District Message

HAMILTON TWP (01-1940)

 

The Hamilton Township School District is a pre-kindergarten to grade eight district serving over 3,200 students. The district is comprised of three schools: The Joseph C. Shaner Primary School housing preschool, kindergarten and grade one, the George L. Hess Educational Complex housing preschool and grades two through five, and the William Davies Middle School housing grades six, seven, and eight. The district currently offers a full day four-year-old and three-year old preschool program for eligible students, a half-day four-year old program for registered students, and a full day kindergarten program for all Hamilton Township students.

The Hamilton Township School District strives to empower all students to develop the fundamental knowledge and skills needed to find success in college and career.  The Hamilton Township School District shares one vision: “…committed to learning, growing, and achieving together.” The spirit of this statement is reflected and reinforced in each building’s mission statement and in all district initiatives.


Students in the Hamilton Township School District receive a thorough and comprehensive educational program including daily instruction in English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, health and physical education. Additionally, our students receive extensive exposure to the related arts areas of music, art, library, technology and world language.


Hamilton Township implements board-approved curricula that is aligned with the State Board of Education’s adopted Curriculums. District curriculum in all subject areas is fluid and is formally reviewed in a five year program cycle.


The school district curriculum has been developed using the “Instructional Design Process.” This is a standards-based, comprehensive method that has fully redesigned the teaching/learning process in each school building throughout the district. It was developed by the teachers and administrators of the district to reflect the learning culture and academic needs of the community and to establish student performance expectations that adhere to national and state curriculum standards. This type of curriculum is fluid in nature and is therefore reviewed annually by the teachers and administration to ensure its effectiveness.

The curricular impact in each of the content areas is evaluated by analyzing individual student progress intermittently through benchmark assessments, performance indicators, and teacher observation to ensure that every student in our district meets with success.

The Hamilton Township School District plans five full day and four to five half-day teacher in-services or professional development days each year. Important educational initiatives, as well as teaching practices and programs form the framework for these valuable days. As indicated in our district’s professional development plan, extensive training for all school staff in the areas of English language arts, writing, and mathematics is provided. In addition to this, workshops are conducted in the district for meeting the needs of our English Language Learners and special education students, as well as for the specialized areas of related arts. Our staff receives training through presentations and workshops conducted by in-house staff and by consultants from various universities that have been recognized as educational leaders and specialists. The Hamilton Township School District takes pride in the high level of expertise our educators have as a result of this extensive professional development program.

All students are assessed using the following:

  • Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark for reading levels of elementary students
  • Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt Reading Inventory for Lexile Levels of middle school students
  • GO Math benchmarks for math of elementary students Houghton-Mifflin-   Harcourt Math Inventory for Quantile Levels of middle school students
  • PARCC for students in grades three through eight (or DLM for select students)
  • NJASK Science for students in grades 4 and 8 (or APA for select students)
  • District Common Performance Indicators/Assessments
  • Teacher Assessments


Student performance results on these assessments are carefully and thoroughly disaggregated and analyzed with results used to assess program effectiveness.

The school district is the heart of Hamilton Township. In addition to numerous activities which invite our parents to become involved in the education of their children, our school buildings are used for community education, community swimming, athletic events, and musical productions. Summer school reading program for kindergarten and grade one, summer camp, after school childcare program, and an extensive array of before and after school clubs all help to make our school buildings the center of activity in our community.

The philosophy of the Hamilton Township School District is that “All Children Can Learn.” We take pride in our ability to provide the best educational experience for every child, every day, in our increasingly diverse population. We hold high expectations for all of our students as we prepare them to meet with success on a daily basis and to become lifelong learners who are college and career ready.

Frank Vogel, Superintendent

(609) 476-6300

[email protected]