Hello, my name is Mrs. Clarizio and I am the school facilitator.  My role in the school is to assist Mr. DeFranco, the school principal, with academic, social, and physical school needs.  I work weekly with the principal and teachers to review students’ progress, state-mandated curriculum expectations (New Jersey Common Core Curriculum Content Standards), professional development, and other various educational matters that impact the children at Christopher Columbus School #8.  As the school facilitator, I also collaborate with district approved educational organizations to help enhance student learning.  Through the dedication of our teachers and guidance from these organizations, project-based learning, differentiated instruction, and the Writer’s Workshop approach occurs regularly in the classroom to increase student achievement.  

           In the fall, teachers have met with me regularly to review individual student data (i.e. NJ PASS and NJ ASK Tests) and identified content areas that need to be focused on in Language Arts Literacy and Math in order to provide instructional strategies that bring about academic growth.   The information gathered is currently being used to outline the various types of projects that the children will be working on throughout the year to further support learning in core content areas.  The first project was reviewed at the middle of November by a panel of two teacher representatives, the principal, and myself.  The information gathered was discussed in November and December with the Design Team (i.e. a group of grade level teacher representatives, specialist, the principal, and the facilitator that meet weekly to discuss school progress, needs, and next educational steps to implement.) to determine next educational steps the school should take to continue to support progress.  Additionally, this data was shared with all teachers during the November and December monthly cluster meetings held after school in order to carry this information into the classroom.

I look forward to continuing to work with parents, teachers, and administration so that our children are provided with the best educational experience in Garfield.

If you ever need to contact me for further information, please do not hesitate. 

Thank you.