New Jersey PSI Classrooms Wow NEA Leadership
Bergen County Tech Schools, Bergenfield High School, and Roy Brown Middle School’s PSI classrooms host field day for state and national leaders.
On October 17, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, NEA Executive Director John Stocks, and NJEA President Wendell Steinhauer visited select New Jersey classrooms, getting a firsthand look at PSI in action. Accompanied by CTL’s Board Chair and NEA Executive Committee Member Joyce Powell, Executive Director, Bob Goodman and members of the CTL staff, guests experienced PSI classrooms where students were engaged in 8th and 9th grade Algebra-Based Physics, AP Physics, and 11th grade biology. Classroom teachers welcoming these visitors included Jacob Murad, Joseph Tanzola, Kimberly Agosta, Elizabeth Henriquez, and Christopher Callahan.
At the Teterboro campus of Bergen County Technical Schools, guests met with teacher MaryRose DiBiano’s 10th grade AP Physics students as they studied for their next test. Later, they observed as physics teacher Yuriy Zavorotniy and his students completed a physics lab. Bergen Tech-Teterboro is where PSI was born. Today, about 70% of all students take AP Physics at the school.
While PSI is being implemented in classrooms around the world, it is in New Jersey, where the program was created, that efforts are most mature.
NJEA President Wendell Steinhauer recalled that CTL was created to give teachers an opportunity to lead. “When the NJEA created CTL a handful of years ago, we did so on faith. We believed teacher-led education reform could drive improved education outcomes. Today, our faith is vindicated. CTL’s PSI-trained teachers are a wonder. The level of student engagement is stunning. We could not be more proud.”
Timothy Panebianco, CTL’s Director of Technology and Planning, was gratified by the visit. “For me, seeing the remarkable growth of the physics program at Bergenfield High School was the high point of the day. Bergenfield had a rocky start to the program in 2010 when nearly 30% of freshmen were in danger of failing the first marking period. So district administrators, teachers, and CTL worked together, and were able to get almost every student on track. Since that time, the district has had droves of 9th and 10th grade students going into AP Physics while also taking Chemistry. Today, Bergenfield High is among the top schools in the state for AP Physics participation.”
The site visit included a classroom where every student had an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP). These students were studying physics in the same way and with the same enthusiasm as their non-learning disabled peers. After observing these students at work, guests were completely unaware of their special learning needs. The fact that PSI works for a wide range of learners, challenging them with the very same instructional and pedagogical approach, was demonstrated with resounding force.
"Meeting the students and seeing the powerful accomplishments of CTL's approach affirms NEA's commitment to educator-led education reform. The skill of the PSI educators we saw at work, who create student-centered classrooms alive with ideas engaging highly diverse learners, represents the very best of education today," said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel.
CTL’s Executive Director, Bob Goodman captured the day this way, “CTL is honored by the continuing support of both the NEA and the NJEA. Standing together with their leaders in PSI classrooms is heady stuff. It’s the kind of acknowledgement that powers our work. I am grateful to the schools, teachers, and students that welcomed us, to the staff that grows our work everyday, and to the our guests who took time to experience our success first hand.”
Tags: News