Yet we do have a pocket of students who don't demonstrate the same success as others, and I am wondering how we can affect better growth and development for those students. This is a question that often finds educators and administrators at odds with and amongst each other since there are many perspectives with regard to students that struggle.
As I think of this issue, there are a number of strategies that have worked with students who fall into this category. Those efforts include the following:
- Steady, consistent, targeted, small-group or individualized supports with skilled educators
- Culturally proficient teaching/learning efforts
- In-school and at-home targeted tech-related support
- Positive coaching and support
- Thoughtful attention, analysis, and decision-making prior to the start of the school year with regard to scheduling and programming
- Professional patterns that support optimal research, development, and service
Efforts that don't work as well include the following:
- less targeted, drive-by supports
- less effective lesson planning
- less rigorous standards and expectations
- groups that are too big or too disruptive to teach
- lack of role models or examples of best learning
- lack of good strategic analysis and programming
- coaching that is not positive or uplifting, but instead demeaning
So as I think deeply about what we could have done to uplift the development of the very few students who didn't make as much progress as others last year, I think we may have done the following:
- less choppy, and more consistent support. For example one student who had steady support with a skilled teacher made much more progress than another student who had choppy supports with multiple professionals.
- at-home and in-school targeted tech support. A child who made substantial progress had this, while the students who made less progress, in general, did not have this.
- small groups or independent service delivery. In some cases, I believe the service delivery for those who did not make as much progress included groups that were too large for the kind of sensitive, targeted support they needed.
- high expectations. I do think that, in some cases, the expectations for what students are capable of were too low thus translating into less progress.
I want to be mindful of my own work in this regard as we can always get better at serving every child. So as I move my teaching/learning work forward I want to work towards those attributes that truly affect best progress and development.
