Summer Learning Loss

We have been talking about summer learning loss for years, but never have we heard learning loss discussed more than on the heels of this pandemic. As I was reading a MAP Growth Norms study, (well..skimming it!), I ran across this section that I wanted to have us all think about.

A comprehensive review of the literature concludes that students lose about one month of school-year learning during the summer (with steeper declines for math than for reading) and income-based reading gaps grew over the summer, given that middle class students tended to show improvement in reading skills while lower-income students tended to experience loss.

With a summer school opportunity ahead for all of our students, what importance are we putting on enrolling our students in summer learning opportunities? As parents, and as teachers, what is our commitment to making this a priority for our children?

Lead Learner/Teacher Spotlight

 

Writers' Network - If Your Students Want to Meet Real Authors...

This upcoming Thursday - January 27th - will be our third of four virtual Secondary Writers' Network sessions.

Register @ sdwone.us/writersnetwork1

Laura Paisley Beck - 12:00-12:30 p.m. @ https://sdw.webex.com/meet/nroncke

Tyree Pope III - 10:05-10:35 a.m. @ https://sdw.webex.com/meet/nroncke

Chrishaunda Lee Perez - 2:00-2:30 p.m. @ http://sdwone.us/writersnetworkzoom

Stay tuned for permission slips/information about our May 18th Young Authors' Conference for middle and high school students! All of these authors will be joining the students throughout the day on May 18th!

Waukesha School District's Family & Community Literacy Night Series

Waukesha North High School students in AVID 9 and eighth-grade literacy students at Les Paul Middle School shared their critical reading practices and TED Talk speeches this past Tuesday, January 18th from 6-7 p.m. This was our third of seven Waukesha School District Family & Community Literacy Nights.

A HUGE THANK YOU to Sarah Fortman, Waukesha North High School French and AVID teacher, and Jonathan Touhy, eighth-grade literacy teacher, for making this event possible. Sarah and Jonathan, you both encouraged all of the students to truly own their learning processes and products. This was incredibly inspiring to behold! Below are some pictures from this past Tuesday's literacy event.

Our next literacy night will be on Thursday, February 24th from 6-7 p.m. in Les Paul Middle School's cafeteria. We are planning to share more student literacy examples and voices with everyone! All are welcome. If interested, please RSVP @ sdwone.us/literacyseries.

Accelerating Learning

Today, I was able to spend a little bit of time with other PCL (Partnerships in Comprehensive Literacy) schools across our state.

The PCL Vision is: To develop self-regulated learners who meet rigorous state and national academic standards.

The PCL Mission is: To develop self-regulated learners with the capacity to guide and monitor their learning to meet the needs of a global society.

Our PCL work this year has been a TOP priority for our system. THANK YOU to Meadowbrook and Hillcrest for Spotlighting with our school board this month. We look forward to Prairie and others Spotlighting in the future!

As many people continue to be concerned about rebounding and accelerating learning since "the VID",  we should all feel confident that our Comprehensive Literacy Framework and our Framework for the Gradual Release of Responsibility, completely has the potential to accelerate learning at a rate beyond one year's worth of growth! These evidenced based practices are well documented for accelerating learning.

The quality of the teacher and teaching is still the most controllable factor that impacts student learning! As you prepare for January 17 and January 24 our goal is to foster, nurture, and sustain the expertise of our teachers, to help accelerate student learning. It is all about building our skill (each of us), so that we develop in our students self-regulating, self-monitoring, self-evaluating, and most importantly self-regulating learning.

Use your collaborative learning communities to lift each other up. Thank you for your intentional focus on our students and their academic achievement! We are all stronger together!