Students attack the achievement gap

EAGLE-VAIL — The so-called “achievement gap” doesn’t just exist between English speaking students and their Spanish-speaking peers.

That’s a large part of it, sure. But there are also gaps between middle class families and those living in poverty, between girls and boys, and even when it comes to challenging gifted students, says Meadow Mountain Elementary Principal Kathy Cummings.

Meadow Mountain was chosen to be a pilot school for the state’s Closing the Achievement Gap Program. The school was chosen because it did well on state tests while facing changing demographics, Cummings said.

While the school has a large number of students with limited English skills, it hasn’t gone steadily up like many schools. The school fluctuates between having 40 and 60 percent of the students with limited English. They also have a wide mix of students from all socio-economic backgrounds and skill levels, Cummings said.

“We’re a good representation of what’s here in the valley,” Cummings said.

After the Colorado Department of Education took notice of Meadow Mountain, they sent a team of educators to observe classes and interview students, staff and parents to find out what the school was doing that made it effective.

They noticed several things that worked, noticed things that didn’t, and suggested strategies that could be improved. They gave the school some seed money and left it to the staff to develop the program.

Give it some time, and the department of education will be back to see how it all worked.

Outside education

Meadow Mountain will soon become a very hands-on kind of school. One way the school hopes to close the achievement gap is becoming an Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound school like Minturn Middle Schools and Red Canyon High School.

The Outward Bound program mixes rigorous instruction in traditional subjects like math and reading with intense, in-depth, hands-on projects called “expeditions.”

At Minturn Middle School for instance, eighth graders spent an entire term researching the 10th Mountain Division at Camp Hale, a project that involved hut trips, interviews with veterans and writing children’s books that were placed in Vail’s Colorado Ski and Snowboard Museum and Hall of Fame.

How will this close the achievement gap? Some students do have a chance to get out of the house every weekend, ski, hike and travel. Many don’t, and they’re missing out on a lot of first hand knowledge and experiences, master teacher Loraine Swartz said.

An outward bound program, which routinely takes students out of the classroom, would provide those experiences, she said.

Meanwhile, for gifted and talented students who need a challenge, expeditionary learning would give them a chance to go above and beyond what they would get in a normal classroom setting. The projects are very personal, and they can make them as challenging and extensive as they want to.

Meadow Mountain will start incorporating some expeditionary learning in the classrooms this winter and hopes to be a full-on Outward Bound school next school year.

Parents in the hallways

As part of the pilot program, Meadow Mountain will be pushing for more parental involvement. The goal is to make school feel like an extension at home for the kids, and if parents make themselves visible in the halls, students are more likely to be excited by school, Cummings said.

“Schools that create those seamless support systems are successful with the achievement gap,” said Cheri Williams, a mentor teacher.

Much of the trick is giving parents as many opportunities as possible to be involved. The school’s first newsletter of the year offers up a handful— inviting parents to eat lunch with their child, a back to school barbecue and a series of Brown Bag lunches with the principal, which will give parents a chance to discuss any concerns they have at the school.

Soon, the school wants to start a bilingual PTA to reach out to those Spanish speaking families.

Meadow Mountain had already been doing several things that will give the school a boost in the pilot program. The department of education was impressed for one with the school’s resources — quality books, computers and enough teachers to give students personal attention when they need it, which is an important part of closing the achievement gap.

The school’s small class sizes were seen as a big plus, as well as the opportunities teachers had for special training for dealing with students learning English.

The school also did a good job of carrying over lessons from class to class. For instance, it wasn’t uncommon to find a P.E. teacher using concepts from a language arts lesson to help the kids sum up what they did in gym that day.

To learn more

For a statewide analysis of the achievement gap, visit http://www.cde.state.co.us/index_c-tag.htm.


Staff writer Matt Terrell can be reached at 748-2955 or mterrell@vaildaily.com.