The Judge Charles J. Vallone School

School Demographics

Located in Astoria, Queens Public School 85 Queens is a multi-cultural community, with many small, family run businesses. The Judge Charles J. Vallone School serves approximately 450 students from Pre-kindergarten to Grade 5, coming from over forty different countries and speaking over 14 different languages. The school day is divided into 7 periods and extends from 8:10-2:30, with a 37.5 minute extended day program for small group intervention, Monday through Thursday. A ninety-minute literacy block is scheduled in every grade, every day. The Math block is 60 minutes in Grades K – 2, and 75 minutes in Grades 3 – 5. Thirteen and one half percent of newly admitted students are recent immigrants. One hundred and seventeen students are English Language Learners. Sixteen of the English Language Learners are Special Education students. The LABR is administered to all students new to the City system within five days of their admission. Parents and guardians of students who qualify for services are notified of the results in writing and made aware of their options. Semi-annual parent orientations are held to further clarify the program.

Academic program

English Language Learners at P.S. 85Q are serviced through a free-standing ESL program. In Grades K through 2 there is a self-contained ESL class on each grade. In Grades 3 through 5 a push-in program is in place. In compliance with CR Part 154, Beginning and Intermediate students receive 360 minutes of ESL instruction per week, and Advanced students receive 180 minutes of ESL instruction and 180 minutes of English Language Arts. The Kindergarten, First and Second Grade teachers provide two periods per day of ESL instruction during the Literacy block for Beginners and Intermediate students, and one period per day of ESL instruction with one period of English Language Arts instruction for Advanced students. The ESL teacher provides two periods per day of ESL instruction for Beginning and Intermediate students and one each of ESL and English language Arts for Advanced students. Rigby On Our Way to English is in place in self-contained classes Kindergarten through Grade 2. Rigby English in My Pocket is used supplementary in the 3 -5 push-in program.

All of the teachers who service the ELLs have ESL credentials. Teachers of the self-contained ESL classes in Grades K-2 have NYS ESL certificates. The push-in ESL teacher is a licensed Spanish Bilingual teacher with ancillary ESL certification. A Special Education teacher’s ESL certification is pending. This allows her to service the ELLs in her self-contained classroom. The self-contained classrooms have many Beginner/Intermediate ELLs and some Advanced ELLs, most of whom are in second grade. Within the framework of Balanced Literacy and the workshop model, social and academic language acquisition is fostered through Read Aloud, Shared, Independent and Guided Reading, and Modeled, Interactive and Independent Writing. Phonics and phonemic awareness lessons are scheduled daily.

The push-in ESL program is designed to foster social and academic language acquisition while it supports the academic program. In grades 3 through 5 most of the ELLs are clustered in one class on each grade. The program in each grade is driven by the curriculum and the needs of the ELLs. Reading and Writing workshops are scheduled for 90-minute blocks. The ESL teacher pushes into each of these classes for at least one period during the literacy blocks. Collaborative planning aligns the ESL teacher’s goals with the classroom programs. The ESL teacher is incorporated into the Reading workshop in grades 3 and 4 for one period each day: giving mini-lessons, leading Guided Reading groups, providing small group lessons and conferring with ELLs. Ongoing assessment drives the selection of strategy-based teaching points. Reading and language acquisition levels determine Guided reading group placement. Each group is scheduled for regular lessons. In fifth grade, where the bulk of the ELLs are long term ELLs, the emphasis is on academic language acquisition and the development of written language skills. Content area writing and projects are incorporated into the writing block to further develop spoken and written academic language. Revision and editing are scaffolded to develop standard grammar and syntax in written work.

The needs of Special Education students are met in a Collaborative Team Teaching setting and is based on the inclusion model. In these classes, there are Two teachers; a general education teacher as well as a special education teacher. The two teachers collaborate on all lessons and activities to ensure that all children are learning the same content while utilizing many different approaches. Lessons are Differentiated and may be made multisensory to support those students who need information presented through different modalities. Teachers are also trained in an academic support program called Schools Attuned which was developed to target the strengths of a student and build those strengths in order for students to overcome their difficulties.

Building History

Erected in 1907, the school celebrated its 100-year anniversary, June 2007. The school was dedicated to Judge Charles J. Vallone on February 18, 1988. Prior to becoming the Judge Vallone School, it was the Humphry Davy School, named after the Cornish scientist.