North Dover Elementary School is excited to implement our North STAR program, providing after-school opportunities to our students. Our mission is to empower students to be leaders who positively impact their community through leadership, academics, and social emotional skills. We envision a program that will provide enriching programming for leadership development with academic opportunities to benefit both students and families. It is our goal to reach students on all levels to meet the needs of the whole child. By partnering with community partners, we will bring quality learning experiences to our students and provide opportunities to bolster family engagement.
We are seeking to expand our partnership with Flowers Education and Fitness to implement a summer program rich in experiences such as robotics, nutrition, crafting, health activities, and physical fitness. A partnership with JA will allow students to take part in lessons on personal and professional finance, entrepreneurship, career exploration, and leadership skills. Our partnership with the DREAM Association will allow us to provide experiences outside of the norm and allow students to experience activities such as participating in personal trading, understanding the stock market, and will have a focus on breaking the cycle of poverty. These are but a few of the partnerships we plan to offer.
A comprehensive after school and summer program has been a long time need for the North Dover Elementary School Community. The aftermath of the Covid pandemic has exasperated this need. Through ongoing communication with families, students, and staff, the desire to engage in programming is great. North Dover Elementary is targeting students in the areas of homelessness, students who are experiencing excessive absences or tardies, MLL students, students who are considered lower socio-economic, and Special Education students, to increase academic success, as measured by classroom grades and state-wide testing, reinforcing skills around reading and math, and teaching and developing social skills for well rounded senators. Other students with similar academic or social emotional concerns based on teacher observation, MTSS data, Smarter Balance, STAR, or I-Ready will be identified for participation.
During the school year, the North STAR program will consist of four, eight week blocks, with two to four days off between each block. Our summer programming will consist of four weeks with 16 days of programming. Program goals consist of meeting the needs of the whole child in providing rich academic, social emotional, and physical experiences. The program will additionally focus on promoting positive behaviors, encouraging and developing healthy social relationships, teaching and practicing problem solving skills, increasing social awareness, and reducing negative peer interactions. The North STAR program will increase students’ desire to participate in school, therefore decreasing student absenteeism by at least 5% and decreasing student discipline incidents in targeted students by 5%.
In an effort to expand over the coming years, we will collect data to support ways to improve connectedness to school from parents and students. We will also seek to record teacher perspectives on how programming is translating to better student behaviors and academics in the classroom. The North STAR program will expose students to a plethora of new experiences both in the classroom and in the community, making students more aware of their hidden talents and potential, allowing each senator to see the possibilities that exist for each of them. The North STAR program is just the opportunity the North Dover community needs to expand and build upon its National Blue Ribbon status.
A full copy can be reviewed in the school office.