Claim 2
Students who receive academic intervention persevere to create high quality work.
Focusing our Efforts
At Brighten we believe that students should be leaders of their own learning. We capitalize on their assets and meet students where they are so that they can do more than they think possible. We continuously work on fostering a positive climate for learning while cultivating a culture of engagement and achievement. As student enrollment has increased so has our need to identify and better support students who receive academic intervention to access grade level material. Students who receive academic intervention are supported through academic, behavioral, and organizational accommodations within the general education setting. Brighten currently has 244 students who receive academic intervention; this is about 30% of our enrollment.
Linking High Quality Work to Achievement
The Dimensions of Achievement do not work in isolation. As an EL Education Member School We believe that academic success is built on strong character and that character is shaped through engaging in challenging work. Thus; improving the quality of work should correlate to increased levels of achievement. When looking at achievement levels of our students who receive additional academic services, you see remarkable growth. As you can see from the charts below our students who earned Level 1 proficiency (Beginning Learners) has substantial decreased over time in ELA and Math.
At Brighten we believe that students should be leaders of their own learning. We capitalize on their assets and meet students where they are so that they can do more than they think possible. We continuously work on fostering a positive climate for learning while cultivating a culture of engagement and achievement. As student enrollment has increased so has our need to identify and better support students who receive academic intervention to access grade level material. Students who receive academic intervention are supported through academic, behavioral, and organizational accommodations within the general education setting. Brighten currently has 244 students who receive academic intervention; this is about 30% of our enrollment.
Linking High Quality Work to Achievement
The Dimensions of Achievement do not work in isolation. As an EL Education Member School We believe that academic success is built on strong character and that character is shaped through engaging in challenging work. Thus; improving the quality of work should correlate to increased levels of achievement. When looking at achievement levels of our students who receive additional academic services, you see remarkable growth. As you can see from the charts below our students who earned Level 1 proficiency (Beginning Learners) has substantial decreased over time in ELA and Math.
In three years, we were able to reduce the percent of students who recieve academic intervention who were also scoring in the lowest level of achievement by more than 50%. As you can see, while Brighten students who receive academic intervention are closing the achievement gap, the gap for the same subgroup of students in the State and County has remained (relatively) constant.
Creating High Quality Work--- An Expectation for All
Prior to the implementation of EL Education, we would often modify expectations by creating alternate projects or work to help our students who receive academic intervention be more successful. It wasn’t until we started implementing the core practice of Differentiating Instruction (Core Practice 19) and Developing Case Studies (Core Practice 6) that we changed our mindset. We learned through these core practices that all students need to be held accountable for the same goal; students just need different routes to get there. As a result of implementing these core practices, all students, including those who historically score at low levels of proficiency on standardized testing, work toward the same long term goals and are assessed using common rubrics and criteria.
Creating High Quality Work--- An Expectation for All
Prior to the implementation of EL Education, we would often modify expectations by creating alternate projects or work to help our students who receive academic intervention be more successful. It wasn’t until we started implementing the core practice of Differentiating Instruction (Core Practice 19) and Developing Case Studies (Core Practice 6) that we changed our mindset. We learned through these core practices that all students need to be held accountable for the same goal; students just need different routes to get there. As a result of implementing these core practices, all students, including those who historically score at low levels of proficiency on standardized testing, work toward the same long term goals and are assessed using common rubrics and criteria.
"We stopped changing goals and started building better supports."
Lisa McDonald, Director Brighten Academy
Lisa McDonald, Director Brighten Academy
The case studies below will help you to see how our students who receive academic interventions have utilized the core practice of Creating a Culture of Engagement and Achievement (Core Practice 27) to persevere to create work of high quality. Our students saw that effort and reflection lead to academic growth and high quality work.
Primary Grades - student 1
"Student 1 showed a lot of growth while in kindergarten. He didn’t know many letters or letter sounds at the beginning of kindergarten. By the end of the year, Emory was writing a sentence phonetically using correct spacing, capitalization and punctuation. While the writing about the activities done over spring break is not perfect, for a student who began school with little phonemic awareness, it is a great improvement."
- Kelli Chaves, Kindergarten Teacher
"Student 1 was able to take all the lessons from kindergarten and first grade and apply them in second grade. Student 1 set high standards to achieve and always strove for 3 and 3Ds. He used great attention to detail and teacher instruction to always create his best work. In 2nd grade we see Emory using complex sentences and a variation in sentence length."
- Kristin Anderson, 2nd Grade Teacher
- Kelli Chaves, Kindergarten Teacher
"Student 1 was able to take all the lessons from kindergarten and first grade and apply them in second grade. Student 1 set high standards to achieve and always strove for 3 and 3Ds. He used great attention to detail and teacher instruction to always create his best work. In 2nd grade we see Emory using complex sentences and a variation in sentence length."
