Fifteen intent kindergarten heads bent over their writing boards while teacher Stephanie DeVault led them through an early literacy lesson this week. If a student struggled or became distracted, teacher Cari Patzke swooped in to help.
The Klamath County children are some of Ferguson Elementary’s learners most needing support, and many didn’t recognize letters at the start of the school year. But with the combined attention of two experienced teachers on such a small class, they are now writing carefully formed letters and small words.
The Klamath County School District has focused on small-group instruction to improve elementary students’ math and reading. District data say it’s working. The Student Success Act makes it possible.
The 2019 act created the Student Investment Account, sending $892 million to Oregon districts for 2021-23 based on enrollment. The act’s funding is starting to show up in classrooms, and education leaders like what they are seeing. OREdNews is offering an occasional series, “Investing in Success,” to look at districts’ improvements.
Superintendent Glen Szymoniak believes small-group learning is essential to meeting students where they are and elevating them. He said teachers need to be able to observe their students and reenforce learning as needed.
“The key is to have every kid grow every day,” he said.
The SIA makes small-group learning possible in Klamath County schools, which invested 80% of such funds into adding more than 37 teachers and counselors. The district is geographically one of Oregon’s largest, with 22 schools serving more than 7,000 students. With so many different local conditions, Szymoniak asked his principals to find the best ways to create small learning groups.
“When I gave principals extra resources, they got creative,” he said. “This was an opportunity coming out of COVID to address problems.”
Some schools had more success than others, but the district as a whole saw achievement gains between September and March. As in most districts, Klamath students fell behind during the pandemic. At the start of the year, less than 13% of Klamath students in grades K-5 were proficient in math. Since then, proficiency has increased 12 or more percentage points in those grades.
Improvement has been less marked in reading, but the two lowest proficiency grade levels, kindergarten and fifth, improved significantly to nearly 40%.
Doris Ellison, elementary curriculum director, expects to see even more improvement with the end-of-year assessments.
“We are headed in the right direction,” she said. “The one thing that has changed is small-group instruction.”
The district plans to refine its strategies based on this year’s success stories.
Ferguson is one of the positive examples, with double-digit math proficiency growth in all grades and reading improvement for kindergarten and fifth grade.
Ferguson has three classes per grade level, with an average size of 26. Two additional teaching positions created with SIA money allow the classes to break into five smaller groups during math and reading times. Students above benchmarks have groups of up to 20, while the students needing the most intensive help have groups of fewer than 10. The school evaluates students about every six weeks and shifts students as needed.
First grader Jayden Ausborn likes his small group because “we do a lot of learning.”
His teacher, Ashley Haney, said the small groups have made this year better than last.
“It feels wonderful because I can help them not feel so overwhelmed,” she said.
In the kind of innovation Szymoniak seeks, Patzke and DeVault started with two separate kindergarten groups but found they could be more effective joining them. Ferguson has improved the number of kindergarten students testing at literacy grade level 26 percentage points this year to nearly two-thirds.
Merrill Elementary near the California border is smaller, with about 170 total students. Merrill used its one additional position to lead a project-based learning class for every grade. Students work on enrichment projects ranging from building bridges to putting on community performances.
The project-based learning class enables small groups in the regular classrooms. During math and reading times, half a class’s students tackle a project in another classroom while their teacher works with the remaining students. Halfway through the period, the groups switch rooms.
Principal Margaret McCadden said that in addition to math and reading gains, attendance is up this year. The projects offer new enrichment opportunities while giving students a reason to come to school, she said.
McCadden said the small groups are changing the school’s culture.
“Kids feel important,” she said. “They feel successful.”
Fifth grader Brandon Gazcon said math became his favorite subject this year. With the small groups, he said, his classmates can help him if he is struggling.
“And if it isn’t in the book, you can just ask the teacher,” he said.
Merrill went from no kindergarteners being math proficient in September to 54% proficient in March. Kindergarten teacher Emily Robbins said the small groups allow her to better differentiate instruction. During a recent math lesson, she moved between students taking self-guided lessons on laptops and students using physical objects.
“If I didn’t have this time, I don’t think they would be as successful,” she said.
The Klamath County School Board has been so impressed with the SIA’s effects, they passed a resolution earlier this month calling on the Legislature for stable SIA funding.
Klamath County School Board member Steve Lowell said the SIA provides the kind of support schools need to catch students before they fall through the cracks.
“We have started a successful program,” Lowell said, “and we need to fund it.”
– Jake Arnold, OSBA
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