Marsing Embraces the Community School Strategy

Superintendent Norm Stewart had a vision. It had been brewing for a few years. He’s led the Marsing School District for the last seven years as superintendent. Prior to that he served as the secondary principal in the district for a year. He moved to Marsing in 2012 from a small school district in Eastern Oregon where he had been the K-12 principal for twelve years. While working in the Echo Oregon School District, a small rural school district south of Hermiston, Stewart experienced what it was like to have local non-profit organizations, law enforcement, and social workers volunteer to work with the disadvantaged students and families in his school. Stewart brought those experiences with him to Marsing, a small rural district in Idaho that lies along the banks of the Snake River. He has always believed that, “schools are the centers of their communities” and that they can and should be at the center of student achievement as well as a resource for students and families in need. 

Marsing has embraced the Community Schools Strategy, a concept based on the idea that students learn best when their physical and emotional needs are met. Many students and their families find it hard to access services that provide for their most basic needs. Students in these situations find it hard to attend school regularly, complete homework, and otherwise participate fully in the educational experiences schools provide that most people believe are essential to economic prosperity and security in a free society.

Marsing, Idaho has a population of just over 1,200 residents. The school district has an enrollment of 853 students, 41% of whom are Hispanic, and 16% who are English Language Learners, student groups that historically perform below their peers. Marsing also has a significant level of poverty. Sixty three percent (63%) of Marsing students are eligible for the federally subsidized Free and Reduced Lunch program. There is a labor camp in Marsing, so many of their families are transient and leave to work in other parts of the country for parts of the school year. The median family income in Marsing is $29,670. That compares to the median income of $56,798 in Boise, just 32 miles away.

Schools who adopt the Community Schools Strategy seek to establish partnerships with local entities that can provide support and services for students and their parents on school grounds, an easily accessible location for families. Superintendent Stewart, the Marsing Board of Trustees, and the staff of the district have done just this, establishing important partnerships to provide vital services with many local agencies such as The United Way of the Treasure Valley, Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children (IAEYC), Idaho Food Bank, St. Alphonsus Medical Group, St. Luke’s Medical Center, Terry Reilly Health Services, WICAP Project Launch, WICAP Head Start, Owyhee County Sheriff’s Office, Koenig Vineyard and Distillery, Lizard Butte Public Library, Marsing Lion’s Club, Logan’s Market, City of Marsing, and many more.

The Marsing School District has worked with its partners to provide extended day kindergarten, preschool (available on a sliding scale for parents), a food pantry, health and dental screening, mental health services, housing and utilities support, an afterschool and summer program that provides meals and tutor support and enrichment activities for its elementary and middle school students, and more.

With the passage of a $13.5 million bond to build a new middle school in Marsing, the district was able to convert the old middle school building into a community center that houses the district office, the district’s preschool program, the Head Start preschool, a food and clothing pantry, a substation for the county Sheriff, and space to provide community and parent education courses.

Superintendent Stewart, Board Chair Brad McIntyre and the other Marsing trustees were able to finance the new school without raising property taxes by retiring an existing bond and ending an annual supplemental levy. Those moves, supported by their patrons, allowed the district to further develop their Community School Strategy and locate it in a facility managed by the school district. They convened a meeting of potential partners this last November. Led by Jackie Yarbrough with the Idaho Food Bank, Christa Rowland with the United Way and Erika Lewis with IAEYC, the district was able to identify the community and school district needs and identify partners that could help bring the needed resources to Marsing.

So, a vision that began with the desire to serve students and their families in ways that will allow students to come to school “ready to learn”, strengthen connections for students and their families with their school and community, provide access to basic services for those in need, has blossomed in Marsing at a new community center known as The HUB. 

BISHOP KELLY: A COMMUNITY OF SERVICE

Bishop Kelly High School, located on Franklin Road in Boise, is the one non-public school member of the Southern Idaho Conference. With 818 students, BK is a 4A school in the SIC, and is a powerhouse academically and athletically.  However, when asked to visit with us about a program of high importance at the school, the administration chose the school's Service Learning Program.

"The mission of Bishop Kelly is to educate and develop the whole student in the Catholic tradition - spirit, mind, and body. Service learning is the key to developing the whole person", said President Rich Raimondi.  At BK, Service Learning is just the start of a lifetime gift of self to others.

