Education Elements Empowers a Struggling Newark Public School to Succeed Through Blended Learning
SAN CARLOS, CA (PRWEB) March 24, 2015 -- Education Elements, which offers a comprehensive approach to designing and implementing personalized learning in districts, is excited to announce that students in blended learning classrooms at Quitman Street School - a RENEW school - in Newark, NJ scored significantly better at the NJASK than in previous years.
Of 21 high needs schools throughout Newark Public Schools (NPS), Quitman Street School made the most gains in language arts and had the 3rd largest increases in math on the NJASK. Their scores on the NWEA MAP assessment were also impressive. In ELA, grade levels that went blended all saw an increase in proficiency rates. In 5th grade for example, the grade level jumped 10 percentage points from Fall 2013 - Fall 2014.
Quitman Street School is one of eight RENEW schools within the district that beginning in 2012-13 began implementing a variety of changes in school staffing and school services in order to ensure that all students in the district receive an excellent education. In 2013-14, the school was one of several to pilot blended learning in grades 3 to 5 as part of an effort to accelerate and deepen student learning. The success they saw during their first year of implementation led to an expansion of grades in the current school year and earned the Quitman Street School a spot on Getting Smart’s 100 Schools to Visit.
A team of Education Elements consultants began working with the Quitman Street School, along with three other schools, and helped them to deepen their understanding of personalized learning, to design blended instructional models, to select digital content and to support teachers and leaders throughout the transformation. Students used Education Elements’ personalized learning platform, Highlight, to sign into multiple digital content providers with a single user name and password. Teachers, leaders and coaches use the platform to access data about students, develop differentiated lesson plans for small groups and provide additional support to students who need it.
Quitman Street School uses several different digital content providers and attributes their success in both new ways of teaching and also to the new tools in the classroom. For literacy they use Lexia and Achieve3000 and for math the school uses the online component of GoMath.
“Quitman’s leadership team has shown a true dedication to blended learning,” said Angela Chubb, Vice President of Education Services for Education Elements. “The continuous and targeted support their team provides the teachers based on frequent and timely digital content data has been critical for the success of the initiative.”
Assistant Superintendent Peter Turnamian is excited about the success at Quitman Street School and attributes it to Principal Erskine Glover, the strong teaching staff, and to the introduction of new ways of teaching, using digital content and using data. “Our principal and our teachers have worked hard to turn Quitman Street School around for our students,” said Peter Turnamian, Assistant Superintendent. “Their perseverance in implementing a blended learning system, combined with the Education Elements partnership, has put this school - and our students - back on track.”
Quitman Street School's early successes are a great indicator for other schools in the district pursuing blended learning. Chancellor, which started at the same time as Quitman is also seeing great results and expecting even more from this year. Three high schools are also began blended learning this winter.
Education Elements is a nationally recognized 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 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.
Quitman Street School is part of the Newark Public Schools District, which strives to ensure all students graduate from excellent schools college and career ready. The District is the largest and one of the oldest school systems in New Jersey, with 70 schools serving 38,000 students K-12.
For more information on Newark Public Schools, please visit our website at http://www.nps.k12.nj.us
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Amy Jenkins, Education Elements, http://www.edelements.com, +1 4153778292, [email protected]
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