School Name
KAPPA International High School
Grades
9-12
Year founded
2009
Principal
Panorea Panagiosoulis
Location
Belmont, Bronx
Enrollment
500
Students surround Principal Penny for a picture in the hallways of KAPPA!
Who we are
KAPPA is made up of students are outgoing self-advocates - they embody our school’s ideals of inquiry, compassion, integrity and commitment with the goal of becoming compassionate global citizens.
Our English Language Learner and Students with Learning Differences populations are higher than the city average. This is our third year implementing a school-wide mastery-based learning model.
Hallmarks of KAPPA's approach to mastery
- Departments have between 10 and 25 shared standards, and a number of learning targets in “I can” form that lead up to mastery of a standard.
- Skills are school wide and developed across departments (most cross between multiple content areas ie: use of evidence, creating thesis and claim).
- Content is specific to individual subject areas.
- There is a clear structure for how students demonstrate mastery through a combination through a combination of summative assessments including performance tasks, presentations and socratic seminars, and tests.
- Formative assessment is identified separately from summative assessment and does not factor into students’ overall grades.
Teachers meet regularly to discuss and align curriculum and mastery tracking.
What makes KAPPA unique?
Focus on student ownership and ‘whole-child approach’. Mastery has helped make this possible by creating clear and transparent targets for students to reach.
Students smile for the photographer.
What can other schools learn from you?
Creating the staff environment to facilitate mastery-based instruction. Reflecting, modifying, goal setting, and creating concrete next steps to improve the system
How do you give feedback to student on progress and mastery?
Going into second year using Jumprope - students are able to access their progress on all standards. Teachers give progress reports once every three weeks. Students have advisory once a day where they explicitly focus on reflecting on progress in classes and working to improve.
Resources