Submitted by Ginger Thornton, Director of Instructional Technology
Note: The information in this profile represents SY2012-13 unless otherwise indicated.
School Overview
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School Description
Founded in 1965, the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (CESJDS) is one of the largest K-12 Jewish day schools in North America. With the support of dedicated faculty and the opportunity to work with cutting-edge technologies, CESJDS prepares young men and women for active engagement in the Jewish community and leadership in American society.
Blended Learning Program
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Program Model
Program model: Flex
Model description
At Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, students move through an individually customized and fluid schedule among different learning modalities with 80 to 85 percent of their coursework completed online. The teacher-of-record provides face-to-face support on an as-needed basis, but the majority of the content is delivered online and the face-to-face teacher primarily supplements the online learning on a daily basis.
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 at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School are required to be on campus every day of the school week, and they spend roughly 80 to 85 percent of their time at school learning online or using educational software.
Briefly describe the offline components of this blended-learning program.
The offline components of student learning at the Charles E. Smith Day School include face-to-face small and whole group instruction, experiential learning opportunities, face-to-face teacher-led instruction, student presentations, assigned reading and reading discussion, paper-and-pencil assignments, and offline lab work that is required for some classes. The school also offers physical education classes, art classes, and music classes where there is almost no online component to the student learning, and some of the Judaic studies work requires offline reading and instruction as well.
How does this blended-learning program fit into the rest of the students’ school day?
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School is a 1:1 laptop school as students in the lower school have school-issued laptops and students at the upper school bring their own devices to all classes that have some online-learning component. Students typically have nine subjects on their schedule and each school day contains six academic periods. Each day, students choose which six subjects they would like to work on that day provided that they are progressing through all of their subjects over the course of a semester at a reasonable pace.
What are the teachers’ roles and responsibilities in both the online and offline components of this blended-learning program?
Teachers are responsible for creating the curriculum for their classes and they are also responsible for integrating blended-learning options into their classes. They determine how students will use online content providers in their classes; they analyze student data, track student progress, assign offline and online homework, and grade assignments. Teacher responsibilities in the offline components of the blended-learning program include leading class discussion and moving throughout the room to support students with their individual learning needs on an as-needed basis.
What other adults are involved in this blended-learning program (e.g., paraprofessionals, learning coaches, counselors) and what are their roles and responsibilities?
The Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School employs learning coaches who are responsible for working with and supporting students with documented learning disabilities and it also employs content specialists who provide enrichment for students in lower grade levels who need additional instruction. The school also employs instructional technology specialists who are responsible for working with teachers and administrators on the best ways to implement online content and curriculum into the classroom.
Briefly describe the set-up of physical space for this blended-learning program.
The school is split into an upper campus, which is where students in grades 7-12 learn, and a lower campus, which is where students in grades K-6 learn. The classrooms at both campuses look fairly traditional, although the classrooms do not have an established “front of the room”. All desks and chairs and tables are movable so that they can be rearranged different for different learning modalities.
How are students grouped within this blended-learning program?
In the lower grades, students are grouped heterogeneously and the groupings change regularly. In the upper grades, classes are split into a standard group and an advanced group and students that, with guidance from teachers, can self-select the group they want to be a part of.
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.
For now, students at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School are tied to a semester-based course schedule. School administrators have had discussions about developing a more asynchronous course, but there are no formal plans in place for that type of course as of yet. Students do have some control over the pacing of their learning as they are able to progress through coursework as quickly as they like, but must complete periodic tests and exams at their regularly scheduled times.
Describe the academic results of the program, using quantitative data where possible.
The school has declined to release academic results of their students at this time.
What have been the biggest obstacles in implementing this blended-learning program? What has needed adjustment along the way?
The biggest initial obstacle that the school faced was the divide within the faculty about the efficacy of blended learning. Some faculty members felt initially that blended learning would not allow students to have as many hands-on learning experiences, but most faculty members have since come to embrace blended learning. The other big obstacle was to make the finances of their 1:1 laptop program work. The school knew it wanted to offer every student a personal laptop when it initially made the switch to a blended-learning program, but figuring out the financial aspects of providing every student with his/her own laptop was a big obstacle to overcome.
Have you or are you planning to scale your program model to more/other schools?
The school has no plans to scale its program.
Contact Information
Name: Ginger Thornton
Title: Director of Instructional Technology
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.cesjds.org