Marshall Elementary

Teresa Harvey-Jackson, Principal
35 Westville Street, Dorchester, MA 02124
Phone: 617-635-8810
Get Directions via Google Maps
Access via MBTA Public Transit
BPS Report on Teaching & Learning for Marshall Elementary

Partner University: Tufts University
Family Community Outreach Coordinator:
Cyndi Weekes-Christopher
Number of Students: 640

Step UP Activities

  • A Tufts University of Dental Medicine School (TUSDM) faculty member and a nutrition student participated in two evening family events at the beginning of the school year to increase the visibility of the Tufts dental treatment available to students at no out-of-pocket cost to parents. By personally introducing parents to the program and answering questions, enrollment increased from 62 during the 2008–2009 school year to 82 during the 2009-2010 school year. Fifteen third-year TUSDM students assisted with the in-school treatments as part of their pediatric rotation. TUSDM faculty also visited all kindergarten and second grade classrooms where they presented a program on oral health for the students.
     
  • To help fulfill the need for student teachers, Tufts arranged for Wheelock College students to complete their pre-practicum at the Marshall, with the expectation that some will begin their practicum there in January 2011.
     
  • For two weeks in June 2010, two members of Tufts’ Department of Education taught an intensive multimedia course to 19 fourth and fifth graders at the on-site afterschool program. The students spent four hours per day learning to tell stories through a combination of technology, photography, video and words. For example, the students created animated images of themselves, and they became the stars of their own self-authored stop motion animation shorts. Another project focused on photography techniques, culminating with the students taking home disposable cameras and then working with the Tufts staff to create a storyboard using the photographs they had taken.
     
  • In February 2010, Tufts arranged for members of the critically acclaimed Handel and Haydn Society to perform at the Marshall. Teachers were provided with advance materials to prepare the students for the “Voices of History” show.
     
  • The Franklin Hill Boys and Girls Club and GRASP, two afterschool programs that serve Marshall students, joined the Tufts-run Healthy Eating Active Time (HEAT) Club in 2009. In the fall, afterschool coordinators were invited to a HEAT Club training session where a Tufts nutrition graduate student introduced the curriculum. Tufts nutrition graduate students and dietetic interns visited GRASP twice during the year to teach afternoon classes to students and to meet with the GRASP program coordinators.
     
  • Twenty fifth-grade students visited Tufts University School of Dental Medicine for the annual Science Across the City program. Following a greeting from Dean Lonnie Norris, faculty, staff and dental students guided the group through hands-on lessons in oral health including the application of sealants, the plastic material that is bonded to teeth to prevent cavity-causing plaque. Using a dental tool, Marshall students applied the sealants to plastic teeth and then watched as dental students gave them a personal demonstration of the ultraviolet light that molds the sealant to the tooth.
     
  • Chris Drew, a Boston organizational development practitioner recruited by Tufts, continues to provide bi-weekly leadership coaching to Principal Harvey-Jackson and Assistant Principal Cynthia Tolbert.
     
  • This year at the Marshall, Harvard supported three afterschool programs in the use of SmartTALK, the Harvard Achievement Support Initiative’s (HASI) signature homework support program.
     
  • In 2009, HASI began an intentional expansion of the SmartTALK program to include the development of a series of standards-aligned evening learning events focused on sharing important SmartTALK ideas, strategies and materials with families. At the beginning of the school year, HASI piloted the SmartTALK Family Event series—a series designed to align with state standards and with research literature indicating that there is higher family participation in opportunities focused on supporting children’s academic success. During the 2009–10 academic year, HASI held two SmartTALK Family Events at the Marshall, one of each focused on Homework Support and English Language Arts. More than 280 Marshall teachers, students and their families attended the two events.