Know every student well through many adults, multi-year teacher loops, and flexible small-group instruction¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

A central quality of the case study schools is that every student is known well by many teachers, not just one. Teachers probe into each student's interests, home background, parents, culture, learning style, and academic strengths and weaknesses, and schools tap the community to personalize instruction. Schools use very little whole-class teaching: students work in flexible small groups or learning stations on personalized lessons, with further differentiation within groups, and Montgomery Center loops middle school subject teachers with the same students for three years.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Structures ensuring many adults know each student, not just one teacher

Constraints¶

• The schools use very little whole-class teaching and no grading on a curve or teachers working in isolation

Target Learners¶

• K-12 students in high-poverty public schools
• including English learners and students in special education

Target Learning Goals¶

• personalized instruction reaching high achievement and equity for every student

Related Strategies¶

• Personalize professional development by differentiating it and assigning educators by strengths and student needs
• Start simple: relationships-first, low-tech student success systems can suffice in small, tight-knit communities
• Use advisories and looping to ensure every student is known and supported by adults
• Design schools for strong, personalized relationships through small learning communities, looping, advisory systems, teaching teams, and longer grade spans

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Equity-focused Schools Carry All Students to High Levels. (2014). WestEd R&D Alert, Vol. 15, No. 1. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED559627