The Campaign for Sterne School Committee Carrie Messina, Chair Elizabeth Hylton, Co-Chair David Bradlow, President, Board of Directors Janet Chen, Secretary, Board of Directors Julianna Graham, Treasurer, Board of Directors Hali Croner Amory Donohue Barbara Erickson Jennifer Schwartz Jane Thomason Moira Walsh Sterne School Board of Directors 2012-2013 David Bradlow, President Janet Chen, Secretary Julianna Graham, Treasurer Jack Hug Greg Hylton Carrie Messina Russell Reiff, MD Pascal Rigo Lee Schweichler Ed McManis, Head of School Mission Sterne School is committed to educating students with learning differences and providing them with the skills and strategies necessary to reach their academic potential. Through a hands-on and individualized program that focuses on academic and social development, Sterne is dedicated to educating its students for the challenges of life.
Transcript
The Campaign for Sterne School Committee
Carrie Messina, Chair Elizabeth Hylton, Co-ChairDavid Bradlow, President, Board of DirectorsJanet Chen, Secretary, Board of DirectorsJulianna Graham, Treasurer, Board of DirectorsHali CronerAmory Donohue Barbara EricksonJennifer SchwartzJane ThomasonMoira WalshSterne School Board of Directors 2012-2013
Sterne School is committed to educating students with learning differences and providing them with the skills and strategies necessary to reach their academic potential. Through a hands-on and individualized program that focuses on academic and social development, Sterne is dedicated to educating its students for the challenges of life.
THE CAMPAIGN for STERNE SCHOOL Great Minds, Thinking Differently
THE STERNE SCHOOL PROMISE
Sterne School changes lives. From its roots in a Sunset District storefront, to its longtime home at the top of Jackson Street, Sterne has transformed the lives of thousands of children with learning differences (LD).
Our promise is to help young people discover their academic strengths and personal passions, and equip them with tools to address their learning challenges. We pride ourselves on being a resource for families, and on graduating students each year with a solid post-secondary plan rooted in realistic personal and academic goals.
Now Sterne faces opportunity – and change. More students than ever be-fore have been diagnosed with learn-ing issues, and the emerging services and programs for the LD community are more advanced and widely avail-able. We know we are among the best at educating these students, and spark-ing their potential. To continue as a leader in LD education we need to advance: our facilities and programs must expand to resonate with what families seek and demand today, so that we can reach (and inspire) even more Bay Area students. In short, Sterne must innovate, and grow.
To achieve this growth, the Board of Directors launched an historic capital campaign to fund a school wide
expansion that includes two campuses, a curriculum for the whole student, 21st Century technologies, a solid pathway to college and careers for high school students, and a culture of engagement that binds our students, families, community, donors and supporters to Sterne’s mission and ongoing success. These campaign goals are described in more detail on the following pages.
Our Middle School (Grades 5-8) will experience enhanced programs in a newly renovated facility. High School students will experience a college-preparatory curriculum that addresses learning differences in a new and larger school setting complemented by team sports, science labs, and arts programs. And all of our students will continue to benefit from small class sizes, a safe and comfortable learning environment, and our expert caring team of teachers.
Through it all, the Sterne School promise will endure: we are commit-ted to our students and their families – to their success, to their personal, emotional, and intellectual growth.
To innovate, thrive, and offer a Sterne education and inspiration to more students, Sterne must grow. Thank you for joining us on this journey.
Ed McManis, Head of School
A school like no otherEstablishedin1976byeducator
ValAnthony,SterneSchoolisan
independent,co-eddayschool,
dedicatedexclusivelytostudents
withlearningdifferencesingrades
5-12.Theonlymiddleandhighschool
ofitskindintheSanFranciscoBay
Area,Sterneoffersastrengths-based
program,tailoredtoeachstudent’s
uniquelearningstyle.
Sterne Curriculum emphasizes
masteryofbasicskillsandcore
fluencies(math,reading,writing)
whiledevelopingcriticalthinking,
executivefunctioning,organization,
andtechnologyskills.
Sterne Faculty demonstratesa
passionatecommitmenttoour
studentsandtheirabilitytoreach
theirhighestpotential.Ourteach-
ers,whoarededicatedtoidentify-
ingandteachingtoeachstudent’s
strengths,areaidedbyanexceptional
student:teacherratioof8:1,which
affordsthemthetimeandtheenergy
tomeetindividuallearningneeds.
Sterne Culture promotesself-
confidence,self-advocacy,and
empowerment.Atalllevels,we
emphasizeinterpersonalskillsand
self-awareness.
Sterne’s Commitment isto
graduateeverystudentwithasolid
post-secondaryplanwovenfrom
academicstrengthsandpersonal
passions.
