade 2 – 3 classrooms Grade 3 - 0 classrooms Grade 4 – 2 classrooms Grade 5 – 0 classrooms Based on current enrollment and class size of 18-20
23	"School Districts with Paired Primary..." School Districts with Paired Primary and Intermediate Grade Schools Ansonia New Fairfield Watertown Bethel New Haven Willington Clinton New Milford Wilton Colchester North Branford Windsor Coventry Old Saybrook Woodbridge Bridgeport Oxford Regional District #13 Danbury Plainfield Regional District #16 East Granby Plymouth Regional District #18 East Hampton Portland Granby Stafford Groton Stonington Hebron Thomaston Ledyard Litchfield
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