What I have been plotting lately
A strange and demented plan
There is a committed team of teachers willing to try something new and different to help failing students succeed. There are four additional teachers who are intrigued by the possibilities inherent in this teacher-driven pilot program.
The pilot would consist of two teams. Each team would take 20 students who had failed two or more core subjects in seventh grade and/or earned a Level 1 or 2 on their previous state ELA test, and block those students for Math, Science and a Humanities course. The Math and Resource teachers would co-teach, as would the Science and Reading teachers. The Humanities course would be co-taught by the Social Studies and English teachers. During these blocks, the teachers would use data from the student’s files to remediate the 7th grade courses and teach the 8th grade courses. By emphasizing critical skills from the 7th and 8th grade curricula, these students will have a greater likelihood of achieving acceptable levels on the eighth grade state tests. This could increase the school’s prospect of being removed from the state’s corrective action or restructuring list. Equally important, the students would gain needed knowledge and skills and have success before moving up to the high school with their classmates.
This plan has many probable benefits. The pilot has the potential to help at least 40 struggling students. Qualitative and quantitative data will be collected and shared throughout the year to determine the effectiveness of the program. Strough would be able to provide substantive proof of its commitment to increasing assessment scores, which is a condition the State requires when a school is in corrective action or restructuring. It is possible a portion of the salaries of each of the core teachers could be funded through earmarks for at-risk students, which would reduce the cost of the program. An additional financial benefit would be that the students would enter the pilot without having to attend summer school for 7th grade.
There is a committed team of teachers willing to try something new and different to help failing students succeed. There are four additional teachers who are intrigued by the possibilities inherent in this teacher-driven pilot program.
The pilot would consist of two teams. Each team would take 20 students who had failed two or more core subjects in seventh grade and/or earned a Level 1 or 2 on their previous state ELA test, and block those students for Math, Science and a Humanities course. The Math and Resource teachers would co-teach, as would the Science and Reading teachers. The Humanities course would be co-taught by the Social Studies and English teachers. During these blocks, the teachers would use data from the student’s files to remediate the 7th grade courses and teach the 8th grade courses. By emphasizing critical skills from the 7th and 8th grade curricula, these students will have a greater likelihood of achieving acceptable levels on the eighth grade state tests. This could increase the school’s prospect of being removed from the state’s corrective action or restructuring list. Equally important, the students would gain needed knowledge and skills and have success before moving up to the high school with their classmates.
This plan has many probable benefits. The pilot has the potential to help at least 40 struggling students. Qualitative and quantitative data will be collected and shared throughout the year to determine the effectiveness of the program. Strough would be able to provide substantive proof of its commitment to increasing assessment scores, which is a condition the State requires when a school is in corrective action or restructuring. It is possible a portion of the salaries of each of the core teachers could be funded through earmarks for at-risk students, which would reduce the cost of the program. An additional financial benefit would be that the students would enter the pilot without having to attend summer school for 7th grade.
posted by WifeMomTeacher at
8:34 PM
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