Parent Forum on Improvement at Elm Hill

1. Parent Forum on Improvement at Elm Hill April 25, 2013 Elm Hill Primary School …where children begin the journey to reader, writer, problem-solver, artist and friend

2. Improvement Research & Plan • From the AOE: “Instructional Teams (including special educators and related service providers) meet for blocks of time sufficient to develop and refine units of instruction and review student learning data.” • Elm Hill: “Employ flexible grouping and co-teaching to meet the needs of a greater number of students by classroom, SpEd and Reading teachers.” (video clip)

3. Pros: • A benefit of a K-2 “loop” is that children can be “flexibly grouped” much in the way described by Sir Ken Robinson. Children can be clustered differently based on their needs during a particular lesson. • This plan also allows teachers to “specialize” - or become experts - in a particular content area. We have made an effort to balance the teams by literacy and math.

4. Looping: one class of children stays together for more than one year. • Because children and teachers know each other better and there are fewer adult transitions there is less stress and anxiety. • This translates into better attendance, fewer behavior issues and more instructional time.

5. Elm Hill’s Proposed Loops • At Elm Hill we recommend a 2 year loop from 1st to 2nd grade. Teams – or families - would consist of a kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade class. After kindergarten, children would be assigned a “loop” for the next 2 years. • It is much easier to monitor the progress of 60 children (rather than our present 100.)

7. Proposed “Extended Families”