- Kristin Anderson, 2nd Grade Teacher
Click on each image to enlarge.
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The remarkable growth highlighted by the work and commentary above is a small sample of what we continue to see in our students who receive academic intervention. Each year, within this grade span, we witness students who would rather misbehave to avoid writing tasks grow into students who are highly engaged in the writing process. Support from their peers, teachers, and a growth mindset help our students see they can do more than they think possible. Click here to see more work samples from students who have the same story to tell as Emory.
Intermediate Grades - student 2
"Student 2's fourth grade writing progression was a slow but steady process. When the year began, his letter formation reflected that of a kindergarten student, and his spelling was also several years below grade level. While his sentence structure was sound, he sometimes left out words or phrases in his writing. Colin was often frustrated by his inability to express his creative and critical thinking on paper. With rigorous daily writing practice and concurring revisions, he began to recognize his errors. He also improved his ability to isolate sounds, which led to more conventional spelling. By early spring, Colin's written work began to align much more closely with his verbal expressions of knowledge."
- Claire Cooley, 4th Grade Teacher
"Colin entered 5th grade struggling with writing a fluid paragraph that contained the required components. In order to build his writing fluency, sentence structure, and mechanics graphic organizers and other scaffolding tools were used. We spent time verbally answering questions, exactly as they would later need to be written. Through these supports and verbal practices, student 2 built confidence and academic knowledge producing the work displayed. He produced a clear opinion, supported his opinion with evidence, and then explained his evidence. I’m proud of his growth this year and look forward to his future writings."
- Candice Markel, 5th Grade Teacher
- Claire Cooley, 4th Grade Teacher
"Colin entered 5th grade struggling with writing a fluid paragraph that contained the required components. In order to build his writing fluency, sentence structure, and mechanics graphic organizers and other scaffolding tools were used. We spent time verbally answering questions, exactly as they would later need to be written. Through these supports and verbal practices, student 2 built confidence and academic knowledge producing the work displayed. He produced a clear opinion, supported his opinion with evidence, and then explained his evidence. I’m proud of his growth this year and look forward to his future writings."
- Candice Markel, 5th Grade Teacher
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As you can see, remarkable growth such as this takes time and persistence. Colin's growth is representative of the growth we see in all of our students 3-5; yet his starting point was lower. An analysis of student work in this grade span shows an emphasis on students' ability to justify their thinking with evidence. An intentional focus on feedback and critique, along with a focus of authenticity help our intermediate learners find great academic success. You can view more examples of high quality work of intermediate grade level students who receive academic intervention by clicking here.
Middle School Grades - student 3
"Student 3 began the 6th grade with several writing deficiencies ranging from superficial grammatical and formatting issues to deeper issues regarding content and complex sentence formation. As educators and writers, we are fully aware that writing is a process consisting of several steps: invention, discovery, composition, and revision. The discovery process embedded into the EL project format allows students to generate ideas or topics to write about. The teacher and peer revision processes, and the opportunity to revise and rewrite paid dividends for student 3. As the EL sample demonstrates, student 3's perseverance and embodiment of the growth mindset resulted in marked improvement of the quality of the content and craftsmanship of his written work."
- Mike Daly, 6th Grade Teacher
"This year student 3 worked diligently at citing relevant textual evidence to support his claims. Though he still struggles with comprehending complex texts, he has shown significant progress in developing claims and selecting relevant evidence that supports them."
- Kyra Rivera, 8th Grade Teacher
- Mike Daly, 6th Grade Teacher
"This year student 3 worked diligently at citing relevant textual evidence to support his claims. Though he still struggles with comprehending complex texts, he has shown significant progress in developing claims and selecting relevant evidence that supports them."
- Kyra Rivera, 8th Grade Teacher
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We’ve included some additional samples of work here from other middle school students who receive academic intervention so you can gain an even better appreciation of their ability to create work that includes craftsmanship, complexity, and authenticity.
As demonstrated in claim one on high quality work: each year our students were able to increase their ability to read and write with complexity; engage in work that matters and includes real world formats; and produce work that is beautiful in conception and design. It is important to note that work of all students (including students who receive academic intervention) was consistently included and analyzed in our Quality Work Protocols.
Looking Back...
Prior to partnering with EL we would adjust the instructional level of work for our students who received academic intervention. This would mean that students would sometimes not have the opportunity to participate in rigorous discourse and critical thinking related to grade level content.
Looking Forward...
We want to keep working on improving our ability to meet students where they are so that they can continue to do work of high quality. We plan to leverage the power of audience to motivate our students who receive academic intervention to persevere through challenges and get to success. We look forward to showing the story of learning through the use of documentation panels (Core Practice 25) so that we can continually celebrate work that matters and provide exemplar work for all who visit the building to view.
