Submitted by Matt Bowman, program manager at Phaedrus Initiative
Note: The information in this profile represents SY2012-13 unless otherwise indicated.
School Overview
|
School Description
Mission Dolores Academy is the pilot site of the Phaedrus Initiative, a project funded by Seton Education Partners to revitalize inner-city Catholic schools by leveraging blended learning. The mission of Seton Education Partners is to strategically infuse creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, talented leadership, and public dollars in response to reverse the widespread decline of urban Catholic education. The chief goal of the Phaedrus Initiative is to create a model for the use of instructional technology by an inner-city Catholic school to increase learning, helping students be competitive with their more advantaged peers nationally.
A blended learning Catholic school from Scott W Hamilton on Vimeo.
Blended Learning Program
|
Program Model
Program model: Station Rotation
Model description
Students rotate on a fixed schedule between computer stations in the classroom and direct instruction with the lead teacher.
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 100 percent of their time on campus and roughly 33 percent of their core class time learning online or with educational software, which is equivalent to about 80 minutes per day.
Briefly describe the offline components of this blended-learning program.
When students aren’t engaged in online learning or using educational software, students are receiving direct, face-to-face instruction with the teacher in small groups.
How does this blended-learning program fit into the rest of the students’ school day?
The program is designed to fit a traditional bell schedule. Since the program does not have a separate computer-lab room, it fits in seamlessly with physical education, electives, lunch, and recess.
What are the teachers’ roles and responsibilities in both the online and offline components of this blended-learning program?
Teachers are very involved in content administration, and data analysis. In many classes, teachers create pre-tests for their units on the digital programs. Throughout the course of the year, they assign these tests, which generate individual learning paths for each student based on mastery. This enables the school to take advantage of both adaptive technology and the power of alignment with direct instruction. Teachers also use the data from online programs to group students for remediation and determine what lessons require more attention for which groups.
What other adults are involved in this blended-learning program (e.g., paraprofessionals, learning coaches, counselors) and what are their roles and responsibilities?
The school has an associate teacher (a non-credentialed teacher-in-training) who is in each K-2 classroom for at least half of each day. Each 3rd grade and 4th grade class has an associate teacher in the room for between two and five hours per week. There is also one part-time blended learning manager who is responsible for coaching teachers in the use of digital tools and overseeing all digital content selection and administration processes.
Briefly describe the set-up of physical space for this blended-learning program.
Each classroom has 15-20 desktop computers collected in one part of the room, with screens facing the teacher. The rest of the room contains enough desks for all students to engage in a whole-class setting with the teacher if need be. Desks are movable for various configurations.
How are students grouped within this blended-learning program?
Grouping strategies vary, but generally groupings are roughly homogeneous by skill level, different for each subject, and changed on a quarterly basis, with daily tweaking as needed. In many cases, classes of up to 30 students are divided into three or four groups.
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 tied to a semester-based schedule but there is some element of student control over the pacing of their own learning. Middle school students can move ahead at their own pace in English Language Arts and Math provided they have completed teacher-assigned work. The school uses NWEA MAP Assessments three times per year and Iowa Tests of Basic Skills twice per year. The school also tracks Lexile levels via Achieve3000 in grades 3-8 on a monthly basis.
Describe the academic results of the program, using quantitative data where possible.
Midyear test results indicated the school was on pace to grow an average of 1.4 grade levels in Reading and 1.9 grade levels in Math for the 2012-13 academic year. In 7th grade, students moved from the 44th percentile in Math to the 56th percentile in the first half of the year. Kindergartners went from the 19th percentile to the 30th percentile in the same time frame 16 of 18 Math and English Language Arts classes increased their national percentile rankings between spring and winter assessments.
Describe any other distinctive characteristics of this blended-learning program if they have not been captured above.
The school takes a teacher-centric approach to blended learning. Teachers should have as much power and easy-to-use processes as possible, with as little burden as possible.
Describe any financial impact this blended-learning program has had on your cost of operations, use numbers when possible.
The model enabled school staff to move from a 14-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio at the pre-merger school to a 25-to-1 ratio while boosting teacher satisfaction student achievement and, in turn, enrollment. This led to a per-pupil operating cost reduction from $15,000 to below $10,000 in the first year. That figure has fallen further in the second year.
What have been the biggest obstacles in implementing this blended-learning program? What has needed adjustment along the way?
We initially envisioned online work and direct instruction as separate tracks, with teachers gradually using the data to adjust their style to a more reactive mode. However, we quickly found that young students easily lost interest and motivation on the computers unless the work was aligned with direct instruction, and clear teacher-backed feedback systems that let students know how they were doing on computers was crucial to ensuring quality digital work.
If you would like to include any links to webpages with more information about your program (news articles, blogs, etc.), please enter them here.
http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/building-21st-century-catholic-learning-communities?a=1&c=1136
Have you or are you planning to scale your program model to more/other schools?
Seton Education Partners launched the second Phaedrus site, St. Therese Academy in Seattle, in the fall of 2012, and is slated to convert 2 additional schools to blended schools in the fall of 2013. Representatives from Archdiocesan offices, districts and charters from the around the country who are interested in converting to a blended learning model regularly tour Mission Dolores Academy, and we provide as much information and coaching as possible.
Contact Information
Name: Matt Bowman
Title: Program Manager, Phaedrus Initiative
Email: [email protected]
Website: mdasf.org