Student Services and Support

Immaculate Conception-St. Joseph School offers a dedicated support team to guide students through the social, emotional, and academic challenges of school life. Whether a student needs help preparing for a test, navigating a tricky social situation, or simply wants to talk about life, our proactive and compassionate staff is always here to help.

Learning Specialists

ICSJ employs four full-time Learning and Literacy Specialists who serve both campuses, bringing expertise in supporting students with diverse learning needs. These specialists provide tailored support through one-on-one or small-group instruction, both in and outside the classroom, to address individual student needs.

They meet weekly with each teaching team, working closely to offer strategies and modeling techniques to help all students succeed academically. During weekly lesson planning meetings, they collaborate to design enrichment activities for high-achieving students across all subjects or develop reteaching lessons. The specialists use formative and summative data to ensure instruction is data-driven and effective. They also serve as valuable resources for faculty and liaise with outside professionals for student evaluations and ongoing support.

School Counselors

ICSJ’s two counselors work closely with the administration and teaching staff on student social, emotional, developmental, and behavioral concerns. By collaborating with staff and students, counselors seek to help students develop healthy relationships with their peers, teachers, parents, and siblings.

ICSJ is committed to providing an environment where all students can safely express their feelings and concerns. ICSJ counselors integrate multiple behavioral and emotional strategies into everyday classroom lessons by working in conjunction with teachers. These methods develop and strengthen the social-emotional development of our students throughout the Prekindergarten – Grade 8 curriculum:

RULER is an evidence-based approach to social and emotional learning (SEL) developed at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Since 2020, RULER has supported our entire school community in understanding the value of emotions, building the skills of emotional intelligence, and creating and maintaining a positive school climate.

RULER skill development relies on four core tools:

Charter: Builds and sustains positive emotional climates by creating agreed-upon norms for how people want to feel and how they can help each other to experience those feelings.

Mood Meter: Enhances self- and social awareness and supports the development of a nuanced emotion vocabulary and a range of strategies for regulating emotion.

Meta-Moment: Provides a process for responding to emotional situations with strategies that align with one’s best self and that support healthy relationships and personal well-being.

Blueprint: Supports the development of empathy and conflict resolution skills by serving as a guide for reflecting on conflict and restoring affected communities.

Responsive Classroom is a research-based approach to K-8 education, and is built on the foundation that high-quality education requires the maintenance of a safe and joyful learning community. This instructional best practice is based on the belief that integrating academic and social-emotional skills creates an environment where students can learn and perform at their best. The Responsive Classroom approach consists of a set of practices, language, and strategies that build academic and social-emotional competencies.

Middle School Advisory is an extension of the Responsive Classroom’s Morning Meeting. It is a time for teachers and students to work on developmental responsiveness, engaging academics, building a positive community, and effective management using language and strategies appropriate for adolescents' unique needs. Advisory periods focus on goal setting, structured reflection, digital citizenship, time management, problem-solving, and fun, friendship-building activities.

Behavior Rubric is a rubric developed in consultation with psychologist Dr. Marcia McEvoy to address undesired or negative behavior. This approach works with RULER to create a positive school climate where children feel safe and undesired behavior is addressed with clear, concise consequences - differentiated by grade level.

Director of Early Childhood

The Director of Early Childhood at ICSJ School works collaboratively with the administration, Learning and Literacy Specialists, School Counselors, and classroom teachers to develop goals and strategies that meet the unique needs of our youngest learners. Guided by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Early Learning Standards, the Director upholds excellence in early childhood education, ensuring students and staff thrive in a nurturing and high-quality learning environment.

Key responsibilities include:

Classroom Support: Regularly observing classrooms, providing actionable feedback to enhance instruction, and fostering a positive classroom culture.
Professional Development: Leading teacher training for the Early Screening Inventory (ESI-R) and overseeing the screening process for all early childhood students.
Collaboration and Communication: Partnering with the administrative team on school-wide initiatives and participating in parent meetings and conferences.
Program Enrichment: Planning memorable early childhood events, including the Thanksgiving Feast, Polar Express Day, NAEYC’s Week of the Young Child, Splash Day, and the end-of-year prayer service.

NAEYC accreditation and standards guide our program, ensuring a developmentally appropriate, research-based foundation that prepares students for lifelong learning and success. Through these standards, we emphasize play-based learning, social-emotional growth, and academic readiness, reflecting our commitment to the highest quality early childhood education.

School Nurse

ICSJ employs a full time registered nurse that serves the medical needs of students at both campuses. The Nurse provides direct care to students with both acute and chronic health needs while corresponding with student families to ensure timely and appropriate communication between school and home.