Student Learning - That's What Schools Are About!

Colville School District staff continually asks three questions:

If We Believe All Kids Can Learn: (that is not the same as all students learning everything in the same way on the same day) then,

1. What is it we expect students to learn?
2. How will we know when/how well students have learned?
3. How will we respond when students don't learn?

Student Learning Goals - WHAT

Lesson One Skills for Life taught at Aster School helps students learn to focus on learning and take responsbility for their own learning.

What students are expected "to know and be able to do"/learn (learning goals) in Colville is aligned with national and Washington State standards/goals for learning in all subject areas-Reading, Writing, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies/History, The Arts, Health & Fitness, Career & Technical Education (vocational), Technology, and Life Skills/Character Education.

Exactly What Are Those Goals? Are Those Goals Any Different From What I Learned Ten Or More Years Ago?

The Essential Academic Learning Requirements (Washington State goals) outline skills/knowledge/processes that students are to learn. Yes, these goals are different from ten years ago. In the past, what got taught in classrooms was mostly dependent on the classroom teacher and textbooks. Sometimes classroom teachers had similar expectations for learning, sometimes not. The purpose of national and state goals is to ensure that all students have opportunities to learn and experience high quality learning and meet minimum proficiency. This is not to put a "ceiling" on individual student learning.

It is well known that most textbooks only teach about 30-40 % of what students need to know/be able to do. Going through the textbook or covering the material is not enough to ensure high levels of learning. New text materials are written differently and in many formats. Therefore, many new and different kinds of learning materials are essential.

HOW Do We Know The Students Are Learning And How Well?

Teachers assess in two major ways, on a day-to-day basis (Assessment FOR Learning) and periodically at the end of a unit of study, Assessment OF Learning (what has been learned at this point in time).

Math manipulatives used at Hofstetter School provide student understanding and practice of manthematical thinking and concepts in a "real world" format.

Neither of these is just a test.

Teachers assess FOR learning on a daily basis to plan/ proceed/improve student learning. Assessments can be paper and pencil, but likely will include a "performance or doing", personal communication, or a product/project of some kind to demonstrate learning achievement. Assessment OF learning could be a test, a performance, product/project, or personal communication to demonstrate learning achievement at a certain point in time. The WASL is an example of an Assessment OF Learning; the WASL samples what a student knows/applies in a particular area, such as Reading, at a given point in time.

How Will Staff Respond When Students Don't Learn?

Observing and learning everything about the student - how he/she learns best, what gaps/misconceptions might have occurred in prior learning, any physical or health problems that could impair learning are considered in analyzing why a student might not be learning as expected.

Recent technology has made it possible for humans to understand how the brain "works"/learns, stores, and retrieves information. This knowledge is critical to learning and teaching and most Master's Degree programs in education now offer a course in Human Development/Brain Learning.

What is now known is that the brain was not really designed to memorize isolated bits of information, but rather to use information to solve problems or connect classroom learning to "real world applications". For example, Mathematics (or Arithmetic) traditionally taught recognition of numbers and how to perform calculations -add, subtract, multiply, and/or divide, etc. While this is still necessary learning, the role of Mathematics in real world applications and sophisticated mathematical thinking, required in most jobs of the 21^st century, was often left out in the past. It is not enough to have information; one must know how and when to apply information in the real world.

The role of teaching is designing instruction so that ALL children learn. Problem solving/finding solutions when students are not learning as expected is a large part of school work. This problem solving process is not limited to students and teachers, but may include parents and other professionals. Healthy kids learn better.

Healthy Brains, Good Learning.

Diet, rest, exercise, positive emotions, and protection from injury are critical to healthy brains and good learning.

Literature Circles at for Colville School are "book clubs" led by students (and guided by teachers, of course) that reinforce high levels of reading comprehension and enjoyment of reading.

