Many parents and community members have asked me what it means
to meet the needs of ALL students.
Many parents and community members have asked me what it means to meet the needs of ALL students.
How do we differentiate curriculum and instruction to ensure that the student who comes to school speaking a second language with little literacy in the home, and the student who comes to school with three years of preschool, plus reading and writing skills, each has their needs met?
How will we get all students to perform on grade level, ensure that all students are challenged and prepare them to graduate from high school with the skills required to go on to college and lead successful lives? And last, but not least, how do the schools do all of this with dwindling resources? Gilroy Unified School District has implemented the following programs and strategies in order to improve the learning of all students.
The best news: these strategies are working!
Leveling Students for Reading and Math at Some Schools
Students are placed in reading groups where they are instructed with reading materials at their reading level. This helps to ensure that they continue to develop the skills necessary to learn to read. They are also all exposed to and instructed with grade level materials to ensure that they continue to learn the language arts standards at their grade level. At the middle schools and high school, High Point is offered for intervention students; while AP classes and honors classes are offered for acceleration and challenge.
Assessment Pinpoints Ability and Needs
Like never before, teachers have access to multiple assessments. No longer are they required to guess why students can’t read or are struggling in math.
These assessments give teachers information about a student’s reading, language and math ability. Teachers can use this information to fill in the gaps students often have in phonics, fluency, comprehension, language skills and computation. Reading and math adoption tests are also used as well as scores on the California Standards Test.
Materials and Technology Can Make a Difference
Most schools, if not all, have level specific reading libraries that provide teachers with materials to use with students struggling to read as well as students in need of enrichment.
Many schools have technology available to students that provides students with activities at their instructional level. Math materials have been purchased throughout the district that provide students with challenging, project-based learning or hands-on problem solving tasks.
Soon grades 9-12 will purchase language arts standards based textbooks.
MARS Testing/Coaching Improve Math Learning
Our district has implemented MARS math testing at several grades. This assessment requires students to solve multiple step math problems and to explain their thinking in writing. This sort of problem challenges students to go beyond rote fact and focuses on process. We also have teachers at several schools participating in Noyce Math Coaching program. Teachers learn strategies for developing concept understanding with their students in math.
Staff Development Yields Results
As a district we have had a variety of staff development opportunities over the past years which provide teachers with a wealth of effective strategies to enhance learning for their learners. We have had Lit Conn training, CPDI institutes, Step Up to Writing workshops, 6 traits of Writing, LAC training, MARS training, Noyce Math workshops and more.
Literacy Facilitators Help Meet a Variety of Reading Needs
Last year the district made a decision to ensure that every school in the district has at least one Literacy Facilitator who would be charged with modeling effective strategies within classrooms to help facilitate change in practice.
Past practice was for reading resource teachers to pull out small groups of students and provide extra support and instruction in reading. This may have been effective for a small number of students, but many students with needs remained in classrooms without access to this resource. There are just too many students needing assistance and not enough resource teachers to provide it.
Thus, the decision was made to give teachers the strategies they would need to differentiate instruction and begin to meet the needs of a wide range of students.
Intervention/Enrichment
These past few years our district has developed a variety of intervention and enrichment opportunities for students.
Intervention programs designed to provide additional support and instruction to students include:
• Pre-school academies
• First Five
• After School tutorial
• Extended and Full Day Kindergarten
• Double Dose Reading (extra reading groups provided by support personnel)
• High Point Classes
To provide enrichment and academic challenge to students, the following enrichment programs are offered:
• Advanced Coursework
• AP classes
• Gate Enrichment classes
• Honors classes
• Middle School Academies
• Technology that provides students work at their academic level (e.g. Orchard)
Meeting the needs of all students is a challenge for public schools across America. Despite declining resources, Gilroy Unified School District will continue to move forward to make improvements in student achievement for ALL.
Guest columnist Edwin Diaz is the superintendent of the Gilroy Unified School District. Anyone interested in writing a guest column may contact Editor Mark Derry at 842-6400.
