The Cleveland Clinic recently honored Mary Ann Sedivy, NDCL Art Department chairperson, with the Teacher Celebration Award for her efforts to promote NDCL students' success in its eXpressions program.
Clinic Salutes NDCL Art Teacher
The Cleveland Clinic recently honored Mary Ann Sedivy, NDCL Art Department chairperson, with the Teacher Celebration Award for her efforts to promote NDCL students’ success in its eXpressions program.
In the past five years, 33 NDCL student artists have won awards in the prestigious eXpressions art competition.
“The Teacher Celebration Award expresses our sincere appreciation to Mary Ann for her continued support of the program and her tireless commitment to student achievement,” said Bryan Pflaum, the Clinic’s director of civic education.
At last winter’s awards eXpressions awards ceremony, Mr. Pflaum described NDCL as a “powerhouse of achievement” because of our track record of success in the program’s language, art and math competitions.
The Xpressions program engages students in the creative exploration of science and medicine. Through project-based, peer-to-peer learning, students interpret research studies conducted by Cleveland Clinic high school interns, producing an amazing array of artistic, literary and mathematical creations.
Class of 2017 Sets ACT Record
NDCL’s Class of 2017 shattered all existing school records in every subject on the ACT, according to score reports compiled from all exams taken by the 160 members of the class.
The ACT reports scores on a scale from 1-36 and NDCL’s graduates posted mean (average) scores of 25.1 in math, 25.4 in science, 26.2 in English and 26.6 in reading. National averages in all subjects range from 20-21.
The average results of NDCL’s top 25 percent were even more impressive: 30.7 in math, 30.3 in science, 32.1 in English and 32.4 in reading.
To put NDCL’s performance in perspective, Principal Joseph A. Waler noted that the U.S. Department of Education sets a mean ACT score of 24.3 to identify the top 15 percent of all high schools in the nation.
“Every single one of our scores now exceeds that significant performance standard,” he said. “Our recent graduates’ ACT performance reflects their hard work as well as the professional expertise and persistence of our talented teachers. Our teachers have worked zealously to align our curriculum, instruction and assessment of learning with research-based benchmarks for college readiness. Their collaboration on late-start Mondays, blended learning days and innumerable after-school meetings has clearly paid off.”
Mr. Waler stressed that the report’s highest score — reading — reflects NDCL’s concerted efforts to prepare students for the challenges of college-level reading. The school’s recently completed improvement plan focused on this important skill.
“The research is clear: Students are more likely to succeed in college when they are able to read sophisticated, complex texts that have multiple layers of meaning,” Mr. Waler said. “By challenging and supporting our students to achieve at higher levels in reading, math, and other academic skills, we are opening up doors of opportunity for them in college, career and life.”
