Muscogee County School District using new program to help boost student achievement

To learn how the Muscogee County School District is helping to boost students to higher academic achievement, the Ledger-Enquirer visited Eddy Middle School last week.

Eddy is one of the district's 13 lowest-performing schools, all of which are participating in a reading and writing pilot program the Muscogee County School Board approved in August and the district implemented last month after teachers were trained to use it.

The program, called Achieve3000, is a web-based system that delivers differentiated instruction in nonfiction reading and writing. On a computer, students in a class read the same content in news articles from The Associated Press and National Geographic, but the computer program tailors the complexity of the text to each student's reading level.

Muscogee County will spend $630,000 over three fiscal years for Achieve3000. Superintendent David Lewis said the program will be evaluated after this school year to determine whether to recommend expanding it to the entire district.

Out of the district's 12 middle schools, Eddy has the highest percentage of students, 69 percent, who scored in the English language arts subjects as Beginning Learners on the state's new and more rigorous exams, the results of which were released last week.

Beginning Learner is the lowest of the four achievement levels on the 2015 Georgia Milestones tests. Students in this category have shown knowledge and skills below the state standards and need substantial academic support to be prepared for the next grade level or course and to be on track for college and career readiness.

The 13 MCSD schools in the Achieve3000 program include 10 of the 141 Georgia public schools on the failing list that would be eligible for state takeover if the November 2016 ballot referendum to form an Opportunity School District is approved.

They are Baker Middle School and nine elementary schools: Davis, Dawson, Forrest Road, Fox, Georgetown, Lonnie Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr., Rigdon Road and South Columbus.

Lewis' administration added Carver High, Downtown Elementary and Eddy to the Achieve3000 program because they are at risk of being on that failing list as well.

Title I gap

It isn't a surprise that students at Eddy or any other Title I school are struggling on the Georgia Milestones tests.

In fact, none of the district's 16 non-Title I schools had a majority of its students score as Beginning Learners.

Title I schools may receive extra federal funding if at least 35 percent of their students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

The low-income rate among MCSD's Title I schools, however, is much higher.

The MCSD Title I school with the lowest rate of eligible students is 68.5 percent, according to Tim Smith, the district's federal programs director.

The challenges these schools face start at home.

"The findings of a meta-analysis by Dr. John Hattie of all significant research studies conducted on factors influencing student achievement indicate that socioeconomic status, home environment, parental involvement, birth weight, drug interventions, and family structure have the greatest influence on student performance," Lewis wrote in an email response to the L-E's questions. "Furthermore, students with cognitive disabilities and those students from non-English speaking households have additional obstacles they have to overcome."

Hattie, a researcher and professor in Australia, published his findings in a book called "Visual Learning."

Lewis cited the following statistics to describe some of those obstacles in his 32,000-student district:

73 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals.

More than 800 students are considered homeless.

47 percent of students live in single-parent homes.

13 percent of students qualify for special-education services.

At Eddy, 100 percent of the 481 students as of October 2014 were eligible for free lunch, according to the Georgia Department of Education's latest poverty data. Eddy principal Shermaine Derrick said approximately 67 percent of the students come from families receiving public assistance through social services.

Eddy has a Title I intervention teacher, Michelle Crooks, who teaches the teachers how to improve their teaching.

During the L-E's visit, Crooks modeled how to use Achieve3000 as she taught 15 eighth-graders, and Sureya Hendrick, the district's English Language Arts content specialist for grades 6-12, explained some of the details and background behind the program.

Gradual release

The approach to instruction used by Crooks is called gradual release. The teacher guides the students to assume increasingly more responsibility for their learning and to spark critical thinking.

As opposed to the traditional lecture method, the teacher proceeds from "I do" to "We do" to "You do."

"According to research," Hendrick said, "kids pick up 30 percent more when they're doing the talking, so that's why the collaborative learning part is important."

The reading levels in the Achieve3000 program are expressed through Lexiles.

The Lexile scale measures a text's complexity and a person's reading ability, meaning the student can comprehend at least 75 percent of the text.

Students take an exam that establishes their initial Lexile level. That level increases or decreases based on how well they do on the computerized lessons.

Georgia's new and more rigorous standards assume students will read on at least a 1300 Lexile level by 12th grade.

The average U.S. high school senior graduates with a 920 Lexile level, according to the Achieve3000 company, based in Lakewood, N.J.

Eighth-grade reading levels should range from 1010 to 1185.

