Concord Road Elementary

About Concord Road Elementary School

Concord Road Elementary School (CRS) has a proud history of academic excellence and a dedicated professional staff whose mission is to deliver a rich, standards based curriculum that fosters learning in a nurturing and stimulating environment. We use a balanced literacy approach to reading and writing instruction, and the Investigations in Number, Data and Space program in mathematics. Instruction in social studies builds from explorations of self and community to developing understandings of local and United States history and government. All students attend music, art, library, science, physical education and technology classes led by content specialists. Effective educational practices coupled with high expectations for student achievement ensure that our students will be well prepared to navigate the ever-changing environments of the 21st century.

The learning environment at CRS is organized to meet the individual needs of all children. We use formative and summative assessments to differentiate instruction. We offer a range of programs to support both at-risk learners and students with special educational requirements. These include:

• Academic intervention services in literacy and mathematics
• Co-taught inclusion classes
• Core programs in literacy and mathematics
• Self-contained special education classrooms
• Speech and language services
• Physical and occupational therapy
• Early phonemic awareness intervention

We choose our programs with care, continually assessing their effectiveness to ensure that there is always a strong fit between students and services.

We maintain strong bonds with the families we serve. We believe that shared decision making promotes the high quality communication needed to ensure success for all our students. We work closely with both our Pupil Performance Leadership Team (PPLT) and our Parent Teacher Association (PTA) to develop procedures and processes that will enhance school and family partnerships. The PPLT identifies and implements policies and programs that enable the school to maintain its high academic standards, and to operate efficiently and effectively. We offer myriad opportunities for parents to support CRS. They attend school events, they volunteer in classrooms, they join school and district committees, and they participate in a wide range of fund-raising activities. We celebrate successes and share concerns at conferences and curriculum events, through report cards, progress reports, newsletters and letters that inform stakeholders about classroom and school-wide happenings, through committee work, and by telephone and email. We periodically measure family satisfaction to assess the effectiveness of our outreach efforts. This drive to actively involve parents establishes bonds of mutual respect and trust between home, community and school.

CRS is located on a sprawling twenty-five acre campus. The split-level building is divided into four wings. It contains state-of-the-art facilities for our music, art and science programs, a physical education and large-group assembly area, a library/media center and two technology labs. The grounds include four playgrounds and a soccer field. All classrooms are equipped with student and teacher computer stations, eleven rooms have SmartBoards, and many have closed circuit televisions. CRS services approximately 650 students. Our faculty is comprised of two administrators, 63 teachers, 13 related service providers, 3 psychologists, 2 guidance counselors, 24 teaching assistants, 32 aides, and clerical and custodial support staff. We are a large staff committed to ensuring that all children have a positive school experience.

The United States Department of Education has named CRS as both a National Blue Ribbon School and a National Model Professional Development School. These honors reward academic excellence and a commitment to ensuring that all professional staff are and remain highly qualified. Our student publication, The Bobcat, was the Eastern Regional Winner of The TIME Magazine National Student Publishing Award.

We have a wide range of co-curricular and extracurricular activities that enable students to pursue interests in the arts and sciences, and in athletics. Musicians in grades 3 and 4 are invited to participate in grade level choruses. They can also take lessons in a range of string and brass instruments. Our mathematicians in second and third grade compete in the Continental Math League, while our fourth graders participate in the Math Olympiad. The Young Inventors and the Invent America Program offer our scientists the opportunity to use design as a vehicle for problem solving. For our space lovers we have StarLab, our own planetarium. The Kindness and Primary Gardens provide rich environments to study plant forms. Our annual science fair showcases the work of our kindergarten, first and second grade children. The Geography Olympiad is a national competition that test social studies skills for students in grades 2, 3 and 4. The health fair enables upper grade students to learn more about the medical and caring professions. The After School Program has a range of sports, music and craft classes. And our student council initiates school wide and charitable projects that teach our children the responsibilities of global citizenry.