ALFRED E ZAMPELLA NO 27

Alfred E. Zampella School/P.S. #27 has a proud tradition of excellence and solid achievement. Our goal is to provide each child in our care with the best available educational environment and personal growth experience. We have implemented programs and activities to prepare our students for this century’s competitive workplace. Our dedicated, caring, and concerned faculty has high expectations for all students, with objectives culled from careful test analyses, informal assessments, and daily observations. Teachers demonstrate their dedication to students on a daily basis through exemplary attendance records. In addition, a number of our teachers applied for and were awarded Excel Grants, which will help expand and extend learning experiences within their classrooms.
Students at Alfred E. Zampella School continue to make steady progress in mathematics and literacy through project-based learning and an emphasis on developing problem solving strategies. Students enthusiastically participate in the annual 100 Book Challenge, Read Across America, and Scholastic Book Fair, as well as our Patriot’s Summer Reading Program. Thanks to our library card procurement program, every student in our school has a valid Jersey City Public Library card providing free access to research materials, periodicals, and books for leisure-time reading.

Our academic programs place heavy emphasis on language arts, math, and technology. Students demonstrate their science expertise through the prize-winning projects they create for our annual science fairs. Parents and community members support our students’ efforts by attending these highly successful yearly events.

Alfred E. Zampella houses a continuum of self-contained Auditory Impaired classes with specialized instruction geared for deaf and hearing impaired students. All A.I. students participate in school activities with age appropriate peers, and some A.I. students are mainstreamed for academic subjects with grade level peers.

Presently, we have implemented a full time inclusion program, which spans in all grade levels, Kindergarten through Grade 8. All children are afforded the opportunity to be educated with their age appropriate peers in the Least Restrictive Environment. They are challenged to attain grade level expectations. Support services such as Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Speech are provided to help them reach their highest potential.

In September 2006, Alfred E. Zampella School implemented morning and after-school Safety Patrol Guards. Fifteen 8th graders were chosen to walk around the courtyard perimeter of the school, proudly wearing their green safety belts. This has proven to be a successful program that will be continued annually.
Alfred E. Zampella School’s educational technology initiative has grown tremendously, enriching and extending teaching and learning. We have installed new state of the art computers in our media center, computer labs, and classrooms, where students are encouraged to explore the Internet. They are taught ways in which this valuable communication resource can be used to express ideas and share information with their families, teachers, and peers. Teachers and students participate in tele-collaborative projects, such as E-Pals, which emphasize communication and cooperation with other schools nationwide.

Though our main goal is academic, we encourage our students to develop strong interpersonal relationships through Joint Activities, peer tutoring, and Project Based learning. Our special assembly programs, celebrations, and contests emphasize the importance that we place on equity and multicultural customs and contributions. Alfred E. Zampella School provides a positive atmosphere of cooperation, in which students, staff members, and parents work together to achieve improved self-esteem and academic excellence. Students and adults applaud cultural diversity through special performances, dinners, and school-wide celebrations all of which promote caring and sharing for all.

We have many extracurricular activities that support our academic programs. New Jersey ASK3/ASK4/GEPA Review, Homework, Math, Creative Writing, and Boys and Girls Club are merely a sample of our after school activities. In order to promote performing arts and athletics we encourage students to participate in Band, Choir, Multicultural Dance, Basketball, and Volleyball. Offering to stimulate our students? minds is Sign Language Club.

Students at Alfred E. Zampella School receive support and training from two full-time guidance counselors, on social issues that affect daily life. Project ABLE, Character Education, Stress Management, Conflict resolution, HIV Awareness, UNICEF and Stranger Safety are some of the programs in which our students participate. Each of these programs helps our students to develop effective decision-making, pressure resistance, and communication skills that will enable them to protect themselves as well as make good life choices. In a caring and compassionate environment, our children learn the importance of being kind. Charitable activities are evidence of our commitment to building character, a sense of caring, and self-esteem in our students. On April 2006, Alfred E. Zampella School was recognized as the second

kindest school in the State of New Jersey and the first kindest school in Hudson County and Jersey City for the second consecutive year; we are very proud of this fact.

Our school maintains close ties with the community. Our Parent Teacher Association sponsor events and fund raising activities as well as organizing parent workshops, chaperoning field trips, and attending Board of Education Meetings. Parents and school staff members work together as members of the School Leadership Council to address operational and safety issues, and to provide for the instructional needs of our school community. Planning for our school’s successful future is of the utmost importance. All stakeholders expend a great deal of time and energy to make Alfred E. Zampella School a safe and secure learning environment in which academic excellence thrives.

In its effort to prepare all of the students enrolled in Alfred E. Zampella School for the challenges of the Twenty-first Century’s competitive, global, and technological society, the district has developed comprehensive Grade Level Competencies, Student Performance Standards, and Student Technology Performance Standards, which are consistent with the newly adopted and expanded New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards (NJCCCS) and the Cross Content Workplace Readiness Standards (CCWRS).
The NJCCCS delineate the knowledge, skills and dispositions students should acquire and the understandings they should develop as they progress through the grades. The CCWRS are broad-based “lifelong learning standards” generic to all content areas.

The district has established and upholds high academic expectations for all students at all grades (Pre-kindergarten through Grade 12). The district’s curricula provide indicators for student achievement at designated grade levels. Benchmark grade levels are Kindergarten, 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 11, and 12. Additionally, career orientation and workplace readiness standards are infused across the curricula. The use of technology is seamlessly integrated at all grade levels through project-based, thematic interdisciplinary instruction.
The district continually reviews and updates all curricula and educational programs in all content areas to ensure alignment with the State Content Standards, the State Curriculum Frameworks, and the State Test Specifications for NJASK, GEPA and HSPA.

The elementary level curricula include offerings in the visual and performing arts (art, vocal and instrumental music and drama) that enable students to develop their skills and appreciation in these areas.


Sandra Frierson
201-714-4350