NAMPA SCHOOL DISTRICT'S CO-TEACHING MODEL BENEFITS ALL STUDENTS
The Nampa School District has instituted a district-wide instructional model to support English Language (EL) students. It’s Co-Teaching and it’s having a major and positive impact on student learning. The strategy puts an EL specialist and a classroom teacher together as co-equal instructors who together, teach language skills alongside core content to integrated classrooms of students.
Nampa, with
1,800 EL students, is in its fourth year of implementing the co-teaching model
and they are closing the achievement gap for these students. For example, the
district’s 5th grade EL students improved from 8% proficient on their
ELA ISAT scores in 2016 to 37% proficient in 2019! The graduation rate for EL
students in Nampa has increased at a higher rate (6.8%) than the district’s
overall increase of 4.6% for all students. They are moving the needle!
The model
was adopted after a district task force was convened during the 2015-16 school
year to research instructional models and programs that focus on inclusion,
access to content, teacher collaboration, and perhaps most importantly, that represented
a dramatic change in instruction that would best serve the district’s EL
student population.
The task
force visited the Cherry Creek School District in Colorado to see their
co-teaching model in action. Cherry Creek is a large district situated a few
miles SE of Denver. Cherry Creek serves more than 55,000 students of which 45%
represent minority subgroups. The district has more than 150 languages spoken
by students across the district. Cherry Creek uses the co-teaching model very successfully.
The task
force returned to Nampa and immersed themselves in creating a strategic plan to
implement co-teaching in ALL their schools. After one year of implementation,
the district received a grant to support a full-time EL Coach, Jill Ayabei to oversee the co-teaching
program districtwide. Jill is more than a mere coach for the program. “I have the privilege to see and help
co-teachers get through the challenges together as they step out of their
comfort zones, try new things, and grow and develop into stronger educators.
Additionally, I get to see students valued and supported as they learn and grow
in their language content and experience success in the classroom.”
During a recent visit to a Social
Studies class at West Middle School in Nampa, we observed the co-teaching model
in action. Co-teachers Luiz Novoa and
Jesse Rhodes were teaching an 8th
grade group of students about Toussaint Louverture and his influence on the
independence movement in Haiti in the 18th century. The two teachers
were interchangeable sharing equally in the instruction, both in content and
language development. They focused on instructional strategies that served all
students in the class, of which 30% were EL students. They used Thinking Maps,
emphasized vocabulary, used choral responses, required answers in complete
sentences, and best of all, had students interact and engage in discussions
that enriched the learning for everyone. Students were even encouraged to use
their native language (Spanish and Samoan) to describe Toussaint to the
enjoyment and edification of their peers and teachers. It was difficult to
distinguish which teacher was the language specialist and which was the content
specialist. Brilliant!
Endeavor
Elementary in Nampa has just under 500 students in K-5, of which more than 140
are identified as EL learners, and more than 85% of Endeavor’s students are
eligible for free & reduced lunches. Co-teaching is used in every
classroom. We watched Sarah Wang work
with co-teacher Jennifer Ballard in a
1st grade classroom and co-teachers Sarah Ziemer and Taylor
Warren teach together in a 4th grade class. What stood out
watching these co-teachers work was the emphasis on language skills. And the
teachers were co-equal in the eyes of the children, although one was an EL
specialist and the other a content specialist. As Ms. Zeimer made very clear about the Nampa co-teaching
model, “You shouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the EL specialist and
the content teacher.”
Every
student is required to write – a skill that is often under emphasized because of
the difficulty in teaching it and the time consuming nature of evaluating and
remediating student performance. The staff at Endeavor has made writing a
priority. They base their writing instruction on the work of specialist Lucy Calkins and are very intentional in
their instruction based on her work. As Heather
Yarbrough, the Principal of Endeavor shared with us, “Our students see
themselves as writers.”
Other
co-teaching resources that have been employed as part of Endeavor’s ongoing training
and professional development include the works of AndreaHonigsfeld and Elena Aguilar,
author of the book, Onward.
The Endeavor
teaching staff is a highly motivated and passionate crew. Everyone is
“on-board” and committed because they see the results in their students’ performance
and especially the students’ attitudes towards learning. As we finished our
interview with a room full of co-teachers, building, and district level
administrators, Principal Yarbrough said with a smile and in a tone that exuded
the group’s confidence, “Someday they’re going to write a book about us.”