A commitment to meet the educational needs of everyone student led the Huntington School District to develop the SEARCH program more than 40 years ago. Since then it has touched the lives of thousands of youngsters and continues to do so today.
SEARCH is the acronym for the Scholastic Enrichment and Resource for Children in Huntington program. It’s an enrichment initiative for fifth and sixth graders at Jack Abrams STEM Magnet School and Woodhull Intermediate School that features a hands-on curriculum, which extends classroom learning and exposes them to new topics.
There are units focused on genetics, mock trial, mythology and forensics. Students participate in SEARCH once a week for an 80 minute block with teacher Jessica Risalvato.
Participants also have an opportunity to enter the following competitions:
- Toshiba Exploravision ( https://www.exploravision.org/)
- Western Suffolk BOCES Mock Trial ( https://www.wsboces.org/?s=mock+trial)
- National History Day contest ( https://www.nhd.org//)
“Several criteria are used to determine a child’s eligibility for this two year program,” Assistant Superintendent Beth McCoy said. “The OLSAT test, a 40 minute multiple choice test given at the end of fourth grade, is an important part of the assessment, but not the only factor it uses. (Note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, for the 2020/21 school year, the OLSAT was administered to fifth grade students in late September/early October.)
“We endeavor to look at each child holistically and use both objective and subjective criteria,” Assistant Superintendent Beth McCoy said. “Specifically, in addition to the OLSAT, we use the state fourth grade ELA and math test scores, qualitative and quantitative classroom performance assessments and teacher recommendations in making the decision.”
If a child has opted out of state testing, this does not mean they aren’t eligible for SEARCH, but the district will have fewer data points by which to determine their eligibility and the other factors will weigh more heavily in the identification process.
SEARCH Teacher Jessica Risalvato
Ms. Risalvato has been the Huntington School District’s SEARCH and Math Olympiad program teacher since August 2017. She obtained undergraduate (sociology) and graduate (childhood special education) degrees at Fordham University in 2007 and 2008, respectively. She earned an advanced graduate certificate in gifted education at SUNY Buffalo in 2015.
Prior to her appointment in Huntington, Ms. Risalvato had been working as an elementary grade level gifted program teacher in New York City since September 2013. She earlier spent a year working as an elementary teacher at Our World Neighborhood Charter School and five years as an elementary grade teacher at Bronx Charter School for Excellence.