“I was actually learning. ACTUALLY. LEARNING. Without even realizing it, my expectations
of myself were rising, and I was beginning to care about my success because I had proven to
myself that I could succeed.” — Sterne Alumnus
Key pillars of the Campaign
will be achieved with your
generous investment in
four vital initiatives:
$1,000,000 for Facilities • ThenewValenciaStreetHighSchool campus
Sterne School’s Middle School program offers a highly-individual-ized approach, designed to establish or strengthen critical foundational skills in math and language arts while instilling the values of time management, step-by-step project management, and organization. An early result of the Campaign was the recruitment of an educational and language specialist: nationally-acclaimed educator Steve Tattum, whose pioneering phonics programs have paved the way for thousands of young people to grasp basic reading and math skills, joined Sterne’s faculty in 2012.
Hallmarks of the Middle School program include:
Skill-Set Groups | Students are grouped according to academic proficiency in specific subjects, rather than grade level. Mixed-age classes promote community and communication between students.
Core Fluencies | “Practice makes permanent.” Students are taught to instantly recognize the 1,000 most common words in the English language in order to facilitate faster reading and writing. Multiplication and division facts become accessible in the memory. These foundational elements pave the way for more sophisticated com-munication and problem-solving.
Executive Function | Weekly Life Skills class integrates study and organizational skills with a social-emotional component including conflict resolution, teamwork, and self-knowledge –themes which are reinforced throughout the school day.
Technology | Students develop technological fluency via a 1:1 iPad program. Assistive technologies (Dragon Speech Recognition Software, ReadingPlus, Kurtzweil 3000) are available and prescribed on an as-needed basis depending on individual students’ learning styles.
Pedagogy | Teachers use a variety of teaching methods and media during lessons as a means of reaching different learning styles; however certain proven educational programs are also applied throughout:
•Step Up to Writing
•Making Math Real
•Math-U-See
•Reading Plus
•Tattum Reading
•Read2Go
THE PROGRAMS | Middle School: A Foundation for Learning
“You know what Sterne means to us. Talking about Sterne in completely positive and enthusiastic terms is a very easy task.”
– Sterne Parent
The Sterne High School, relocated to the Valencia Street campus, offers a college-preparatory curriculum with an emphasis on experiential learning in an environment that encourages self-discipline and self-respect. Predicated on the philosophy that every brain is unique, the pro-gram integrates regular, standards-based assessment to help students discover their personal strengths, academic needs, and primary areas of interest.
Pedagogy | In keeping with Sterne’s commitment to LD students, teachers offer differentiated instruction based on students’ learning profiles, incor-porating the philosophies of Robert Marzano (integrating technology into instruction), Howard Gardner (multiple intelligences), Steve Tattum (foundational math and phonics), and Benjamin Bloom (three domains of learning).
Student Resource Center | A HighSchool and College Counselor oversees college placement support, Service Learning, and the experi-ential learning course, Passages. Additionally, the Counselor develops Internship opportunities for students to cultivate workplace skills.
Technology | Course content is delivered via a 1:1 iPad program developed according to National Educational Technology Standards (for students and teachers) including a required iPad multimedia class.
Internships | A unique form of experiential learning, the Intern-ships program allows qualified students to gain valuable “real-world” experience while establishing ties between Sterne School and the local business community.
Health & Wellness | Required Physical Education is supplemented with daily school-wide “mindfulness” activities such as yoga or meditation. In the coming years Sterne will estab-lish after-school clubs & sports.
Arts and Music | With its renewed investment in technology, Sterne will integrate digital photography, filmmaking, and music recording with its current art program, drama elective, and live Garage Band performance class.
It is impossible to put a price on the faculty who, every day, work to change the lives and futures of Sterne School students. Parents and families love and trust Sterne School because the faculty and staff are actively invested in every student’s success.
The recruitment and retention of these uniquely talented educators is paramount. The Campaign will add several key positions to the faculty and staff roster:
Head of High School
High School and College Counselor
Language Specialist
Physical Education Teacher
Science Teacher (Middle School)
Drama Teacher
School Administrator/ Support Personnel (High School)
Additionally, several teachers will migrate from part-time to full-time.
To help recruit and retain staff, the Campaign will provide for comprehensive teacher training and support:
“iPad Academy” for all teachers
Regular, formalized assessment and 360-degree feedback loop
THE PROGRAMS | High School: Refining Skill Sets & Looking Forward INVESTING IN FACULTY
Sterne is fortunate to have an active parent community committed to in-clusion, family involvement, ongoing parent education, and school support. The new facilities offer more space for community events and classes, expanding our ability to reach out and support our current, past and future families. The Campaign, and the promise it holds for Sterne’s future, provides an exciting forum for reach-ing into our past, as we invite alumni and their families to visit, explore, and reconnect.
These families, those who have ex-perienced first-hand the impact of a Sterne education, are the most vital stakeholders in our future. Sterne’s population is small in number, but strong in passion and commitment.We have the opportunity to become the premiere school in the Bay Area for students with learning differences – but we cannot do it without our entire constituency: parents, alumni, alumni families, faculty, staff, and friends. In the coming year, we will call on the generosity of all members of the Sterne School family in sup-porting the Campaign. We hope every family will join us – and in the years to come, we hope that your advocacy and engagement will keep our popula-tion vital and thriving.
