Photo - Dr. Kenneth Card

 

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Woodhull Principal Ken Card Reflects

 

After four years as principal of Woodhull Intermediate School, Ken Card is more focused than ever on student achievement.  He loves what he does and approaches each day with a remarkable amount of energy and enthusiasm that’s plain for all to see.

 

Dr. Card said it was Mike O’Brien, an interim assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction who worked in the district for two years who “told us that we should have a ‘laser like focus’ on student achievement.” 

 

In the years since he took the helm at Woodhull, Dr. Card has formed a strong working relationship with Huntington Superintendent John J. Finello.  The two share the same overall educational philosophy.  “Mr. O’Brien’s leadership, along with Mr. Finello’s, particularly in the area of curriculum, has kept me focused on the business of educating all of our students,” Dr. Card said. 

 

There are many reasons for the success of Woodhull students, from effective teaching practices by a faculty of highly educated professionals to hard working students and supportive parents.   

 

“We have embraced a differentiated approach to teaching and learning,” Dr. Card said. “Teachers have followed through by attending workshops related to differentiating.  They have also engaged in sharing best practices as it relates to differentiating instruction.”

 

Dr. Card said that an emphasis on breaking down data has also made a difference when in comes to driving student achievement higher. “At Woodhull we look not only at student achievement data, but also students’ and parents’ perceptions about our school,” the principal explained. 

 

“Through the analysis of these types of data we put together a school improvement plan this year that guided our practice of teaching and learning over the past several months,” Dr. Card said. “Our plan included specific goals for English Language Arts, benchmarks, objectives, and interventions/actions that we were going to take to improve student outcomes.  We also put in place a data team that has focused on developing background knowledge on the use of data that will further help us maintain that ‘laser like focus’ on student achievement.  For example, we have been engaged in reading Stephen White’s “Beyond the Numbers: Making Data Work for Teachers & School Leaders” to help us further develop our approach to analyzing data.”

Began as Social Studies Teacher

 

Dr. Card began his career as a social studies teacher.  A May 2006 graduate of Dowling College’s doctoral program in educational administration, leadership and technology, he earlier attended Stony Brook University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1997 and a Master of Arts degree in 2000, both in history.  He obtained a Professional Diploma in school administration at Dowling in 2002.

 

Before coming to Huntington, Dr. Card served as assistant principal at Oldfield Middle School in the Harborfields school district for three years and worked in the Uniondale Alternative School, Western Suffolk BOCES summer school program, Brentwood’s evening high school and at Harborfields High School, where he taught from 1998-2002, achieving a 93 percent passing rate on the U.S. History and Government Regents exam.

 

Dr. Card’s prior experience includes serving his country in the United States Navy from 1982 to1989.   He was awarded the Navy Achievement and Good Conduct medals.  He has also worked at the Industrial Bank of Japan, the Department of Veterans Administration Medical Center in Northport and as an administrative assistant at Alliant Techsystems in San Diego. 

Woodhull a Happy Place

Woodhull is a happy place for about 500 youngsters spread out over fourth, fifth and sixth grades.  The faculty is a nice mix of veterans and more recent college graduates.  Teachers craft interesting lessons and pack each day with activities that keep students moving forward.

 

Wayne Edwards, the district’s director of math, has worked closely with Dr. Card on a curriculum mapping project that has Woodull faculty members discussing the creation of student work analysis protocols for next year. “Our plan will be to look at student work in a systematic way to improve upon our successes and be better able to respond to the needs of our students in the area of math,” Dr. Card said

 

This year Woodhull has also focused on implementing a student-centered problem solving approach to its instructional support team.  The book, “RTI Toolkit: A Practical Guide for Schools,” by Jim Wright was used as the basis to implement what is generally regarded as a more supportive process for both teachers and struggling students they are trying to help achieve academic success. 

 

“I think we have had a wonderful year here at Woodhull,” Dr. Card said. “Our students, parents, faculty and staff showed a commitment and dedication to student academic success.  Our parents have supported us through our reading initiatives, such as secret readers, PARP, BEAR Day, and more importantly keeping our students reading over long weekends and extended vacations.  I am very proud and happy to report that our students’ success and that too of our staff, is due in large part to the home-school partnership that exists here at Woodhull.” 

 

 

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