Academic & Well-Being Recovery Plan

 

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the past year has been difficult for students, parents, and educators alike. More than ever, it has challenged our creativity and forced us to work together as a community. We're proud of the accomplishments we've achieved as our schools remained open and remained safe for our youth; however, the hard work isn't over.

Our mission has always been – to remain a caring community dedicated to the success and well-being of all.

We have learned from the activities and decisions made during remote, blended, and on-campus learning and we recognize that our students have been impacted by the pandemic in different capacities. This is an opportunity for our schools to improve and inspire. We will continue to identify student needs and adjust to make significant progress toward serving each of our students, equitably. We strive to ensure all students have access to the instruction and support they need to succeed in our schools and will do so through the following channels:

 

Per OSPI, our Academic Recovery plan must include:

The plan must address learning recovery among students, including specifically:

STUDENT WELL-BEING

 

Student well-being is an overarching term to describe both social-emotional learning and mental health needs. Learning cannot take place unless we attend to students’ overall well-being. 

 

Mental health refers broadly to the psychological symptoms students carry to school with them that can interfere with their ability to learn and succeed. These include the effects of trauma, including symptoms of anxiety and depression.

 

 

STUDENT and FAMILY VOICE

 

Student and family voice and input are critical for improving systems that are responsive to student needs. Due to the school building closures in spring 2020 and extended time in remote learning for many students, families have new insights in the way they see their children as learners, and their voices in what did and didn’t work for their students are key. Students, too, are  noticing what motivates them and what is challenging. We must seek and listen to these voices to provide the right mental, physical, and academic supports. 

 

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

 

Professional learning is about building staff capacity in order to serve students. The term “professional learning” means a comprehensive, sustained, job-embedded, and collaborative approach to improving teachers’ and principals’ effectiveness in raising student achievement.

 

 

RECOVERY and ACCELERATION

 

Acceleration learning builds on what students already know as a way to access new learning. Learning acceleration focuses on quickly diagnosing gaps in critical skills and concepts that may impede students’ ability to access grade-level coursework. Learning acceleration can take place before, during, or after school; on weekends; during school breaks; or over the summer.

 

TRADITIONAL APPROACH		TAILORED ACCELERATION
Teachers focus on grade-level skills.	➩➩➩	Teachers focus on a strategic mix of pre-, on-, and post-grade skills.
Instruction is aimed at enabling students to achieve grade-level proficiency within one school year.	➩➩➩	For some students (especially post COVID-19), achieving grade-level proficiency will require learning pathways that span more than one year.
Coverage of grade-level curriculum is paramount.	➩➩➩	Student mastery of essential skills is paramount.
Growth reflects changes in performance relative to grade-level skills.	➩➩➩	Growth reflects progress on essential pre-, on-, and post-grade level skills.
Classroom teachers instruct all students on the same skill at the same time.	➩➩➩	Classroom teachers enable multiple instructional modalities so each student can focus on the skills needed to accelerate

 

 

DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT TOOLS

It is important to have diagnostic assessments that collect data on students’ social-emotional well-being, academic, and family needs. Diagnostic assessment is a particular type of formative assessment intended to help teachers identify students’ specific knowledge, skills, and understanding to build on each student’s strengths and specific needs. 

 

Diagnostic assessments, formative assessments, and universal screeners help educators, students, and families understand students’ strengths and learning needs. It is unlikely that any one assessment or tool will accurately identify the needs of large groups of students at one time. As with all assessments, it is imperative that staff understand how to administer any screener and interpret the results, and that these results are used to ensure student needs are met. 

 

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

The old saying "it takes a village to raise a child" couldn't be more true. When schools and community organizations work together to support learning, everyone benefits. Research shows that – at both the elementary and secondary level – when schools, parents, families, and communities work together, students of all ages, backgrounds, race and ethnicity:

• earn higher grades;
• attend school more regularly;
• stay in school; and,
• are more motivated.

Our teachers are passionate about your student and masterful at ensuring their success, however, they also learn from you, our community members. Our children look up to you, and they rely on you. We ask our community of parents, students, family members, local employers, business owners, leaders and stakeholders to work together to support our community's youth.