Academics

Developing Sound Foundations

Cochran Primary School helps children develop a solid foundation in the following academic areas: math, language arts, science, social studies, art and music.

Title I

Title I is a 100% federally-funded supplemental education program that provides financial assistance to local educational agencies to improve educational opportunities for educationally deprived children. Title I programs are designed to help children meet the state content and performance standards in reading, language arts, and mathematics.

Importance of Parental Engagement 

A synthesis of the research concluded that “the evidence is consistent, positive, and convincing: families have a major influence on their child’s achievement in school and through life. When schools, families, and community groups work together to support learning, children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer, and like school more.” Studies have found that students with engaged parents, no matter what their income or background, are more likely to:

  • earn high grades and test scores, and enroll in higher–level programs
  • pass their classes, earn credits, and be promoted
  • attend school regularly
  • graduate and go on to postsecondary education
Parent Engagement & Home-to-School Compacts

Title I stresses the priority of home and school working together in collaboration. Each year, every school that receives Title I services reviews the home to school compact with their working parent organization such as PTO, PTA , CSO, etc. Each school must develop, jointly with parents of children participating in Title I, Part A services, a written school parental involvement policy that describes how the school will carry out the parental involvement requirements including the development of a School–Parent Compact. If the school already has a parental involvement policy that applies to all parents, the school may amend that existing policy, if necessary, to meet the requirements. Schools must update these policies periodically to meet the changing needs of parents and the school.

Cochran Primary Home School Compact   

Literacy

Wonders

Wonders is filled with exemplars, award-winners, and other high-interest literary and informational texts that range across many genres, eras, and cultures. The program provides unmatched support for:

  • Building a strong reading foundation
  • Accessing complex text
  • Finding and using text evidence
  • Engaging in collaborative conversations
  • Writing to sources
Fundations

Fundations utilizes a structured literacy approach grounded in the science of reading to make learning to read fun while laying the groundwork for lifelong literacy. The program’s research-based approach and extensive materials allow K–3 teachers to confidently present a carefully structured reading, spelling, and handwriting curriculum using engaging, multi-sensory techniques. Fundations is aligned with the science of reading and guides teachers to provide effective instructional practices.

Heggerty

Designed to supplement existing literacy curriculum, the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Kindergarten lessons easily integrate into kindergarten programs. When lessons are taught consistently each day teachers see improvement in students’ reading, spelling, and writing, as the students learn to hear the sounds in words.

Cochran Literacy
Accelerated Reader

This component of the independent reading program encourages students in grades one through eight in the Williamsport Area School District to read books. Students take a computer-based test and earn points.  School-based libraries will have appropriate books marked AR. You can search by book level, author, or title by viewing our Accelerated Reader online database to see if a book is an AR title.

Math

Reveal Math

Derived from the latest research on how students learn best, Reveal Math is strategically designed to fuel active student engagement and deepen conceptual understanding. By encouraging curiosity, exploration, and a growth mindset, Reveal Math allows students to see math as a dynamic set of problem-solving strategies instead of the application of memorized algorithmic or computational procedures.

SpringMath

SpringMath is a highly effective interactive platform that combines streamlined tools for assessment, reporting and intervention to provide a clear path to achievement for every student. 

Cochran Kindergarten Classroom

Full Option Science Systems (FOSS)

Science is an active enterprise, made active by our human capacity to think. Scientific knowledge advances when scientists observe objects and events, think about how they relate to what is known, test their ideas in logical ways, and generate explanations that integrate the new information into the established order. The scientific enterprise is both what we know (content) and how we come to know it (process). The best way for students to appreciate the scientific enterprise, learn important scientific concepts, and develop the ability to think critically is to actively construct ideas through their own inquiries, investigations, and analyses. The FOSS program was created to engage students in these processes as they explore the natural world.