CES Recovery Plan 21-22
Cambridge Elementary School
COVID-19 Recovery Plan 2021-2022 School Year
1. What are the needs of students most academically at-risk in your school-wide program?
Our most academically at risk students struggle with a variety of conceptual areas and subjects matters. Particular areas of weakness as illustrated by our student assessment data are as follows:
Literacy
Decoding multisyllabic words.
Some students need help in comprehension as their fluency (caused by decoding words) is causing them to not understand the story.
For some reason, a have larger numbers of students in grades one and five who are behind academically and in need of both literacy and math intervention services.
Math
We are seeing quite a few gaps in math skills such as fractions, multiplication, division, decimals,
Equivalency, rational numbers.
We have larger numbers of students in grades one and five who are behind academically and in need of both literacy and math intervention services.
For example, our Fountas and Pinnell assessment results indicate that half of the first grade did not make expected growth from Fall to Winter in reading. The Fact Fluency assessment indicates that a majority of students in first grade did not meet the benchmark in the Fall and in the Winter.
F&P’s indicate that a majority of students receiving intervention services made growth from Fall to Winter, but they are not meeting the benchmark.
2. What strategies will be implemented to address these needs?
Using Recovery funds, we will hire an additional math and literacy interventionist which will enable us to provide more intensive push in support for our students who are performing below grade level, particularly students in next year’s second and sixth grade classes. We will continue offering a robust needs based intervention program utilizing a total of five highly trained teachers providing mostly in class instruction with a limited amount of pull out instruction for targeted interventions that cannot be delivered in the regular classroom.
Utilizing Recovery Funds, we will train two of our instructors to become certified Reading Recovery teachers who will provide this highly effective, short term literacy interventions with first grade students.
We will continue offering our instructional staff on site imbedded professional development in the areas of the Bridges mathematics program, Readers and Writers Workshop, and Guided Reading. We will have four new classroom teachers who will need an overview of these programs and continued implementation support throughout the year. Additionally, all instructional staff will spend time with our consultants gathering and analyzing assessment data and planning and delivering targeted instruction in direct correlation with assessment data utilizing the lesson study approach to continuous improvement.
In an effort to better support our students who are struggling with reading comprehension and decoding, whenever possible, we will continue to encourage our classroom teachers who teach reading to participate in Leveled Language Intervention training allowing them to utilize this program as a tier one or two intervention in the regular classroom.
Some of our students who struggle academically also lack the appropriate SEL skills necessary to cope with change, social dynamics, and the perseverance necessary to overcome learning challenges. Using Recovery funds, we will hire a Behaviorist/Restorative Practices Coordinator to work alongside our school counselor and guidance department to offer immediate, needs based support for our students utilizing Restorative versus punitive measures.
To that end, we will continue to require new teachers and whenever possible, support staff to participate in Responsive Classroom training. Additionally, we will provide refresher workshops to keep us all on the same page in regards to our overall understanding of its practices and school wide implementation. Responsive Classroom is an approach to teaching based on the belief that integrating academic and social-emotional skills creates an environment where students can do their best learning. The Responsive Classroom approach consists of a set of practices and strategies that build academic and social-emotional competencies including Teacher Language—The intentional use of language to enable students to engage in their learning and develop the academic, social, and emotional skills they need to be successful in and out of school and Logical Consequences—A non-punitive response to misbehavior that allows teachers to set clear limits and students to fix and learn from their mistakes while maintaining their dignity.
3. How will each strategy provide opportunity for all (both at-risk and accelerated students)?
Literacy and Math Interventionists: Our interventionists will allow students who are struggling to meet grade level standards access to additional highly trained teachers to work with them in fluid, data driven instructional groups both in and outside of the classroom. These interventionists will assist classroom teachers with the implementation of WIN blocks where a daily work period time is available for each grade level for students to work in focused, needs based groups. Accelerated learners will benefit from our interventionists during this time as non-intervention teachers will have more availability to provide accelerated learning opportunities to this group of students.
Reading Recovery and LLI Training: Reading Recovery is a highly effective short-term intervention of one-to-one tutoring for low-achieving first graders. The intervention is most effective when it is available to all students who need it and is used as a supplement to good classroom teaching. Fountas & Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention is a powerful, short-term intervention that provides daily, intensive, small-group instruction, which supplements classroom literacy teaching. LLI turns struggling readers into successful readers with engaging leveled books and fast-paced, systematically designed lessons. These interventions will be available to any child that needs them regardless of income or academic achievement in other subject areas.
Embedded Bridges, Readers and Writers Workshop, and Guided Reading Professional Development: All students will benefit from an increase in our teacher’s understanding of pedagogy, curriculum, data analysis, and content.
Behaviorist/Restorative Practices Facilitator and Responsive Classroom Training: Many students, regardless of academic ability, income level, etc. struggle with the acquisition and application of important social and emotional skills. The Behaviorist/Restorative Practices Facilitator will be available to all students and all classrooms in our school. Responsive Classroom training is available for all teachers and will provide a consistent and supportive classroom environment conducive for learning in every classroom.