Is the District still trying to promote small learning families, such as the focus at the Academies?
The Academies have established “Professional Learning Communities” to enhance teacher collaboration, analyze student performance data, and guide instruction. The Communities are made up of 3-5 regular education teachers, special education teachers, Title I teachers, and appropriate support staff. The small grade level range (Primary Academy, Kindergarten through 2nd grade and the Intermediate Academy, 3rd through 6th grade) and multi-age, class configuration allows for a focused discussion based on a common curriculum. Assuming that each class has approximately 25 students, the Learning Community shares between 75 to 125 students. This allows for intimate discussion regarding student performance and a manageable amount of student data. The District endorses the use of “Data Teams”. As “data-driven decision-making” is a staple of the Rock Island School District, these teams are paramount to ensuring that students’ needs are met in a timely manner. A challenge arises however, when there
