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Whether they’re using an adaptive product to offer some blended opportunities or are redesigning the entire day to deliver a comprehensive blended experience, many schools are seeing positive results from combining online and offline instruction. Here are some of their stories.

A BLENDED APPROACH LEADS TO IMPROVED PERFORMANCE

At Mesa View Middle School in Farmington, New Mexico, the focus is on center-based instruction. “The whole key, which we knew going in, was to set our teachers up to be successful,” says Principal Jay Gardenhire. “You can’t just say you do center-based learning three times a month and that’s it. You have to give them the tools and ongoing training.” They started out slowly and have brought in a center-based learning expert for three successive years to work with staff. There’s a six-person center-based leadership team that communicates with and mentors teachers, and trainings are held throughout the year and during the summer. “As a result, teachers are comfortable with not lecturing the whole time and using laptops to chunk instruction, check understanding, and do exit tickets and bell work. They can check for understanding right in the moment instead of seeing it at night.”

Because every student has a laptop, a large portion of the instruction has been embedded into the Tier 1 curriculum, including programs like ThinkCERCA, a personalized literacy platform that teaches critical-thinking skills through argumentative writing across the curriculum. “Our language arts teachers started using ThinkCERCA last year and our proficiency in reading and writing doubled in all areas,” says Gardenhire. Teachers use PlayPosit to create videos that they can embed with animations, questions, and activities, and students watch the videos at home or during the day, when teachers divide classes so that one group watches instructional videos while the other receives direct instruction. For math, teachers use Agile Mind, a rigorous program that infuses social and emotional learning into core curriculum.

For classroom management, teachers use LanSchool to make sure students are accessing what they need on their devices. In addition, Mesa View uses Edsby, the learning and analytics platform. Students use Edsby to download worksheets and activities, access lessons they’ve missed, and check their grades. Teachers drop their lessons plans into Edsby and post which tools they’re using in the calendar section so that other teachers who want support with those tools can reach out.

All of the data from this technology helps teachers provide students with the instruction they need at the proper level, whether that’s more time on a program, one-on-one tutoring, or something else. Gardenhire is pleased with the progress and believes that the blended environment is a success. “I think teachers are feeling good,” he says. “It’s a lot, but I think they recognize they’re getting a lot of support. As long as they know they have the support, they’ll be comfortable and confident with what they’re doing.”

TOOLS THEY USE
MESA VIEW

FROM VIRTUAL TO BLENDED

In 2010, Falcon Virtual Academy opened in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as a virtual school. In 2014, it became the Spring Studio for Academic Excellence, a K–12 school that expanded the virtual concept into something else. “We wanted to bring students into the building because being completely virtual was isolating,” says Rochelle Kolhouse, instructional coach for School District 49’s iConnect Zone, which includes Spring Studio and two other schools. “Based on feedback, we decided to create something that would be exciting, hands-on, and motivating.” That’s how they developed iLearning, an interdisciplinary project-based curriculum comprising themes like the Renaissance Era, which incorporates science, math, social studies, and English as students do writing assignments and design buildings and costumes. To go from virtual to blended, teachers figured out what made more sense to do face-to-face (F2F). Kolhouse, Colorado’s Online Teacher of the Year in 2013, had science students come in to do labs in groups. The school continued to evolve, and today they use Schoology to create, manage, and share the curriculum.

Spring Studio students attend F2F classes on different days: grades 6–8 come on Mondays and Wednesdays, K–5 on Wednesdays and Fridays, and high school students on Tuesdays and Thursdays. “When students come into the building they do project-based, hands-on, deeper learning—the things they can’t do online at home on their own,” says Kolhouse. “What they do online is expanded upon, enriched, or taken to a deeper level when they are in the building.” Pikes Peak Early College and Patriot High School are the two other blended schools in the iConnect Zone.

Pikes Peak partners with Pikes Peak Community College to offer college courses to its high school students, who are in the building Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for F2F lessons and do their online work at home or elsewhere on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Patriot is an alternative high school with a robust CTE program. Students are at the school to complete their online and F2F lessons five days a week because they require more structure.

All three schools use Edgenuity for their online core curriculum and eDynamic Learning for electives. Spring Studio also uses ALEKS, an adaptive math program, and Reading Horizons for reading and literacy instruction.

TOOLS THEY USE
ICONNECT ZONE

BLENDED IS JUST THE BEGINNING

The first thing Genevra A. Walters, superintendent for Kankakee (IL) School District 111, did when she came to the district was to redesign general education for grades K–6 into college and career academy classes. Now, each grade level focuses on a career strand, such as human services in education, health sciences, or communications and information systems. Walters partnered with Defined Learning and developed a project-based learning platform using Defined STEM, a Web-based application that helps students connect classroom content and careers through project-based tasks and reading and writing activities.

Now that teachers have grown comfortable with Defined STEM, they’re working on creating personalized learning environments. “The only way to be effective with class sizes of 20 and 30 is by using technology, and I encourage teachers to have it as a station or center,” says Walters. That way, some students can work in small groups while others are on their Chromebooks.

As the district continues to evolve (middle and high schools are next), Walters will continue to focus on inquiry- and project-based learning. She wants students to be able to explore and she continues to help teachers integrate technology to enable that exploration. “We want learning to be personalized so that children get what they need, when they need it. For that to happen, you have to have tech-infused instruction on a daily basis.”

TOOLS THEY USE
KANKAKEE SCHOOL DISTRICT 111

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