A new report by LFA and Grunwald Associates, with support from AT&T, examines how parents perceive the value of mobile devices, how they see their children using mobiles, and what they think of the possibilities for mobile learning.
Scheduling for Results
Story posted December 9, 2008. Results Updated January 22, 2012.
Results:
• In 2010, the school outperformed the state on reading assessments in every grade, with performance in the 3rd and 4th grades exceeding the state average by close to 20%.
• In 2010, the school also performed that well on math assessments, with 100% of 4th graders meeting or exceeding the state standards.
All children can learn. When a school staff truly embraces this core belief and openly demonstrates it to students, parents, and each other, dramatic improvements in academic performance can result.
Take, for example, Anne Fox Elementary School. Fox is a moderately low-income, demographically diverse school in the working-class suburb of Hanover Park, Illinois. The student population is 34 percent white, 30 percent Hispanic, 17 percent black, and 19 percent Asian/Pacific Islander. Students speak more than 35 different languages, and the school’s low-income and mobility rates are double the district average. Until recently, Fox School ranked dead last in academic achievement among the district’s 21 elementary schools and was known as a “problem spot.” But the incorporation of new student support systems has produced dramatic increases in overall student achievement.
A Troubled School
The road to improvement was not easy for a faculty that, until very recently, was greatly frustrated over persistently low levels of student performance on local and state assessments. Teachers were largely fending for themselves in assessing student progress and determining grade-level proficiency, there was no collaborative planning to develop intervention strategies for students in need, and the school relied on outdated and ineffective modes of helping struggling students, such as optional afterschool tutoring and large-group pullout instruction using a “canned” literacy remediation program. Fox School was dangerously close to failing to make the adequate yearly progress required by the No Child Left Behind Act.
To turn the school’s performance around, the principal and staff carefully examined their educational practices, focusing on the following questions:
• Have we clearly identified the essential outcomes in core academic areas that all children must meet?
• Have we developed meaningful assessments that truly identify the specific learning needs of each child and help teachers address those needs?
• Do we intervene the moment any child demonstrates difficulty mastering essential grade-level skills and concepts?
• Do we systematically build our interventions into our school day and deliver to all students in need of additional time and support?
Ninety sacred minutes
If past realities were to change, school staff realized they needed to devise new systems of support for the learning of all children. The first critical step involved teachers committing to a learning environment built around a daily 90-minute literacy block. During that time, teachers in all classrooms implement a comprehensive and balanced literacy model including guided, shared, and independent reading and writing as well as vocabulary and word-study instruction. This model ensures that all children receive high-quality initial instruction from grade-level teachers.
Because staff regards the 90-minute literacy block as sacred instruction time that no child can afford to miss, they decided to stop pulling students out for remedial instruction. Now special education and regular classroom teachers provide remedial support in the classroom. This practice guarantees that all children are exposed to a rigorous curriculum.
Regrouping for Intervention and Enrichment
To provide time for intervention and enrichment, Fox School established a 45-minute block for each grade level in which all new instruction stops and students are regrouped by instructional need as determined by formative assessments. Those in need of additional time and support to master a skill or concept move to a classroom for structured, small-group intervention (the adult-to-student ratio never exceeds 1-to-8). Students who have mastered grade-level skills are grouped for enrichment instruction in a whole-class setting.
Teachers use a wide variety of instructional practices during daily intervention block periods, including guided reading, vocabulary lessons, and mini-lessons in formal writing. Students working in enrichment blocks benefit from instruction directed to their learning level, with literature circles and independent research projects to push them to higher levels of academic performance. In addition, clustering students identified as gifted allows a part-time gifted resource teacher to maximize her teaching time.
Teacher collaboration is a critical component in ensuring that parallel block time is used effectively. Grade-level teams begin the school year by setting goals in core academic areas and are then accountable for the performance of their students. The principal reviews the results of “formative” assessments, which helps teachers diagnose and address student needs, and posts them in the faculty lounge for all to see and discuss. In addition, staff regularly discuss critical questions such as:
• Which students are in need of academic intervention and which are in need of enrichment?
• What will daily lesson plans be for both the intervention and enrichment blocks?
• How will we redistribute personnel to deliver instruction effectively?
To provide teams with the time needed to collaborate around these and other critical questions, Fox School redesigned its master schedule. A horizontal master schedule was set up in which all classes in a grade-level team receive arts specialist instruction at the same time. This way grade-level teams have two to three hours each week to meet and collaborate.
The parallel block system of intervention and enrichment has proved to be an extremely effective way for the Fox School staff to systematically “differentiate,” or personalize, instruction to our diverse group of student learners. Today, Fox guarantees every student a timely, structured intervention for each skill he or she needs. In addition, increased collaboration among the teaching staff has provided focus and direction for Fox’s academic mission. Most importantly, Anne Fox School is truly living up to its primary responsibility of ensuring that all students have mastered essential skills.
Fox school has achieved double-digit increases in student performance for each of the past two school years, as measured by the Illinois Standards Achievement Test. It exceeds the state average in percent of students meeting or exceeding state standards in every area tested, and is poised and motivated for future success. All children truly can learn if educators across the country have the courage to examine ineffective past practices and realign time and support in a way that ensures success.
For additional information, please contact:
Nicholas J. Myers
Principal, Anne Fox Elementary School
nicholasmyers@sd54.k12.il.us
This story came to LFA’s attention after being featured in the November/December 2008 issue of NAESP’s Principal Magazine.
Full citation: Nicholas J. Myers, “Block Scheduling that gets Results,” in Principal Magazine, November/December, 2008, p. 20-23.
Adapted with permission from the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP).
Click here to access the original article as contained in the NAESP Web site.
Copyright © 2008 by the National Association of Elementary School Principals. All Rights Reserved.
SIGN UP
Sign up for our e-newsletter on public school success.
A VISION FOR GREAT SCHOOLS
On this website, educators, parents and policymakers from coast to coast are sharing what's already working in public schools--and sparking a national conversation about how to make it work for children in every school. Join the conversation!
