Joe Montalone, principal of Maple Glen Elementary School in the Westfield Washington School District north of Indianapolis is completing some VERY interesting research. His ideas are simple and profound. He had his students, when they returned to school this fall, take the same assessment they had the last spring. The question he is attempting to answer is, "How much learning has been retained?"

Profound idea #1 from Joe is the simple measurement of retained learning from the prior year. It seems to me that this assessment will prove to be more powerful than the traditional pre-test over current year content.

Profound idea #2 from Joe is parents were provided one random quiz for each summer week along with a student run chart to record progress. The results from Joe's two profound ideas are below. The high retention level for all students is the results of the LtoJ process and the even higher retention is the result of the summer initiative.

The difference between the students with weekly summer practice and the students without summer practice is 6%. This may seem insignificant until one realizes 6% of a year is two weeks! Saving two weeks of review time in order to have students learn new content is significant, especially when this gain is realized year after year.

Maple Glen

Totals for fall 2010 Reaching for the Stars

Totals from retained learned information from students from spring to fall:

1st grade- 94%

2nd grade- 86%

3rd grade- 88%

4th grade- 89%

Total: 89.25%

Totals for students that took part in the summer program over the summer:

1st grade- 82% students 92% correct

2nd grade- 60% students 92% correct

3rd grade- 65% students 85% correct

4th grade 76% students 90% correct

Total: 70.75% 89.75%

Totals for students that did not take part in the summer program over the summer:

1st grade- 18% students 90% correct

2nd grade 40% students 81% correct

3rd grade 35% students 81% correct

4th grade 24% students 82% correct

Total: 29.25% 83.5%

Lee Jenkins
Lee@LtoJConsulting.com

World Class

It is my opinion that no school district can become a "world class" school district and continue to spend 1/3 of its time in review. In the LtoJ seminars teachers continually state, on the average, that they spend 1/3 of the year in review.

Readers of this newsletter might ask the Algebra II teachers what percent of Algebra II is review of Algebra I? What percent of US History in middle school is review of US History from elementary school? What percent of US History in high school is review of middle and elementary US History? What percent of current textbooks are review of prior grades?
Joe Montalone's data, reported at the left documents how one Indiana elementary school is taking away "Permission to Forget" on their journey to becoming a world-class school.

If a little review is needed, then maybe it will not be possible to capture the full 33% of the year currently used for review. How about capturing 25% of the year? In a school with four teachers at a particular grade level, what if one of the teachers was credentialed in the arts or a language other than English? All students at that grade level could spend 75% of the year with their "homeroom teacher" and 25% of the year with the arts/language teacher. Think about what could be accomplished if 25% of each school year was outside the typical curriculum. "World class" would be within reach without any extra money.