Service Learning hours are required for graduation at Bishop Kelly. The grade level requirements are as follows:

• Grades 9-11
• 10 hours per semester through Theology classes
•  Each grade level performs a specific type of service
•  Freshmen: Families of Neighbors
•  Sophomore: Religious Communities
•  Juniors: Bishop Kelly and Community Services
•  Seniors
• 30 hours of service or a Service Trip
•  Summer (recommended) during school year
•  1 credit pass/fail - required for graduation
•  April Service Fair - 30-40 local agencies come to BK and recruit students  as volunteers in their organizations
•  Service Learning Day
• All School service day in the community
• 25 projects throughout the valley
•  Examples: Special Olympics. Wassmuth Center for Human Rights, Interfaith Sanctuary, Corpus Christi, Boise Rescue Mission

We had a chance to visit with four stellar BK seniors who shared their Service Learning projects and trips.

L to R: Nate Johnson, Kate Ryan, Nicholas Anewalt, Daisy O'Sullivan

• Kate Ryan went on a trip to New Orleans, where students worked with Habitat for Humanity in the city's 9th Ward, part of the community that remains devastated. The New Orleans trip is an annual event organized by Joan Colleran, the Service Learning Coordinator for BK, and chaperoned by BK teachers.

•  Nate Johnson traveled to Haiti to teach in an rural orphanage. He taught non-English speaking students with the aid of a translator. 

•  Nicholas Anewalt worked at Fort Boise through Boise City Parks and Recreation, running camps and playing basketball and other sports with kids in Adaptive Physical Education programs. 
• Daisy O'Sullivan volunteered at the Bown Library branch, where she worked with young children during the Library's Summer Reading Program.

All seniors are required to write a relflective essay about their experiences, what they did, what they learned, and how they were impacted.

Each of these students reported being moved by their experiences, and humbled at the joy and gratitude of the people with whom they worked. Nicholas said he was surprised at how the little things they did for others made a big difference.

As indicated, Joan Colleran (jcolleran@bk.org) is the Service Learning Program Coordinator for BK. Stephany Herrera (sherrera@bk.com), the Assistant Principal for Academic Affairs at BK, also plays a huge role in the success of the program.

BK students with Stephany Herrera (Asst. Principal) 

and Joan Colleran (Service Learning Coordinator)

Great things are happening in the schools of the Southern Idaho Conference! Next month we will feature the Emmett School District.

HIGH RELIABILITY SCHOOLS

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT IN WEST ADA

"What are you really proud of, and what's making you crazy?"

West Ada Superintendent Mary Ann Ranells asks her team a lot of questions. She listens and gathers information. The question above was her way of ascertaining some of the things that were frustrating her team, and some things they thought were going well.

What she found was frustration around the Professional Learning Community process in the District. As a large, fast-growing district, PLC members were increasingly feeling isolated and collaboration was suffering. Even though Richard DuFour's popular model had been implemented in the District for some time, there was a need to "revive PLC", in Superintendent Ranells' words.

So, at a  [PLC] conference in Arizona, Ranells expressed her team's frustration to old friend Robert Marzano, who recommended that West Ada look at High Reliability Schools.  Ranells asked a team of West Ada principals and district administrators to visit with Marzano.  The team left the visit with a vision for systemic school improvement across 55 schools focused on research-based indicators,  stakeholder transparency, and targeted professional development. 

Superintendent Ranells and her team credit district-wide implementation of the High-Reliability Schools framework with the revitalization of the PLC strategy in the district, and with improving collaboration and communication in West Ada. The framework has provided a common language of effective school improvement practice and strengthen school cultures where high levels of learning are valued above all else. 

The HRS framework is based on evidence-based practices where schools demonstrate successful completion of improvement indicators in the five areas outlined in the model above, beginning with "Safe, Supportive, and Collaborative Culture" and proceeding to "Competency-Based Education". In 2018-19, after certifying all schools in the first level Safe, Supportive, and Collaborative Culture, West Ada's Continuous Improvement Plan now includes a goal focused on High-Reliability Schools and states By May 1, 2021, 100% of West Ada schools will qualify for Effective Teaching in Every Classroom certification as measured by the District Certification Team review process and anchored to the academic measures of the West Ada Continuous Improvement Plan.  District-wide progress toward their CIP goal is well underway.  

School leadership teams are already celebrating evidence that convicts them of successful progress in level 2 Effective Teaching in Every Classroom.  Meridian Elementary, initially the pilot school for HRS in West Ada, led by Principal Debbie Aholt is anticipating certification in Level 4 Standards-Referenced Reporting this Spring. Susan McInerney, Principal at Heritage Middle School and her leadership team are certifying in Level 2 Effective Teaching in Every Classroom, this spring as well.  Schools such as Meridan High School, led by Principal Jill Lilienkamp, are excited for the results of their HRS journey and note the value of clarity through a district-wide language of school improvement and laser-focus on learning above all else.   

