Welcome to our Website!
All photography and artwork done by the students!
Our school in the Northeast Bronx is a dynamic, friendly place where students love to learn and are exceeding the borough's and city's test scores.
Welcome to our Website!
All photography and artwork done by the students!
Our school in the Northeast Bronx is a dynamic, friendly place where students love to learn and are exceeding the borough's and city's test scores.
Great News!
As of June 1, 2010, our school has a new Executive Director: Kevin Brennan. Dr. Brennan recently served as Executive County Superintendent for Warren County in New Jersey, but has a long, distinguished career as a teacher, principal, supervisor of instruction, and director of special services.
In his first memo to the staff, Dr. Brennan wrote, “In visiting the school over the past several weeks, it is clear to me that BBL is truly a child-centered school. Your dedication and concern for the students are evident and commendable. I hope and expect to further support this strong commitment to our students. I look forward to working with you to meet this goal.”
We’re delighted to welcome Dr. Brennan on board!
If you would like to contribute funds to our school, please visit our
donation page, or click "Please Donate" on the left-hand menu.
Please check the calendar (2nd button on the tool bar above) for important dates, including graduation, Fun Day, and other end-of-year activities.
Exciting Grant Award Notice from former Interim Executive Director, Dr. Ted Swartz
Click "read more" below to read his message.
Our Website's Photography
Our 5th Grade students shot all our website's photos! Please click around and enjoy their snapshots of classmates and our neighborhood. They took many photos in Seton Falls Park, right across the street from our school.
Photo Credits for this page
(top) Omari, Grade 5
(middle) Omari, Grade 5
(bottom) Sukhvinder, Grade 5
Grant Award Message from former Interim Director Dr. Ted Swartz:
In addition to good test scores, what “alternate” outcomes characterize an excellent school?
At the Bronx Charter School for Better Learning, our educational approach leads to students being independent and taking ownership for their learning. That is how one of our veteran teachers, Mrs. Sasha Barnes, recently and very succinctly explained our purpose.
We are working to describe and define alternative outcomes in at least two arenas:
- First, we need to clarify for all of us in the school: Precisely how do students profit from a teacher who, while striving to serve their learning, replaces traditional practices (explanation, rote memorization and repetitious drill) with challenges that engage the students in active exploration and call on them to use their deep intelligence?
- Second, we need to validate for people outside our school that our approach can potentially benefit all children.
Thanks in large part to the efforts of our Director of Development, Samantha Valerio, the Kellogg Foundation recently awarded us a $200,000, multi-year grant to collect and analyze evidence that our students increasingly take ownership for their learning. The data will include observations of student actions and samples of written work.
A significant portion of the award will support funding for a consultant evaluator. That person, or organization, will be guided by our teachers and professional development team to identify what information to collect. For example:
• How often do students devise more than one solution to problems posed?
• How frequently do they voluntarily revisit challenges that originally seemed beyond their grasp?
• How frequently do they go beyond what the teacher has assigned, in depth or quantity?
The consultant will work with us to collect the targeted data, and then will examine and report on the findings. We also expect, as our teachers assist us to adjust and improve our professional development efforts, that there will be a corresponding increase over time in the targeted alternative assessment outcomes.
Better professional development … better teaching … better learning.
http://www.bronxbetterlearning.org/article.php?story=welcome01