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The ALL School curriculum uses special projects to find creative ways of teaching complex skills. For example, students in grades three through five simulated a 10,000-mile bicycle trek through Africa as part of an interdisciplinary project. After holding telephone conversations with adventurers who had actually made the trip to learn about the geography, the students created a scale map of Africa. While learning to calculate time, rate, and distance, to read odometers, and to plot changes on a map, the students took turns covering the relative distance in five-minute intervals on stationary bicycles. "All day long, there are children on those bikes, peddling through Africa," the principal said.
Global studies became the connecting theme of the schoolwide initiative in its second cycle. Working in multi-grade clusters-- K-1-2, 3-4-5, and 6-7-8--students participate in a curriculum that uses studies of geographic regions to accelerate learning and introduce multicultural themes. In the global studies curriculum, students in all grades study North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe for consecutive seven-week periods during the course of each year. Following a philosophy that "all children can and will learn when learning is built on their strengths"--and a belief that children learn at various rates--teachers encourage students to master basic skills and advanced concepts simultaneously. An emphasis on interactive, hands-on learning and team-oriented projects, for example, acquaints kindergarten students with fractions as they begin to learn math calculations. Older students are engaged in estimating the number of tiles that would be needed to replace the school's flooring, while others use compasses and draw maps to plot treasure hunts for their peers, who then use the same tools to find the "treasure."
The schoolwide project also supports a Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) laboratory; a full-time curriculum specialist; an Accelerated Learning Lab teacher who works in all classrooms to stimulate critical and creative thinking skills or to offer in- depth help to advanced students; a technology specialist; manipulatives and trade books for students; and supplementary classroom equipment. A full-time technology specialist runs the television studio and helps students with projects, such as a talk show. Each classroom has four or five computers equipped with (1) a research and reference database; (2) sophisticated writing programs known as Write More-Learn More; and (3) basic skills software programs that students use to practice reading, writing, and language skills. The school also plans to add whole language and complex mathematics software.
With implementation of the schoolwide project, Chapter 1 teachers became regular classroom teachers, reducing the student- teacher ratio in all grades from 25:1 to 20:1. According to the principal, this approach better serves the academic needs of Chapter 1 students and eliminates the stigma associated with a pullout program. Students are evaluated by a portfolio system rather than with letter grades, and they receive certificates for mastering standards that are described by leading professional organizations and the state. Teachers meet three times annually with each child's parent--making home visits if necessary. In addition, they are developing a system that allows students to set goals for skills development and personal growth. "We want to stop taking snapshots of kids and head in the direction of a motion picture," says one administrator.
The school promotes multiculturalism through its global studies curriculum and a yearly International Fair in which each class studies a country in depth and prepares a presentation for the rest of the school. Teachers conduct workshops to encourage parents to share their cultures with students, and periodically they invite international students from local universities into classrooms for discussions.
Planning and design. The school's first plan for a three-year schoolwide project used a less-focused curriculum, allocated resources primarily for technology, and relied on pullouts only for first and second grade to address the remedial needs of Chapter 1 students. According to Chapter 1 Director John Corcoran, the first schoolwide plan was limited in design and effect in part because teachers were not adequately involved in the changes. "It's been a pattern across the years that...we don't give [teachers] enough information about what a schoolwide project is and what it means," he said. "It's human nature to question [whether] those new things are better than old things."
Planning for the second three-year cycle began with a year's lead time and emphasized common goals as well as increased collaboration between administrators and teachers. New principal Carol Shilinsky worked with a curriculum specialist who was an experienced gifted/talented educator to develop a coherent approach that focused on critical thinking skills. "Everyone thought...we needed to change attitudes, the culture of the school, the way it was perceived by the general public, the way teachers and kids actually thought about the school," Shilinsky said; the team set these as their goals.
Shilinsky met weekly with Chapter 1 and other teachers, parents, and representatives of local businesses, universities and the city school committee to build broad support and solicit advice. While teachers rewrote the curriculum to include a stronger social studies program, administrators reduced class size and eliminated pullouts.
Organizational/management structure. A steering committee composed of the school's entire teaching staff meets weekly to discuss issues, and a governance committee that includes members of the local business and educational community in addition to schoolsite leadership establishes policy. Parent volunteers help in the office and library and with special events. The project has extended the school day by one hour; afterschool programs offered during this hour include television production, art classes, a newspaper club, and individual or group tutoring by volunteers from a local bank.
Professional environment. According to the school's principal, shared decision making and open communication are crucial to the project's success: "It's absolutely mandatory that everyone keeps talking to each other...so the pieces on the table belong to the people who put them there, and the program that comes out of it, they buy.... I've seen a real increase in morale. I've seen an extreme willingness to get involved." Administrators encourage teachers to take seminars, workshops, or university courses in their areas of interest; fees for some are covered by project funds. Staff involvement in planning continues through participation in the school's steering committee meetings.
Discipline problems have decreased since 1991, with a student-run committee establishing and enforcing a code of conduct and some students negotiating contracts for changing their behavior. Eighty-five parents volunteered to assist the school, and the number regularly attending meetings of the schoolwide improvement council has grown from two to 20. In the future, the principal hopes to include parents more substantively in programs and involve students in more extracurricular activities. Administrators expect to base later assessments on desired outcomes such as attendance and dropout rates.
Accelerated Learning Laboratory School
93 Woodland Street
Worcester, MA 01609
(508) 799-3562
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[Engaging the Community in Learning]