Submitted by Keith Floyd, Director of Curriculum, Spring City Elementary Hybrid School
Note: The information in this profile represents 2013-14 unless otherwise indicated.
School Overview
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School Description
The Spring-Ford Area School District established the Hybrid Learning Program to explore an educational structure (specific to elementary level) that moves beyond the four walls of the current elementary classroom to that of a 21st-century learning environment. The pilot program allows teachers and students to explore new methods of instructional pedagogy and learning while simultaneously building a foundation that leads directly to college and career readiness. The school sees that this program has the potential to reshape the way it views pedagogy and education at the elementary level.
Blended Learning Program
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Program Model
Program model: Station Rotation
Model description
Math, English language arts, history, and science classrooms are set up for a three-station in-class rotation and students rotate between the stations at the teacher’s discretion. One station is set up for direct instruction from the teacher, another station is set up for independent and/or collaborative learning, and a third station is set up for online learning.
Program Description
How much time do students spend on campus in this blended-learning program? How much of this time do students spend learning online or with educational software?
Students spend 80 percent or more of their classroom time in the Hybrid Learning model.
Briefly describe the offline components of this blended-learning program.
Students receive direct instruction from the teacher at one of the rotations and work in a small collaborative student group on a project at another station. Collaborative projects typically span multiple days.
How are the online and offline components of the program connected to provide an integrated learning experience for students? How do data from different learning modalities inform each other?
Teachers are responsible for linking the different learning stations for students. They receive data from their online content providers as well as through other formal and informal assessment that they utilize on a regular basis. The information allows them to group students both heterogeneously and homogeneously, depending on their lesson and goals. Teachers utilize mastery data to inform their instruction as well as to determine what work is needed through the digital content.
How does this blended-learning program fit into the rest of the students’ school day?
The Hybrid Learning program has been fully integrated into this building, including instructional support classrooms.
What are the teachers’ roles and responsibilities in both the online and offline components of this blended-learning program?
The teachers are responsible for creating all aspects of the blended-learning program. They develop lessons for the direct instruction component, create collaborative activities, and assign digital content. They group students and plan the work students will complete each day.
What other adults are involved in this blended-learning program (e.g., paraprofessionals, learning coaches, counselors) and what are their roles and responsibilities?
Keith Floyd is the director of curriculum and instruction and serves as the program sponsor. Stephen Reynolds, director of technology, provides technology support to teachers and is a member of the program management team. Mitch Edmunds is the principal and serves as the on-site program manager. There is an instructional coach from the local Intermediate Unit (IU23) who is on-site weekly to assist teachers through training and coaching.
Briefly describe the set-up of physical space for this blended-learning program.
Each of the classrooms has been set up in a similar way. The front of the room is reserved for direct instruction, and all students have an assigned seat in that area. The back of the classrooms has tables with computers. In between there are tables or groups of desks set up for collaborative work.
How are students grouped within this blended-learning program?
At this time, students are primarily grouped by observation, teacher knowledge, and behavior. The teachers are currently working on developing groups based on the data provided to them through the Hybrid Learning Management System.
Do students have some element of control over the pacing of their learning? Are students tied to a semester-based course schedule or can they complete courses at any time? Briefly describe any requirements or benchmarks in place to ensure student progress.
Students are able to pace how they work through the online content.
Describe the academic results of the program, using quantitative data where possible.
Spring City Elementary implemented a whole school program and standardized testing results were only available for the fourth grade. Results for the first year of the program for math and reading showed students were in the fourth quintile for growth with moderate evidence that the school exceeded standards for state academic growth. Pennsylvania uses PVAAS (Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System) data to measure growth.
Describe any other distinctive characteristics of this blended-learning program if they have not been captured above.
As a member of the Pennsylvania Hybrid Learning Institute (PA HLI), Spring Hill Elementary has a comprehensive and customized evaluation plan. The purpose of the evaluation plan is to provide information designed to improve educational programs and to demonstrate accountability to program objectives. PA HLI uses a rigorous and systematic process to evaluate whether new hybrid school implementations are achieving their desired effects. In the PA HLI Evaluation Plan, every hybrid-learning task is tied to a specific desired outcome in order to track results. A program management analyst collects data through monthly visitations and observations, surveys of students, teachers and parents, and a variety comparative data. Spring Hill Elementary receives monthly status reports as well as quarterly program reviews in conjunction with its Intermediate Unit so it can work on any identified opportunities.
Have you or are you planning to scale your program model to more/other schools?
Yes.
Contact Information
Name: Keith Floyd
Title: Director of Curriculum, Spring City Elementary Hybrid School
Email: [email protected]
Website: spring-ford.net