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2008: Lifetime Achievement Award

Setting High Expectations
A classroom focused on learning produces consistently high test scores

Coming into each school year, teachers know ahead of time which students are going to present them with a longer list of behavioral problems. Those students think they know something, too, about exerting control over a classroom and teacher.

“They come in with the same expectation that they are going to do the same thing to you,” said Yvette Hinds-Joseph, a teacher in P.S. 37, Cynthia Jenkins School, in Queens. “I think my strategy is when my kids come in September, I let them know what I expect of them.”

For this 22-year veteran educator of 4th and 5th graders, those expectations mean consistent attendance in a classroom focused on learning.

“Children know when you have their best interests at heart,” she said, adding that it helps when having fun is part of her process.

Hinds-Joseph arrived from Guyana in 1972 and knew what she wanted from the start.
“I always wanted to be a teacher,” she said.

To achieve this goal, she worked full time in personnel for the NYPD while going to school. She completed her master’s degree at Queens College in 1988.

Joan P. Estick, P.S. 37’s parent coordinator, said that Hinds-Joseph is never late, always prepared and dressed to impress.

“She also presents herself in such a professional manner that no one can make a mistake as to who she really is,” Estick said.

Estick also said Hinds-Joseph is a valuable resource to her colleagues, who often come to her for advice.
Hinds-Joseph’s talent is reflected in the large number of her students who regularly score 4s on city and state standardized tests.

“I feel good because I’ve accomplished what I set out to do,” she said. “I’m proud of the kids, and I’m proud of myself.”

But producing students who are more than just test-takers is an ongoing challenge. Sometimes it helps to mix students who possess leadership abilities with those who are not as self-directed to life everyone’s game.

“I match with children who are not doing the right thing,” she said, “and hope they learn from each other.”
Being so invested in each student also means that the end of the school year is a little bittersweet for Hinds-Joseph. But keeping tabs on her students with next year’s teachers helps, even if there’s still a little sadness.
“I’m sorry to see them go,” she said, “because you see the growth.”

— Rich Monetti