Head of School
Dear Valley Prep Parents,
Welcome to Valley Preparatory School’s outstanding website. As the new head of the school, I am excited about being part of an educational institution that provides outstanding programs in all academic areas as well as developing strong social, athletic, and technological programs.
Valley Preparatory School has a strong academic program. The school’s four tenets of education are: to be student centered, incorporate active learning strategies, practice holistic instructional approaches, and create a positive and encouraging environment. These goals are essential in creating a well educated person for the 21st century. The school will also continue to promote civic and social values that allow a student to be: a scholar, an athlete, a citizen, and a community member and possess the motivation, confidence and ability to set and achieve his/her own personal goals.
Valley Preparatory School staff encourages these goals and we will continue this process by focusing on the educational strategies that have shown positive results. First, practice integrated studies, where students are taught and presented information interwoven into interdisciplinary lessons. Second, incorporate project learning, in which students are instructed through hands-on and meaningful projects, geared to experiential learning techniques. Third, implement social and emotional learning strategies, where students learn to collaborate, cooperate and communicate in order to resolve conflicts. Fourth, embed technology integration, where students intelligently learn to use technology to foster mastery in a subject area. Fifth, encourage teacher development, where teachers, administrators (and parents) can learn and collaborate by establishing professional learning communities that coach and guide students not only for academic success but also to build interest and confidence in themselves. Lastly, utilize comprehensive assessments, where effective assessments such as rubrics, student portfolios and projects, and authentic as well as formative assessment tools are used to measure student achievement. Many of these practices are in full swing and I am thrilled to be part of such a forward thinking and child centered institution.
I hope this gives you a brief background of our educational programs. Please peruse the other areas of our website for more information.
Sincerely,
Roy Cencirulo, Ed.D.
Head of School