I would like to wish a warm welcome to all of our school community members for the 2010-2011 school year. Since June, our staff members have worked hard this summer to prepare Atlantic Elementary School for another successful year. We all look forward to creating new memories as the year unfolds.

      You may have had the opportunity to view the press release highlighting Carteret County Schools’ successful year in 2009-2010. Information from the State Department of Instruction revealed that all 16 of our Carteret County schools made Adequate Yearly Progress in every sub-group in both math and reading. Only seven school systems of North Carolina’s 115 systems were able to achieve this.  In addition, our school managed to achieve High Growth which means that 80 -89 percent of our students’ scores were at or above Achievement Level III.

      This school year, we will continue to use a variety of innovated techniques to support our students and staff. This includes successful tools used county-wide is the web-based system, Study Island. This program is directly in line with the North Carolina Standards and provides our students leveled instruction, practice, and immediate feed back from assessments.

      ClassScape and EduTest are classroom assessment systems that help staff and students focus on specific learning objectives. Teachers can use this data to monitor student progress and assist them with specific weaknesses. This is critical in order to provide students with the assistance they need before they fall too far behind, while indicating which students are ready to move ahead.

       Communities in Schools continued to provide support this summer through a remediation and enrichment program.  Starting in September, the after school program called the Down East After-School Programs will again be available to students who qualify.

       In the lower grades, regular ongoing probes and assessment s will help teachers monitor specific skill levels of students so that help can be provided as soon as possible.

       We look forward to seeing all of you at our scheduled orientation for families on Monday, August 23^rd from 3:00-6:00 (2:00 for Pre-K students and parents.) At this time, you will also receive important information about bus times and meet our teachers and our new driver for the Cedar Island Route, Ms. Sarah Rodriquez. Please also remember that our first day of school for all students in grades 1-8 begins at 7:45 on Wednesday, August 25^th. Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten parents will hear from their child’s teacher about staggered entry and home visits.

Regards,