With a renewed focus on learning through effective PLCs, West Ada administrators feel that, as their communication and collaboration have improved, they can model those skills for teachers in every school. They now have a common language that is used to describe progress and to delineate goals, so that folks are comfortably "speaking the same language" of improvement across the District.

In Level 1, the goal is not just physical safety, but safety in terms of feeling comfortable and vulnerable, a difficult achievement. Superintendent Ranells shared a story of a teacher who was "on board" with the direction of West Ada HRS goals until the school decided to do "peer visitation" to help improve instruction. A conversation ensued about the purpose of the visits so that the teacher felt safe in having the observations, and understood that there was a shared purpose.

The team that spoke to us indicated that they wanted to go beyond the ISAT and IRI in order to illustrate success in other areas. So West Ada is now using HRS surveys to gather valued input from staff, students, and parents to show status in many other areas of school improvement areas that impact student achievement, such as prioritizing standards.  Priority Standards are in effect District-wide, but teachers have the wherewithal to establish how they instruct for those standards, staying within the "banks of the river" established by the District. The locally developed assessment provides assurance that students are on track for achievement on state-mandated tests.

Back Row L to R: East Regional Director Marcus Myers, Central Regional Director David Moser, North Regional Director Geoff Stands, South Regional Director Mandy White, Curriculum Director Bret Heller; Front Row L to R: Meridian High School Principal Jill Lilienkamp, Heritage Middle School Principal Susan McInerney, Superintendent Mary Ann Ranells, Meridian Elementary Principal Debbie Aholt

Superintendent Ranells calls her administrative team "our wonderful learning leaders", and that was certainly evident in our conversations with this dynamic group. They are believers in the HRS system and have the evidence to feel confident it is helping West Ada reach its goals of continuous improvement.

A DIFFERENT WAY TO COMPARE LITERACY PROFICIENCY


In his recent series of articles in IdahoEdNews (Idaho’s Reading Challenge) Kevin Richert did an excellent job of looking at the issues surrounding literacy in Idaho’s schools. His articles were in depth and highlighted the many different and significant aspects to be considered in evaluating student reading performance and reading instruction in Idaho’s schools. It was a worthy read and should be reread to really appreciate the value of his coverage. The series was timely as the Idaho Legislature, now in session, considers continuing the effort championed by Governor Little to ensure that children can read proficiently by grade three, a direction and goal that we certainly support. 

There are a lot of positive things to take from Kevin’s articles and plenty to reflect on in considering how to keep moving the needle to improve student outcomes in reading proficiency. 

But there was one particular statement at the end of one of the articles that we found troubling. 

In his article, Reading Realities: Idaho Is Far From Its Lofty Literacy Goals, Kevin correctly noted that the 100% proficiency target is a tough objective to reach. He also correctly reports that no school district or charter school hit the 100% target this (last) spring, or this fall. Then, after reporting that no school district hit 90% proficiency, he wrote, “Five charter schools reached the 90% plateau this spring…These are the realities.” 

What struck us as misleading was the comparison of charter “schools” to school “districts”. It seems inappropriate, or at least unfair, to compare a charter school’s outcomes with a school district’s outcome. For example, is it valid to compare the overall performance of a charter school with an enrollment of 407 students that achieved the 90% proficiency target with a nearby school district with an enrollment of 5,200 students that did not make the target, even though the district had a neighborhood school with 459 students that reached 87% proficiency? 

That type of comparison ignores the serious differences in the size and demographics of the educational institutions being compared. One of the larger brick and mortar charter schools in Idaho has an enrollment of 1,095 (about 85 students per grade level).  86% of the school's students were proficient on the IRI. A nearby district has more than 3,000 students per grade level. As a district they did not make the 90% target (they achieved a remarkable 81%). They did have two neighborhood schools that made 90% proficiency and nine more neighborhood schools that made 85% or higher. 

It makes more sense (to us) that comparisons should be made between “schools” with similar sizes and demographics. When Kevin writes that there were five charter schools that reached 90% proficiency on the IRI this (last) spring, he could have also noted that there were nine public neighborhood schools throughout Idaho that also met that threshold. If you lower the target to 85% proficiency, another 24 public neighborhood schools would be highlighted along with an additional 3 charter schools. 


