Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SINCE 1881
1316 IVES STREET, WATERTOWN, NEW YORK 13601 WWW.IHCSCHOOLS.ORG, (315) 788-4670
For the second year in a row, IHC also enrolled a large Kindergarten cohort, enabling the school to maintain three sections of Kindergarten with very small class sizes. Strong Kindergarten enrollment is the best long-term predictor of the enrollment health of the school, said Hornbarger. At the Kindergarten level, small class sizes are proven to improve student achievement. At the same time, IHC Schools exceeded its financial expectations for the 2011-2012 school year, allowing the school system to strengthen academic and other programs. IHC has purchased iPads for teachers and students, transitioned to Google Apps for Education (used by over 60% of Americas top colleges), provided students with school email accounts, fielded new courses in the arts and sciences, replaced its playgrounds, and invigorated a professional development and mentorship program for teachers. The school system is grateful to its benefactors and alumni for contributing to this success. Our financial plans also account for an anticipated enrollment dip at the high school as some smaller classes move up in the next few years, said Hornbarger, Were on track. Another major initiative this year is the expansion of IHCs St. John Bosco Pre-Kindergarten program, which now includes a new 5 day per week program for 4-year olds, in addition to its traditional 2 and 3 day per week programs for 3 and 4-year olds. Were very excited at the communitys response to expanding our Pre-K program, said Gary West, principal of IHC Elementary. The school has also been successful in expanding financial aid and scholarship opportunities over the last several years. Our goal has been to expand opportunities to more families within our community, said Lisa Parsons, the Junior/Senior High School Principal, so we have increased our financial aid and scholarship support. We appreciate the generosity of many benefactors and alumni who understand our mission and have provided resources to help us meet our goal. IHCs steady enrollment comes in spite of a number of factors challenging IHC and other private and parochial schools, including the sluggish economic recovery. This year, the Diocese of Ogdensburg closed St. Marys Academy, an elementary school in Champlain, due to financial reasons. IHC attributes its recent success in large part to parents continued confidence in the quality of the education. IHCs standardized test scores in grades 3 to 8 English Language Arts and Math, as well as both its Regents passing and mastery scores, remain well above state and local averages.