Ohio Collaborative Educating Remotely and Transforming
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Ohio Collaborative for Educating Remotely and Transforming Schools Blanchester Local Schools 951 Cherry Street Blanchester Mr. Dean Lynch 937-783-3523 Mrs. Jen Molitor Principal 957 Cherry Street Blanchester, Ohio 45107 USA 937-783-2040 513-226-5895 [email protected] County located 14 Clinton Counties served 8 Brown 13 Clermont 14 Clinton 83 Warren Project title Mastery Learning for Student Equity Amount requested $125,000.00 Total project budget $125,000.00 Demographics Number of students served 2181 % Minority 4% % Free/reduced lunch 46% % Medically fragile 1% % Limited English proficient 0% % Transient 5% % Incarcerated 0% % Homeless, foster 3% care, in residential treatment Number of staff served 146 Subject Area(s) Language Arts Math Science Social Studies Technology Other Explanation Person Administering (if not primary contact) Detailed Proposal Executive summary - 1. the problem/issue 2. what will take place 3. the intended result 4. hoping to learn to transform schools 5. the request from the Collaborative 1) COVID has caused disruptions to student learning during 2019-20 school year (SY) and continued during 2020-21 SY. The full impact is and will not likely be fully realized for quite awhile. Both districts have increased need to improve teachers’ capacity to be responsive to individualized students’ learning and engagement needs, regardless of delivery method (i.e., in-person, blended or remote). Both districts have had to switch between in-person instruction and remote learning, and often with a day’s notice. Keeping up with planning and pacing of both types of instruction has posed challenges for students/families and teachers. Teachers have asked for more guidance, resources, and support to reach their students better. 2) This project will enable BLSD to deepen existing teacher capacity/expand best practices to neighboring CMLSD teachers, through PD and support on The Grid Method, a proven mastery learning focused framework that has demonstrated early results with students/teachers in BLSD. PD topics will include, designing and developing tiered mastery grids, aligned with state standards, that empower them to more deeply scaffold self-paced and personalized student learning experiences that are successful no matter learning environment or platform. Targeted coaching will support teachers on how to manage, deploy and address student learning inequities in various settings and delivery modalities, with focus on empowering students to demonstrate mastery of learning. Support, coaching and classroom observation (virtual/in-person) will facilitate deeper deployment of framework with a focus on serving learning needs of all students. 3) BLSD and CMLSD will partner to increase student-centered successes by expanding/deepening PD and support for more teachers in both districts, focusing on reducing inequities or gaps in teaching and learning widened as a result of COVID. In doing so, participating teachers will be fully trained to implement The Grid Method during Spring 2021, with an anticipated increase in student engagement and learning growth while simultaneously enhancing and deepening student/teacher relationships via increased student-centered interactions. This will have a secondary, yet equally important, improvement on social-emotional learning (SEL) and trauma-informed outcomes for students. 4) Through expanded deployment of The Grid Method among teachers, the hope is to increase teachers’ capacity to reduce learning inequities through consistent and systematic implementation of cohesive instruction that is inclusive of best practices while providing more opportunities for support, intervention and differentiation. 5) BLSD and CMLSD request funding to expand effective and proven The Grid Method PD, to equip teachers to further respond to personalized student learning needs. Leveraging grant, both districts will contract for targeted PD and utilize support to address immediate needs and student learning Inequities during 2020-21 SY. Statement of need COVID has undoubtedly impacted the educational landscape across Ohio and the country, and demonstrated that there are inequities in student learning opportunities and experiences as well as varying teacher capacity to increase student learning in spite of pandemic. A common issue among BLSD and CMLSD teachers that has continued to diminish teachers’ effectiveness, is the need for resources, training and support to increase competency related to establishing and maintaining student engagement as well as student ownership and voice in their own learning, no matter the learning environment or delivery methodology. Gaps in student needs and teacher capacity are evidenced by the results from staff surveys, which show that 52.1% of teachers do not feel confident or somewhat confident strategically planning for asynchronous learning and 48% stated they “know exactly how to assess for mastery learning in a remote learning situation”. Juxtaposition these survey results with student/parent results that demonstrate only 6.9% responded that “clear understanding of grading” and 7.3% “quality of learning” were the most productive parts of remote learning (from Spring 2020). However, 70.3% responded that “ability to work at own pace and schedule,” was the most productive part of remote learning. Likewise, beyond missing classmates, teachers and school activities, 35.8% indicated that “each class is setup differently” and 31.9% stated “unclear expectations,” were the biggest challenges to remote learning. The pandemic has reduced educators’ capacity to facilitate equitable learning experiences that empower students to demonstrate and apply their learning in a collaborative, rigorous and meaningful manner. COVID and districts’ implementation of blended and/or remote learning plans has exacerbated the immediate need for building-level support and cohesive training focused on increasing capacity to provide equitable learning experiences for all students, no matter the learning environment. In addition, teachers remain limited in their capacity to effectively increase student engagement and equitably improve student mastery and ownership of learning. Teachers have expressed that student engagement has been reduced during COVID, but is reflective of overall teacher capacity to adapt and provide equitable learning opportunities for students and adapt to the instructional delivery methods. Prior to COVID, some classroom teachers were delivering instruction enhanced by technology in-person, rather than fully integrating technology as a strategy to get and maintain student engagement. This, coupled with increased teacher stress and student social- emotional learning (SEL) barriers, has demonstratively impacted teacher efficacy with regard to equitably growing student learning outcomes. Districts were all forced to implement remote learning in Spring 2020, as a result of COVID and have started and switched multiple times from in-person and blended learning since the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year. This has impacted students’ success as well as teachers’ capacity to provide personalized and consistent support, due to reduced consistency. In contrast, now a majority of teachers have been thrust into leveraging remote or blended learning with limited or no support, and have continued to struggle with students’ demonstration of mastery of grade level content. It is not uncommon for many teachers who have received contrary training and support, to simply revert to the tried and true traditional “lecture” delivery and expect students to learn and be active participants in their learning. In fact, research has shown that this is actually detrimental to both student learning and engagement when leveraging online or remote learning delivery to provide instruction and/or content. This project will help to ensure teachers are equipped with the tools and strategies necessary to ensure rigorous and engaging learning opportunities for all students. Plan of action - how ALL students will: 1. be able to access high quality learning; 2. participate and effectively use materials, devices, platforms; and 3. be engaged in meaningful high-quality learning and benchmark dates for key activities. This collaborative project between Blanchester and Clinton-Massie will address inequities for students’ accessing high-quality mastery-based learning, in part, because expanding or broader portion of teachers from BLSD and CMLSD will be offered and have access to proposed The Grid Method PD, ongoing shared support sessions as well as 24/7 access to the Teach Better Academy resources and tools for effective implementation of mastery learning strategies. In addition, it will improve teachers’ capacity to scaffold and differentiate instruction for all students, including those identified as among the highest need and those considered gifted, who have received limited or minimal services. This will directly address the need to build teacher capacity related to assessing mastery learning, as illustrated by 48% of teachers indicating that they do not know exactly how to assess for mastery in a remote situation. Proposed project will expand and increase districts’ capacity by utilizing a strategic rollout approach with shared support sessions and leveraged resources to ensure responsive, tailored and high-quality PD, follow-up, targeted coaching and measurable improvement in student engagement, learning and outcomes.Since both districts are relatively small and rural, the shared support will maximize teachers'