Seton BL Schools Outpace National Average for Student Growth in Math and Reading

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"I have the ability to differentiate, truly differentiate, beyond what I have ever been able to do before. Blended gives me a tool I could never create on my own."

San Carlos, CA (PRWEB) August 04, 2014

Education Elements congratulates Seton Blended Learning Network schools: The DePaul Catholic School, Saint Anne School, and Mission Dolores Academy on impressive academic gains in their blended learning classrooms. This year, 79% of Seton students made one or more years of progress in reading while 84% made one or more years of progress in math on the nationally normed NWEA MAP assessment. According to NWEA, the national average of students meeting these targets is 50%

Collectively, 97% of students at Mission Dolores Academy, Saint Anne School, and DePaul Catholic are minorities, and two-thirds qualify for the federal free or reduced-priced lunch program. In 2013-14, all Seton blended learning classrooms exceeded NWEA’s projections in reading and math. Every Seton blended learning class ranked in the top third of U.S. classrooms for student growth. 79% of reading and math classes demonstrated growth above the 90th percentile and one-third of classes ranked in the top 1% for growth nationally. Seton has also helped to increase enrollments at their partner schools through blended learning. Since joining the Seton Blended Learning Network in Fall 2013, DePaul’s enrollment has increased by 30% while Saint Anne’s increased by 10%.

Impressively, 78% of Seton blended learning scholars outpaced their projected growth in math and 75% of Seton blended learning scholars outpaced their projected growth in reading.

At Saint Anne School students reading on or above level increased from 60% to 80% from fall to spring as measured by NWEA MAP, with 89% of students in K-8 reading in the top 20% for the country. The results were equally impressive for Math with 72% of students meeting or exceeding their yearly growth targets. “This blended learning program represents a radical paradigm shift that in a single year has had a transformational impact on our entire school,” says Saint Anne School Principal Michael Browning.

In DePaul’s K-2 blended learning program this year 88% of students hit fall to spring growth targets for Reading and 93% for math. DePaul Blended Learning Site Manager Betsy Rafferty says, “My teachers have said repeatedly that the biggest change blended learning has is opening up the world of what they are able to do with small group instruction. With the data teachers can target their pull-outs much more, rather than pulling a group who is weak in Math, teachers can pull a group with specific skill deficiencies in number sense or adding doubles. This targeted small group instruction is much more meaningful and rich than it would have been, and teachers are not up all night prepping centers.”

DePaul teacher Colleen Collins elaborates, "I have the ability to differentiate, truly differentiate, beyond what I have ever been able to do before. Blended gives me a tool I could never create on my own. It's June and the kids are still excited and learning. The classrooms are a more peaceful place to be, the kids are excited and love being here. The biggest change is that I can target instruction in a more precise way."

Seton Partners sees the Education Elements Platform, Highlight, as a core component of their blended learning model. As Seton expands to three new schools this fall, Education Elements will remain a key partner in making blended learning sustainable and scalable. In 2014-2015, three new schools will join the Seton Blended Learning Network—Nativity Jesuit Academy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; St. Joseph School in Cincinnati, Ohio; and St. Gertrude the Great School in Los Angeles, California. These schools were selected from a national search that had more than double the applications of Seton’s previous expansion efforts. With these new members, the Seton Blended Learning Network will serve roughly 1,300 students across six schools in five cities nationwide. “We are excited to continue to partner with Seton,” said Anthony Kim, Education Elements founder and CEO. “It is tremendous to see them scaling their success across the country.”

The outstanding academic results at DePaul and Saint Anne build on the incredible success of Seton Blended Learning Network schools Mission Dolores and St. Therese Academy last year. Seton Blended Learning Network Director Jeff Kerscher is excited about the continued success of Seton BL schools. "Urban Catholic schools have a rich tradition of serving low-income families and we’re excited to help strengthen it. Our model takes the passion that these teachers have for their students and finds ways to make it as efficient and easy as possible for them to target their individual needs. We're proud that even as we continue to grow across the country, Seton Blended Learning Network schools are showing outstanding academic results."

Education Elements is a nationally recognized solutions company that helps districts develop and implement personalized learning strategies. Ed Elements' services help districts to create strategies, design instructional models and support teachers in integrating technology and instruction. Our platform, Highlight, provides students, teachers, and administrators each with a single entry point to access digital content and the detailed performance data they need to guide instruction and learning. This innovative cloud service offers simple and accessible data visualizations with actionable insights for users of all types. Education Elements has worked with over 100 schools across 40+ districts in the US; more than any other company.

Seton Education Partners was founded in 2009 by KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) co-founder Scott W. Hamilton and Teach for America alumna Stephanie Saroki de García. The Seton Blended Learning Initiative is an innovative six school, five city urban Catholic school blended learning network driven by results, smart collaboration, and character formation that serves 1,300 students who are 97% minority and over two-thirds of which qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Seton is currently accepting applications to expand its blended learning initiative to additional schools in 2015-2016. To learn more about the Seton Blended Learning Network—including how you can join—please contact Jeff Kerscher at jeff(at)setonpartners(dot)org.

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