But in this class, Hendrick said, the Lexiles are as low as 300 (equivalent to first grade) and as high as 1000 (equivalent to seventh grade).

Crooks, however, started the lesson with the text at a 1050 Lexile, the middle band for eighth grade, to stretch the students toward the standard. The text they used was an Associated Press news story about hip-hop music being studied as an academic subject in college.

Here's an example of how one sentence from the article has the same content but is stated differently, depending on the Lexile level:

Far below the standard: "Students say they like learning from real DJs and rappers."

Approaching the standard: "Students say they appreciate the opportunity to learn from established DJs."

Meeting the standard: "Students say they relish the opportunity to learn from established DJs."

MCSD is teaching more nonfiction texts because that's the shift the state's standardized tests have made.

The former state exams, the Criterion-Refernced Competency Tests, contained 60 percent fiction, also called literary text, while the new Georgia Milestones contain 70 percent nonfiction, or informational text.

"The Common Core is saying, 'To get these kids college and career ready, they've got to be exposed to more informational text,'" Hendrick said.

Because informational text is harder for most students to comprehend than literary text, she said, that translates into real-world trouble.

"They can't understand brochures, technical manuals, things like that," Hendrick said.

The Lexile level for a typical apartment lease is 1180, and it's 1200 for Apple product instructions, Hendrick said. "So we're exposed to complex text on a daily basis, and we need to read and truly understand it to be proficient and productive citizens."

Good reading habits

Crooks had the students read aloud the "Habits of a Good Reader" projected on the classroom's Smart Board: question, summarize, connect (to the text, to yourself, to the world), analyze and synthesize. The target for this lesson was the first two steps: question and summarize.

Crooks asked the students, "Why do we need to have these habits?"

Many answered in unison, "To be a good reader."

Crooks noted, "To be a good reader, you're going to reach your college and career ready Lexile bands."

Each student picked a career they'd like to pursue and saw the corresponding Lexile level that is expected of people who work in those jobs. So the reading lessons have a practical implication for the students.

A student who chose graphic designer saw he would need to improve his Lexile level from 865 (fifth grade) to 1320 (11th and 12th grade) for an average chance to succeed in that career.

"It helps them realize where they are now and where they need to be," said Derrick, the principal. "So they're a little more motivated."

She said students have stopped her in the hallway to excitedly tell her their Lexile level had improved.

"That makes my day," she said. "It means they're getting it."

The school celebrates those accomplishments. Each month, Eddy honors the students who improved their Lexile level by posting their name on the "SWAG" bulletin board, standing for "Students With Achievement Gains." They also are invited to an ice cream social, which 76 students out of Eddy's more than 400 students earned in the program's first month, Derrick said. That number ballooned to 187 the following month, she added.

Crooks kept the Lexile standard top-of-mind for the students throughout the lesson. She showed the students that the minimum Lexile level expected of students by the end of eighth grade is 1010.

"And how can you get there," Crooks asked, "by utilizing what?"

"The habits," a student answered.

"Exactly!" Crooks exclaimed.

Context clues

The article they read in this lesson was titled, "School of Hip-Hop: Should hip-hop studies be considered as a valid program offered by American colleges?"

Depending on the students' Lexile level, Achieve3000 gives them a vocabulary list of words that might be unfamiliar to them. The paragraphs are numbered to more easily find the words.

For example, students who understand the word "graduation" might not know that "commencement" can be used for the same ceremony.

Instead of asking the students to find the definitions in a dictionary, Crooks instructs them to use the context of the article to figure them out.

Here's the paragraph with "commencement" in the 2009 news story from the AP:

"Freddy Fresh, a professional DJ since 1992, is among the new teachers recruited by McNally Smith College of Music (MSCM) for a hip-hop studies program that the school's officials say is the first in the nation. The 45-credit program began in September 2009, and officials hope to see its first students,12 men and 2 women, receive their diploma certificates at commencement in the summer of 2010."

Crooks: "Where do you receive your diploma?"

"Your high school," a student answered.

Crooks: "Your high school what?"

"Graduation," another student answered.

Crooks: "So what does commencement mean?"

"Graduation," several students answered together.

Crooks: "There you go. You used the context clues."

Achieve3000 takes the students through a five-step literacy routine:

Respond to a poll question about the article's topic before reading it.

Read the article.

Answer questions about the article to measure comprehension of the article. Students must earn a 75 percent or higher to receive credit for reading the article and improve their Lexile level.

