Bedford School Board Unveils New Teaching Programs

The Bedford Central School District is using a new tool to reach its students.

The district's board introduced on Wednesday the Instructional Toolkit, an online resource that allows teachers to know the exact needs of their students, and a way for students to interact with teachers and give their input. It is available to all schools in the district.

Staff members from Mount Kisco Elementary School came before the board and explained the new system.

Susan Ostrofsky, principal of Mount Kisco Elementary School deemed the tool beneficial. 

"We have reached more children because they are feeling better about themselves and know their strengths and weaknesses," she said. "It's working"

"It makes us work smarter, not harder," Teacher Jennifer Tully said. 

The toolkit includes IDEportal, AIMSweb and Renzulli Learning. 

Educators are very excited about AIMSweb, a tool that is for screening in grades kindergarten to six of statistics of children in certain subjects. Instead of waiting for the results of large assessments and state tests, it can give teachers a quick glimpse in how children are doing.

"We are excited about this because it will raise writing abilities," Ostrosky said. "Mount Kisco Elementary has a very diverse population and now we can target what kids really need who are falling bellow target and make sure they get back on track."

Renzulli Learning is a student information system that contains a student's household contact, report cards, schedules and progress reports. It will give educators a chance to really get to know their students and how they learn. 

At the end of the meeting, the board was pleased.

"It is pretty neat," board member Eric Karle said. "It is a cybercraft."

Ostrofsky said that a little more work has to be done before all schools take advantage of the resource.

"Staff needs to take more time to  learn it and get to know it," she said. "But, it is an amazing resource. It pulls kids in."