Secondary Research Initiative in Garden City Public Schools

At the January Garden City High School PTA Meeting, 6-12 curriculum coordinators Jeanette Balantic (social studies), Bernadette Arnone (English) and Dr. Elena Cascio (science), along with high school librarians Lois Kuster and Margaux DelGuidice, presented an update of the district's ongoing 6-12 Research Initiative.

"The topic of research was coming up at every curriculum meeting," said Balantic, "and the knowledge that colleges were dissatisfied with the skill set of today's applicants contributed to our decision to implement this initiative. We wanted to make sure that our students had research experience in each of the disciplines."

A Research Committee from the various content areas was formed in October, 2008. The committee began their efforts by compiling a research guide (available at www.gardencity.k12.ny.us) to serve as "a scaffolding towards research mastery," explained Arnone.

Kuster and DelGuidice reviewed existing resources, significantly increased online data bases, conducted orientations to familiarize student researchers with resources and advised about proper construction of a research paper, such as the difference between a citation and an annotation.

"We want to make the research process innate to our students," Kuster said. Dr. Cascio agreed, "It is not so much about the topics but the research process."

Several students attended the meeting to explain how the 6-12 research initiative has impacted their learning. Members of the 12th grade English classes, including Morgan Cline, Maria Gullo, Emily Madigan and Brian Plaut – conducted extensive research to create video documentaries promoting student life at Garden City High School. Students utilized multiple sources to gather the necessary information, and the high school's enhanced resources facilitated this process.     

Jacquelyn Seskind, a ninth grade student in Ms. Samara Skolnik's English class, discussed her poetry research project on American poet Sylvia Plath: "The data bases and instruction on how to use them were really helpful. I learned how to cite a paper and how to draw conclusions from the research."

At the conclusion of the presentation, Dr. Teresa Prendergast, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, congratulated the Research Initiative Committee for their efforts: "Our goal has been to prepare students for post-secondary learning. We want to ensure that students have a solid foundation necessary for a successful college experience. There was a tremendous amount of work done behind-the-scenes over the past two years. I have to thank the entire team – they did a wonderful job."