“Not every child has an equal talent or an equal ability or equal motivation, but children [all children] have the equal right to develop their talent, their ability, and their motivation.”
~John F. Kennedy

Instructional Priority

The instructional focus goal for teaching and learning at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School No. 9 is the integration of English Language Arts with all content areas. Teachers determine students' strengths as well as needs and use their demonstrated strengths to overcome or compensate for their needs. The vehicle for accomplishing this focused goal is direct, targeted, explicit instruction designed to motivate, and engage its students and, most importantly, accelerate the progress of its diverse student population.

• Create expanded learning opportunities incorporating Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) aligned to CCLS
• Utilize Lesson Study: Step by Step – How Teacher Learning Communities Improve Instruction by C Lewis and J. Hurd to coach, model, video, and demonstrate best practices and to ensure school-wide implementation (Comprehension Toolkit, CAFE, Collins Writing Program, Calkins Common Core Curricular Documents, Content-Rich Vocabulary).
• Analyze Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning edited by K. Parker-Bourdett to collaborate and reflect in teams to assess instructional programs effectiveness on student learning and to determine culturally relevant resources to accelerate students’ performance.

 Social and Emotional Priority

The school leaders and teachers strategically use data to identify areas of need and leverages internal or external resources and cultivates a partnership that strongly impacts student social and emotional developmental health of students. 

• PATHS and Coping Powers
• D.R.E.A.M.