There are other socio-economic factors that should also be taken into consideration in making comparisons between schools; such as the number of students who live in poverty (reflected in Free and Reduced Lunch counts), the number of English Language learners, and the number of students with disabilities.  

Despite our criticism of comparing charter schools to school districts, Richert’s series, The Idaho Reading Challenge, is a must read. It is thorough, thoughtful, and full of insights that can help reinforce existing successful literacy programs and drive new initiatives to improve reading achievement for Idaho’s youth.

DEMOGRAPHICALLY SIMILAR SCHOOLS:

VALLIVUE STANDS OUT

Recently, Governor Little's Task Force approved five recommendations, including one that proposed comparing results for schools with similar demographics. Idaho Ed News reported this task force statement: “Using similar cohorts of students, for comparison purposes, allows parents, education stakeholders, and state policymakers to compare the success of our schools and measure continuous improvement in a fair and unbiased manner.”

So, then, how can we develop a statewide strategy that would allow us to recognize the efforts of high achieving schools across the demographic spectrum, and find out just what those schools are doing?

Well, we can use demographic "slices" to look at academic performance and identify practices used by top performing schools in those "slices". And, of course, using Idaho's School Report Cards, we at RISE have done that for almost all of the elementary schools in the state of Idaho.

In our analysis we have used status percentages in lieu of growth, because of the lack of cohort information and other issues with growth data, such as scaling issues on the IRI. And we have focused on more than one assessment to paint a picture of school performance, because that has been a sticking point for Idaho educators in the past.

We broke down free/reduced lunch "slices" for various percentages of free/reduced lunch schools (0-20%, 20-25%, 25-30%, 30-35%, etc.), created a special category for CEP schools, (those that qualify under federal guidelines to feed all kids), and looked at performance on SBAC ELA and SBAC Math, and on the IRI. All free/redcued lunch eligibility percentages came from the 2018-19 Lunch Eligibility Report from the State Department of Education. The results were fascinating.

THE CHARTS

For example, we analyzed the data for schools that had 50-55% free/reduced lunch, and then used the percentage of students at grade level/proficient as the y-variable and the percentage of Limited English students as the x-variable in a scattergram, and identified the "high flying" schools. This was the result.

This chart was for SBAC ELA, but the results were similar for SBAC Math and for the IRI. For schools with fewer than 10% ELA, Rulon Ellis Elementary in Pocatello. Riverview In Shelley (grades 3-4), Orofino, and Southside in Lake Pend O'reille,  were high performers for this demographic. For schools with more than 10% Limited English students, here of Vallivue District's schools were top achievers: Lakevue, West Canyon, and Desert Springs. Now granted, the difference between these schools and some others in a "slice" may have only been a few percentage points, but it gave us an idea of some schools that are making a difference for kids.

When we looked at 60-65% FRL, here's what we found:

These are results for the Spring IRI, but, again, the top schools tended to perform well across assessments.  For fewer than 10% LEP, Winton Elementary in Coeur d'Alene, Silver Hills in Wallace, Priest River in West Bonner, Cambridge, and Dietrich were top achievers. For schools with more than 10% LEP, Maxine Johnson Elementary in Parma, Henry's Fork in Fremont County, and three Vallivue schools, Central Canyon, Skyway, and East Canyon showed excellent achievement.

For the record, Vallivue's other elementary school, Birch, was also a high performer in the 40-45%  free/reduced lunch category.

SO WHAT'S VALLIVUE DOING?

We were curious to find out just what Vallivue's elementary schools are doing that produces top results compared with demographically similar schools. So we asked Vallivue Deputy Superintendent Lisa Boyd to set up a meeting with some principals who could provide us with a view of their successful strategies. Superintendent Pat Charlton attended, as did Curriculum Director Cindy Johnstone and four district principals.

L to R - Sara Ward. Desert Springs, Lynn Munoz. Central Canyon

Cindy Dodd.  West Canyon, Katrina McGee  East Canyon

At first, the administrators were reluctant to talk - educators are not often asked about the basis for their successes. But after a few minutes, they opened up and we learned a lot about Vallivue. Here were some of the successful strategies they identified:

• AVID - Vallivue has fully implemented this proven strategy, and is the only Idaho district making extensive use of the program in the elementary grades.

College pennants in the hallway of Central Canyon Elementary

• Consistent, Regular Tracking of Results - The District has developed strategies for checking on student progress regularly, and sharing progress.

