Academics

BKW is committed to helping students prepare for higher education and the 21st-century workplace through challenging and engaging academic programs. BKW offers a curriculum designed to nurture student development both inside and outside the classroom.

Strategies for Success Targets

The Berne-Knox-Westerlo Central School District has set the following academic goals:

1. Graduation Rate
   • Increase the graduation rate to 90 percent
2. Regents Exam Passing and Mastery Rates
   • At least 5 percentage point increase in passing and mastery rates
   • Departments will define skills necessary to pass and master the Regents exams and measure student progress on those skills on a quarterly basis
3. Grades 3-8 State Assessments
   • Aggregate proficiency rate across grades 3-8 to increase by 5% points
   • No grade level proficiency rate below 25 percent
4. Course Failures
   • Reduce course failures by 10 percent
5. Reading Benchmark
   • Decrease the number of students reading below grade level by 10 percent

A Dedicated Teaching Staff

The BKW teaching staff is composed of highly qualified teachers or teachers who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher and have passed rigorous state teacher certification tests for core teaching subjects.

Title I/Right to Know

The Berne-Knox-Westerlo Central School District Title I program is designed to provide additional academic support and resources to help students meet state learning standards under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The program outlines the district’s accountability status, commitment to continuous improvement through professional development, procedures for addressing concerns, and strong emphasis on parent and family engagement, including families’ rights to information about teacher qualifications and student progress.

Teacher Qualifications:

Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), parents/guardians have the right to know the professional qualifications of their child’s classroom teachers, including:

• Whether a teacher has state certification for the grade levels and subjects he or she is teaching;
• Whether a teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through which state qualification or licensing criteria have been waived;
• Whether the teacher is teaching in the field of discipline of the certification of the teacher;
• Whether their child receives services from paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications; and
• Whether their child has been taught for four or more weeks in a row by a teacher “who does not meet applicable state certification or licensure requirements at the grade level and subject area in which the teacher has been assigned.”

For more information about Title I and Right to Know, view the Title I webpage.

Testing Transparency Report

Based on the concerns conveyed to the Commissioner of Education of New York surrounding the use of assessments, and in accordance with Section 1 of Subpart F of Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2014, the Commissioner directed the Office of Teacher and Leader Effectiveness to review each district’s and BOCES’ Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) plan to identify opportunities for local action to ensure the minimum assessments necessary are used to inform effective decision making.

The New York State Education Department encourages leaders to use the Testing Transparency Report to help review their currently approved APPR plan to identify modifications that would be approved by the Department and result in less testing for students. APPR is New York State’s evaluation system for teachers and principals, designed to improve instruction and student achievement

The New York State Education Department has consistently communicated that the amount of testing should be the minimum necessary to inform effective decision-making at the classroom, school, district, and BOCES levels.