{"id":574950,"date":"2021-07-21T16:01:39","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T20:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/?post_type=article&p=574950"},"modified":"2021-07-21T16:32:10","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T20:32:10","slug":"curriculum-case-study-from-focus-to-exceptional-how-a-delaware-school-transformed-student-literacy-in-just-3-years","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/article\/curriculum-case-study-from-focus-to-exceptional-how-a-delaware-school-transformed-student-literacy-in-just-3-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Curriculum Case Study: From \u2018Focus\u2019 to \u2018Exceptional,\u2019 How a Delaware School Transformed Student Literacy in Just 3 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the final of three pieces from a Knowledge Matters tour of school districts in Delaware, in recognition of the state\u2019s new initiative \u2013 called DE Delivers \u2013 to encourage adoption of high quality instructional materials in its 19 districts. In this piece, Claymont Elementary School Principal Tamara Grimes Stewart describes the Wilmington school\u2019s journey since its 2017 rollout of the Bookworms Reading & Writing curriculum. Part of the Brandywine School District, Claymont saw English Language Arts proficiency scores rise 21 percent in just three years after the new curriculum was implemented.<\/em>Follow the rest of our series and previous curriculum case studies here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

C<\/span>laymont Elementary School was constructed in 1969 as a high school. It played a pivotal role in our nation’s fight to create fair and equitable schools for all students, being one of two northern Delaware schools named in the landmark Brown v. The Board of Education<\/em> court order that declared school segregation unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

Today, Claymont is a diverse, 800-student K-5 school serving a predominately low-income population. We house Spanish Immersion, the Brandywine Specialized Autism Program, and a gifted and talented program for grades four through eight, in addition to serving a large multilingual learner population.<\/p>\n

Claymont\u2019s journey of transformation through the implementation of high-quality instructional materials occurred just as we were being identified by the Delaware Department of Education as an underperforming school. In 2015, just 41 percent of our students were proficient in English Language Arts and only 39 percent were proficient in math. Based on these scores, we became a state \u201cFocus School,\u201d which required developing a plan together with the state for academic improvement.<\/p>\n

Claymont was fortunate that, as this was going on in the background, our district office introduced Bookworms<\/a> as our response to intervention curriculum for reading. Using Bookworms, we were able to see our students who receive small-group and intensive interventions make progress much more quickly than they had in the past. We attribute this to the systematic focus on foundational skills contained in the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy targeting decoding skills, we can get to fluency much faster,\u201d says Kristen Cook, Brandywine School District\u2019s reading specialist.<\/p>\n

We had heard about Seaford\u2019s success using Bookworms<\/a> with all students in the class. We visited several other districts and asked our teachers to pilot the materials for one week \u2014 and everyone became excited to move forward with the curriculum. Rather than implementing at certain grade levels with certain teachers, we chose to dive all-in and bring the curriculum on across the board. We knew there would be growing pains, and we wanted to go through those together as a team. Everyone knew a change was needed \u2014 and everyone wanted to be part of the solution.<\/p>\n

Our first priority was to map out our professional development plan, and it was extensive. We received support from our district office and coaches at the University of Delaware. We targeted professional development for specific grade levels and specific content. We differentiated our faculty meetings to address areas of concern revealed by the data, which was gathered both from walkthroughs and benchmark assessments. Coaches supported individual teacher needs. And for educators to share resources and strategies that were working, we devoted staff meeting time and made it the crux of our professional learning communities, in which our teachers regularly gather in small groups to collaborate and learn from each other.<\/p>\n

What we\u2019ve learned is that despite Bookworms being a relatively structured (some even say \u201cscripted\u201d) curriculum, it actually provides a framework that enables teachers to deliver powerful, student-centered instruction in their classrooms. One structure, for example, is a focus on a high volume of reading for all students. This is supported by a curated library of 275 whole-length, content-rich texts that students read and study across their K-5 experience. What is not to like about scripting that looks like that? What I find interesting is that our teachers don\u2019t \u201cfeel the script.\u201d Instead, they talk about how kids love the books.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the parts that I love is hearing kids walking around talking about books,\u201d fifth-grade teacher Brian Horne told us. \u201cI have been teaching for over 20 years and I never remember [that].\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just the students. Kindergarten teacher Meredith Allen said that she, herself, gets excited by every book she reads with her students. It might sound to some ears like an oxymoron: that a very structured curriculum is actually driving a much greater love of reading. But that’s our truth.<\/p>\n

Just one year later during the 2018 and 2019 school year, based on the Department of Education criteria, Claymont Elementary was identified as an \u201cExceptional School.\u201d English Language Arts proficiency scores after implementing Bookworms increased over three years to 62 percent from 41 percent. Proficiency scores in math (we adoptedEureka Math<\/a> around the same time) rose to 60 percent from 39 percent over the same period.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an amazing transformation,\u201d fourth-grade teacher Jodi Engleman told our school tour visitors.<\/p>\n

Whether with Bookworms or Eureka Math, we attribute our success to the following:<\/p>\n