Monrovia Elementary School

Monrovia Elementary’s Project Achieve beginning with the 2011-12 School Year

Monrovia Elementary will be moving to a new instructional model for the 2011-12 school year. We hope you take time to read the description of the model below. If you have questions, we encourage you to contact Mr. Sampson or your child’s teacher. We will be hosting a question and answer session on Monday, June 6th at 7:00 pm in the elementary cafeteria if you do not have the opportunity to address your questions earlier. We are excited about the changes we are implementing and the positive effects on your child’s achievement. We look forward to talking with you and answering any questions you may have.

Beginning with the 2011-12 school year, the state of Indiana has mandated that all third graders must read at grade level as measured by the state created IREAD test.  This mandate led us to discussions centered on how to best provide meaningful instruction that maximized teacher abilities and addressed student needs. After much discussion and research, our staff found an instructional model that we believe will provide the optimal learning experience for our students. Several teachers visited a school that has employed this instructional model for the last twelve years. The teachers came away even more convinced that this model will be more beneficial to the success of our students than our current model.

Instructional Model

We will call our instructional model Project Achieve to reflect our overall goal in this endeavor – to maximize student achievement.  The academic portion of Project Achieve will provide eighty minutes of instruction in Reading, Writing and mathematics.  All students will receive thirty to thirty-five minutes of Social Sciences each day. They will also have specials (music, art, media and physical education), lunch and recess as we always have. The organizational structure will place a kindergarten, first grade and second grade classroom in each primary cluster and a third grade, fourth grade and fifth grade classroom in each intermediate cluster. 

Within each cluster, there will be one teacher who will teach Reading to all three grade levels, one who will teach Writing to all three grade levels and one who will teach mathematics to all three grade levels. All teachers will teach Social Sciences to their homeroom.

Looping Aspect

Students will remain in their cluster through their primary years and then move to an intermediate cluster in which they would remain until moving to the middle school. In this model, a student will have the same Reading teacher, Writing teacher and mathematics teacher for the three years they are in a primary or intermediate cluster.

Each cluster will have a different schedule but all clusters will contain the same classes. A typical cluster schedule for a student may look like this:

A Typical Teacher’s Day

 A cluster team teacher’s instructional responsibilities would be their core subject (reading, writing or mathematics) taught to each grade level in the cluster and social sciences (science and social studies) taught to their grade level homeroom. As an example, an intermediate cluster team instructional responsibilities would be as listed:

Advantages of Project Achieve Instructional Model

• A teacher becomes an instructional specialist in their core subject. They may research and implement best practices for their core subject. They would not be spread thin over three core subjects.
• Differentiated instruction may have carryover to the different grade levels. A lesson, learning center or activity may be utilized at the different grade levels.
• This instructional model meshes with the Purdue Literacy Collaborative strategies and initiative we have been implementing the past couple of years.
• Professional development may be focused, targeted and supported. Teachers will receive professional development in their core subject. Instead of professional development for 27 classroom teachers in one subject, training would be focused on the nine reading teachers in the areas of their needs. Concurrent training would be conducted for the other nine writing teachers in the building as well as the nine mathematics teachers. Core subjects will not get neglected and all teachers would not be bogged down in keeping up with best practices in three core areas thus becoming more efficient in their core instruction.
• The teacher collects, analyzes and tracks data in their core subject area as opposed to data for three different core subjects.
• Teachers build relationships with students. They know their students’ needs better and can address them more efficiently.
• Data is collected, analyzed and tracked over three years by the same teacher. The teacher understands their students’ needs and can monitor progress. The “feeling out” or “getting to know the students” time at the beginning of the year is eliminated. It happens only during the students’ initial year in their cluster.
• Parents and teachers build collaborative relationships. This eliminates yearly adjustment to procedures, personalities and routines of each teacher in our current instructional model.

Welcome

Welcome to Monrovia Elementary School. All the members of our staff and I are pleased to have your child as a student. We look forward to working closely with you and invite you to be an active and integral participant in your child's education. Together, we will do our best to provide a positive educational experience for all of our students.

Our Mission

The mission of Monrovia Elementary is to provide all learners with skills to continually develop their unique academic, social and emotional talents and abilities by:

• providing a safe and supportive environment
• offering innovative programming
• using a variety of best-practice teaching strategies
• using continuous assessment to monitor student progress and to identify areas for professional development
• and supporting all stakeholders in collaboratively working toward student success