• Adequate REST is one of the most critical elements in good learning because it is during sleep that the brain reconstructs and organizes learning.
• A DIET of regular, balanced meals/nutrition is critical to brain growth as well as the rest of the body. If the brain keeps getting the message, feed me, the focus will be on "getting food", not learning.
• EXERCISE and a good supply of oxygen aid brain functioning and good learning.
• EMOTIONS of fear, anxiety, boredom, frustration, confusion can interfere with logical thinking and high levels of learning. Positive feelings of confidence and anticipation aid learning.
• SAFETY FROM PHYSICAL INJURY AND TOXINS, such as nicotine, are factors in good learning. Wearing helmets for bicycling, snowboarding, etc is advised.

Connecting NEW Learning To Prior Learning

It is known that the brain will "pay attention" to new learning that is meaningful and connected to what is already known/has been experienced in some way. Colville School District is working to see that curriculum is aligned across the K-12 span. Learning is taught at the recommended levels in the grade span, so that gaps do not occur in student learning; learning is challenging, but not redundant.

Every Brain In A Classroom Processes Information Differently And Brings Different Experience(s) Or Background Knowledge To The Classroom

For the classroom teacher, this is the equivalent of a physician diagnosing and treating 25 or more of his/her patients at one time.

NEW Learning Goals and New Ways of Learning Require Training/Professional Development for Staff and Materials for Students

Science labs at Colville Jr. High involve students in scientific inquiry (processes) and conducting and designing investigations as scientists would in a laboratory in the work world.

Teachers are engaged in a great deal of study and preparation outside of the time they are in classrooms with our students. The attorney does not go into the Court Room without having prepared; neither do teachers.

Teaching in this century is NOT the Old Tell and Test method of learning/teaching. Teachers design learning, and deliver lessons that engage learners not only with the content/subject areas goals, but also the brain processes of learning. Different kinds of information are learned by the brain in different ways, and therefore must be taught differently and with different materials. One does not learn to ride a bicycle the way one learns to read.

New/different kinds of learning require materials other than textbooks only. The brain takes in information/learns mostly from sensory and visual images. High levels of permanent learning require the use of manipulative materials ("hands-on/ minds-on") and visuals in Math, Science (laboratories) and most coursework. It's no longer memorizing for the "Friday Spelling test," but Learning for Life.

Students Must Learn /Demonstrate Proficiency By 2008 Or They Don't Graduate?

True. Students who graduate in 2008 or later must meet Proficiency on the Reading, Writing, and Mathematics WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) in order to graduate from high school with a Certificate of Academic Achievement. Beginning in 2010, students must also meet Science Proficiency.

This requirement is a part of the No Child Left Behind federal legislation to ensure that all students in America are meeting standards of proficiency in Reading, Writing, Mathematics, and Science.

Students, who do not meet Proficiency by the end of Grade 10, will be given up to four more opportunities to retake portions of the WASL and meet Proficiency before exiting high school.

Student Plans?

Currently any student at Grades 5, 8, 9, or 10 who did not meet WASL Proficiency at Grade 4 or at Grade 7 in Reading, Writing, or Mathematics is required to have a Student Plan designed to meet learning goals/proficiency and stay on track for graduation. These plans will be shared with parents, most likely at Parent Conference time.

A Colville High Student presents her web designed logo to her classmates. This assessment is a "real world application" of learning.

Although this legislation is scary to some, it was designed to ensure that ALL Kids Learn.

The future of our students and our future as a nation depends on educating our current generation of students well, or in the words of Margaret Spellings, Secretary, US Department of Education,

"We're either going to educate our fellow citizens, or we're not going to live in a democracy and have jobs" (Spellings, Administrator, September 2005, p. 34).

Further information is available from locals schools, the Colville School District office, the website at http://www.colsd.org, and/or the OSPI (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction) website at http://www.K12.wa.us

On the OSPI website, under the pull-down menu of curriculum & Instruction, one can find the goals for subject areas.

The Colville School District shall provide students with the highest quality instruction and learning opportunities so each student reaches his/her fullest potential.