TIME Collaborative School Mini-Profile: Targeted Intervention & Acceleration

The National Center on Time & Learning knows that when expanded time schools provide students with additional time for intervention and acceleration they see the largest gains in student achievement. In its school redesign plan, the Guilmette Elementary School in Lawrence, MA, has created an “all hands on deck” approach to small group instruction for its students. In past years, students who needed support were pulled from science and social studies classes. Now, with more learning time students will have time for these core classes without sacrificing additional individualized instruction. 

                                                              

Through the reallocation of staff positions, thoughtful scheduling, and some support of instructional technology, the Learning Labs will provide students with the intervention or acceleration they need. All Learning Labs will be designed to promote Guilmette Elementary’s instructional focus: “Teachers will use close reading and complex texts as a part of their instructional practice so that students develop the ability to uncover layers of meaning that lead to deeper levels of comprehension.”
 
Learning Labs will be scheduled at the same time across each grade level with the grade levels staggered throughout the day to maximize staff available to provide small group instruction. Students with the highest needs will be taught by instructional coaches or special education teachers in the smallest groups, with some receiving one on one support. 
 
 Teachers will review student data from a variety of sources on a weekly basis. Students will be placed in small targeted groups during Learning Labs and regrouped periodically as needed based on their progress or specific needs. Teachers will also have the opportunity to review student data with coaches and administrators from their own school, coaches from their partner school, and district-level Assessment Directors on a quarterly basis to create instructional interventions that directly target student needs and the instructional focus. Guilmette will also reallocate a staff position to support the instructional technology component of their intervention and help analyze the data generated through software programs.