Respond to another poll question about the article's topic after reading it to see if opinion changed and if so to explain why. During this lesson, 38 percent of the students changed their opinion after reading the article. "You made valid reasoning," Crooks told them.

Answer a more thought-provoking question. This is called a constructed or open-ended response, which requires students to apply knowledge and demonstrate critical thinking. The Georgia Milestones tests include these tougher types of questions instead of just multiple choice.

Crooks instructed the students to read the first two paragraphs of the article. Then they clicked on the screen to type in questions about what they read.

"This is where you have to dig a little deeper," Crooks told them.

One student asked, "Who had the idea to study hip-hop?" Another asked, "Why do people become rappers and DJs?" And another asked, "How did Freddy Fresh get to where he is today?"

Crooks told them, "As you read the rest of the article, you're hoping your question is answered. If not, what can you do?"

Several students responded that they can research and read other sources.

Other initiatives

Achieve3000 and the structured teaching method of gradual release are two of the initiatives MCSD has implemented to improve student achievement since the school board hired Lewis in July 2013 from Polk County, Fla., where he was an associate superintendent.

From fiscal year 2014 to 2015, Lewis' reorganization of the district cut 122 central administration positions (from 1,103 to 987), saving $1,132,749 in salaries (from $27,289,907 to $26,157,158). That has helped MCSD pay for Achieve3000, as well as:

enVisionMATH for grades K-5, costing $960,815 over two fiscal years. In return, the district receives about $3.9 million in free materials.

Reading Wonders for grades K-5, costing $1,755,022 over two fiscal years. In return, the district receives $5,126,230 in free materials.

Other initiatives include:

Edivation PD360, an on-demand collection of professional development resources comprising more than 2,500 videos of master teachers demonstrating classroom examples of best practices about 125 topics.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), which fosters a school environment more conducive to learning by using proactive approaches to discipline.

Communities in Schools, which promotes more involvement from the community to encourage students to stay in school and achieve in life.

Looking ahead

Lewis plans to ask the board to approve a new English language arts curriculum to be implemented in middle schools and high schools next school year.

He said he is considering incentives for teachers whose students are majority Beginning Learners.

"We are currently piloting a program in one of our elementary schools," he wrote in his email to the L-E, "whereby the struggling students are re-grouped in a smaller class and taught by a high performing teacher with demonstrated results.

"If deemed successful, it would be our intention to replicate the model throughout the district. Moreover, we are in the process of identifying highly effective model classrooms that can serve as demonstration sites for other teachers to visit. In both instances, these high performing classroom teachers could then be eligible for stipends."

Lewis also is considering extending the academic year for those schools, or providing "additional opportunities via our planned virtual programming, but this is obviously contingent upon funding availability."

And it will take support beyond the schools and district staff, he said.

"Parents should collaborate with teachers and administrators to develop a plan to assist students scoring Beginning and Developing Learner outside of the school day with the prior grade level standards they have not mastered," Lewis wrote. "Schools throughout the system offer opportunities outside of the school day for struggling students to receive intensive remediation. If needed, transportation is also accessible.

"Students have free access to online resources offered by the Chattahoochee Valley Library System and through the district and school websites. Additionally, parent engagement activities are offered through Title One services and schools provide additional safety nets during the school day."

Morale

For many in MCSD, this was a rough week as they digested the Georgia Milestones results, which showed about three-fourths of the district's schools were below the state average in overall performance on the spring 2015 tests.

"Our teachers, they're concerned some," said Hendrick, the ELA content specialist. The inner part of you really doesn't like to look at low scores, but I think it has put some fire up under our teachers now, and they're up for the challenge. They see the task.

"Yes, we have a hard road, but I think they have squared their shoulders back, and now we're ready to take the mountain now.

Hendrick, a 1990 graduate of Baker High School, attended Eddy as a student, "so this is a labor of love for me," she said. Her job is one of the new positions Lewis created in his reorganization of the administration.

"We have the tools in place, our superintendent has put the plan in place, and we have great teachers. We're going to slay this giant called Milestones."

Lewis put it this way:

"Georgia Milestones is a catalyzing event and serves as a call to action for the systemic change that is underway as well as parental and community support for that change," he wrote. "Given the time, resources, and support we remain confident that we can and will meet these challenges as a community in becoming the premier district we all desire."

Mark Rice, 706-576-6272. Follow him on Twitter@MarkRiceLE.

This story was originally published November 21, 2015 at 11:39 PM with the headline "Muscogee County School District using new program to help boost student achievement ."