Stevens at Newport Open House

[JCSCS]

I would like to invite all interested families to visit us at our Newport location for our very first Open House on Tuesday August 9 from 6 - 8:30 pm. We will do a presentation/Q&A at 7. We hope many families will stop by to learn more about our program as well as our plans for the school. For additional info please contact me directly (nancy@stevenscoop.org) or on this forum.

[JM Resident]

Thank you, looking forward to attending. Will pricing be available before the open house?

[JCSCS]

Yes, we will have information about every aspect of the school. You can also check out our website www.stevenscoop.org. The Open House will give you a chance to meet some of our teachers, staff and other families who attend the Hoboken school and others who have already signed up for Newport.

[JM Resident]

Any chance of extending the classes to include a nursery? The River School is over-crowded and my little girl has been on a waiting list for almost a year to get in.

[JCSCS]

Right now we will not be able to offer a nursery school. We do have a nursery school in Hoboken and we will be taking applications beginning in September for the fall of 2006. There is definitely a lack of daycare/nursery schools in the area.

[Esposito]

I am not very impressed by this school at all. No standardized testing in each grade and lack of on-site administrator on the campus at Newport.

[JCSCS]

I am not very impressed by this school at all. No standardized testing in each grade and lack of on-site administrator on the campus at Newport.

We do standardized testing beginning in 3rd grade.
There will be an on-site administrator at the school at all times.
Not sure where you got your info.

Nancy Rossi
Director of Admissions
Stevens Cooperative School

[JC Guy]

As a parent I am just curious to know what standardized tests Steven's uses and how the school scores on average. Maybe this was discussed at the open house?

[JCSCS]

Good question and obviously you know that all tests are different. Here is what we do:
3rd - 5th - Iowa Test
6,7th - CTP Tests
8th - ISEE (Independent School Entrance Exam)
Honestly our 8th graders often have to take several tests, but we require the ISEE as that is the test accepted by most independent schools. Some students will take the ISEE, the Catholic School Cooperative test, the McNair test and the High Tech test all in fall/winter.
We do not publish test scores. Scores are sent to families with a summary of how their child approached the test. Obviously most of our students do very well and that is obvious by the number of acceptances into the more selective public schools, catholic school academic scholarships etc. And of course we look at test scores to assist in our own planning but do not need them to do student assessment. Test scores aren't everything and often a fabulous student never tests well and a mediocre student scores perfectly across the board. We do not spend more time then needed with test prep. We want the children to know the tricks and how they can improve without having to take away from much more important work. You really can't get an accurate picture of a student by looking at his/her standardized test scores but we want to make sure our students are prepared for a world where they will have to take them.
When looking at a school you should also look at many things including the curriculum, faculty and graduate placement.

[NewinTown]

Thank you for the info, however I am curious to know what was the overall performance of the school as a whole, not individual students, you know percentages of students reading or doing math 2 or more grade levels above, how does the School score in it's percentile rank in reading, math, science and overall ? I know schools like to broadcast their success and it would be interesting to hear of Stevens comparisions.

Also what kind of phys ed program, facilities or sports does Stevens have?

[JCSCS]

We don't rank students or publish test results. Frankly, I don't know of any independent schools that do. That is generally something that public schools do. Our school is way to small.
As for Physical Education, it begins formally in 2nd grade. We have a full time phys. ed teacher (who will now teach at both Hoboken and Jersey City campuses). The focus is on fitness, team sports, basic skills, swimming etc. We also have afterschool teams such as basketball and volleyball. Until 4th grade the students also have movement class 2x per week.
You can definitely check out all of our programs by visiting our website www.stevenscoop.org or emailing your address to request an info packet.