Tracking student IRI results, Red to Yellow to Green.

• Use of Instructional Coaches - Vallivue uses these coaches to provide curricular assistance, instructional help, and assessment interpretation.
• High Expectations  - Vallivue is known for establishing high expectations for administrators, teachers, and kids. It's a culture that promotes high achievement, respect, and dignity from the Superintendent to the classroom.
• Excellent Professional Development tailored to the needs of teachers and principals.
• Consistent, timely  support for instructional needs in the classroom.
• Outstanding teachers and administrators.
• Buy-in to District standards for learning.
• Use of meaningful assessments, not of superfluous testing (whenever possible).

Wow, that's lot, and probably not enough detail for someone to adequately describe what's working. However, Vallivue's staff and administration is always willing to help. They are true professionals, and dedicated to excellence.

Bennet Mountain Alternative School, Mt. Home, Idaho  

Creating a Culture of Acceptance and Achievement

How many alternative schools can boast receiving the following parent comment? “I LOVE this school. By far the BEST school in (the) Mountain Home School District. Thank you for allowing (italics added) my child the opportunity to attend this wonderful school!” Or this one, “I love Bennett. Currently I have my 3rd child attending Bennett. I love how Bennett treats you like family. My children have thrived since they have been at Bennett. You are awesome.” Those comments were received by the Bennett Mountain Alternative School in Mt. Home, Idaho. They represent the feelings of parents about the culture the staff of Bennett Mountain have created for their children. 

Bennett Mountain Alternative School 

Bennett Mountain was opened mid-year in January, 2013 by the Mt. Home School District Board of Trustees to serve the needs of students who had not been successful in the regular school program at Mt. Home High School and who needed an “alternative” setting to meet their needs that would keep them in school working towards successful completion of their graduation requirements. The alternative school has grown from its original 30 students in grades 9-12 with 2 staff members to its current 115 students in grades 7-12 with 12 fulltime staff members (and a 40 student waiting list). Bennett Mountain issues every student a computer (1:1) which can be used at school and at home to do their school work, homework, and research. The school has annually ranked in the top 5 alternative schools throughout Idaho for its 4 year cohort graduation rate (5 year average of 62%) which would be even higher if they could count the students who graduate in the summer beyond their graduation year or who need one additional semester to complete they diploma requirements. Those are very good graduation numbers for an alternative school. Mt. Home Superintendent James Gilbert says that "Bennett Mountain has always been a great source of pride for us. A lot of these kids are the first in their families to graduate from high school."

BM Principal Stehvn Tesar

The high school principal, Stehvn (pronounced Steven) Tesar, himself a 2000 graduate of Mt. Home H.S. returned after graduating from the University of Idaho in 2004 to teach and coach at his alma mater. He was the first, and remains the only principal Bennett Mountain has had. He has a passion for Bennett Mountain. He gave up his regular teaching position and the joy he found in coaching to open Bennett Mountain in order to create new opportunities and new relationships with students who hadn’t experienced much success in school.  “I felt I could relate to kids well and that this was a good calling for me”. The students and parents of BM could not agree more.

Contributing to their student centered approach, Bennett Mountain provides day care for its teen parents which helps prevent students from having to drop out of school. They have a food pantry for students and their families needing some assistance. Students can pick up personal hygiene products that have been donated. The school works with a local organization to provide counseling and mental health services on campus. And every student has a mentor who checks in with them twice daily.


The community of Mt. Home is in full support of Bennett Mountain. Local non-profits and businesses, a Mt. Home Air Force base auxiliary and anonymous donors have contributed funds to allow the school to add handicapped access to the building, provide funds and supplies for their annual Turkey Bowl, where they serve a Thanksgiving meal to all the students and their parents and then send a Thanksgiving dinner box home for every student and their family. Donations help provide a dinner for students and their parents during parent-teacher conferences in the fall, breakfast for students every Friday, and a pancake breakfast once every eight weeks and student birthdays which are celebrated monthly. Because of the support for their students and families, Bennett Mountain has received recognition for being one of the top 10 schools for student engagement on the ISDE annual survey. Their parent engagement and satisfaction score was 92.9%. The Bennett Mountain staff registered a 98.2% level of satisfaction on the staff survey. Principal Tesar does not have difficulty filling openings, which rarely occur. 


Bennett Mountain Alternative School, named after the most recognizable geographic landmark in the area, represents one of Idaho’s gems in education where achievement and satisfaction are not measured by test scores, but by the staff-student relationships that lead to individual achievement and accomplishment in the face of personal adversity. 

Bennett Mountain Alternative School Day Care room and Graduate Wall

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 5^th 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 8^th grade group of students about Toussaint Louverture and his influence on the independence movement in Haiti in the 18^th 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 1^st grade classroom and co-teachers Sarah Ziemer and Taylor Warren teach together in a 4^th 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.”

SIC DISTRICT FEATURE

BOISE DISTRICT COMMUNITY SCHOOLS

Each month, RISE/TVEP will focus on a Southern Idaho Conference District program. This month, it's the Community Schools program in the Boise School District, and Taft Elementary School.

History

In 2015, United Way CEO Nora Carpenter led a group of Treasure Valley non-profit, business, and education leaders to Salt Lake City to visit the Promise Partnership program operated by the SLC United Way. The visit was productive and introduced the group to a new way of thinking about provision of wrap-around services in areas of high poverty.

Not long afterward, just by chance, then Boise Superintendent Don Coberly and Dr. Robert Barr, former Boise State University Education Dean, national expert on poverty and schools, and author of the award winning book "Building a Culture of Hope" were both shopping at a Bed, Bath, and Beyond in Boise.

Coberly was looking for additional options to address needs of students at some of Boise's highest poverty schools, and Barr had been working with the Vancouver School District (Washington) and their Community Schools program. Dr.Barr recommended a visit, and provided contact information.

Within a month, Deputy Superintendent (now Superintendent) Coby Dennis, Director (now Deputy Superintendent) Lisa Roberts, and several others visited Vancouver and learned about their program. Vancouver runs a district-directed program that provides "wrap-around" services for students in a particular district neighborhood. 

Typically, a district-hired community liaison coordinates services that include a food pantry, clothing closet, access to technology, medical and dental services, translation services, help with filling out forms, assistance with finding housing, and all other manner of supports for families. Many partners are involved in each of the Community Schools, including non-profits such as the United Way and the Y, area hospital and clinics, churches, and others. The idea is to support those families so the children can come to school ready to learn.

Boise initiated its program with five Community Schools (Whitney, Whittier, Morley Nelson, and Garfield Elementary Schools, and Frank Church Alternative High School, then added a sixth last year at Taft Elementary.

Taft's Community School

Taft Elementary School was built in 1960 to relieve overcrowding at nearby Collister and Lowell Elementary schools. Ninety-two percent (92%) of Taft's 330 students qualify for free/reduced lunch, and a third of the school's student population has Limited English abilities. Twenty-one languages are spoken by Taft students, and over 80 students are refugees.

"Home of the Tigers"

Taft has a food pantry, and clothing is available for families, as well. Licensed mental health services are available, and medical and dental services can be accessed at the school. Additionally, the Boise District's Ready Set Go! program provided school supplies at a central location (Dennis Technical Education facility) prior to the beginning of the school year, serving over 1,000 students.

RISE/TVEP Co -Director Wil Overgaard and Taft Principal Tim Lowe

Many partners have stepped up as part of the Community School, including local churches, hospitals, Boise City Parks and Recreation, and non-profits. Principal Tim Lowe works with the community partners, as does Community Schools Coordinator Michelle Weickum. Michelle provides classes as part of the Community School services, such as knitting, sewing, and world rhythms drumming.

Taft Community Schools Coordinator Michelle Weickum

Boise's Community Schools have quickly grown into an essential part of the fabric of the District, and are greatly appreciated by community members. In the words of a Taft parent:

"When my family came to Taft, we had just lost everything we owned except our family vehicle...I was once told that if you are homeless, it is impossible to do the everyday things that people take for granted. I didn't realize how true this was until I experienced it."

...The Taft community helped us in so many ways, but I want to mention just a few of them that changed our lives. At Taft, my kids were able to have school breakfast, hot lunches, and an after school snack, care, and activities....After working hard to overcome homelessness, joblessness, sleeping in a garage and on floors, wondering if we would have enough to eat...I (now) have my dream job and my kids sleep in warm beds every night and we have food on the table...My kids are smiling again. I am smiling again.

I would not be where I am today without this support. I truly believe God must have led us to Taft to get us through this time. I have never experienced or witnessed such support with so much respect and love. Taft helped us to meet our basic needs and more when there was no one else. Because our basic needs were met, I was able to focus on creating a successful future for my family. I will be forever grateful for Taft's generous and respectful support that helped my family get back to our 'normal'."