With a new school year on the horizon, teachers face many uncertainties while preparing for the fall. In March, schools across the U.S. suddenly closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, turning the education system on its head. It is more important than ever for educators, states, and communities to work together to discuss ways to prevent learning loss and keep students engaged in a remote, blended learning environment.
While learning loss is not a new concept, the recent crisis has shown a spotlight on it. Recently, New Classrooms hosted a webinar to discuss how its innovative personalized learning platform, Teach to One: Math (TTO), has helped support teachers and engage students in understanding core math concepts while closing the gaps of unfinished learning.
Teach to One Provides a Necessary System and Structure
For leaders at Phoenix International Academy, Teach to One’s personalized approach to learning has been welcomed with open arms. A charter school that is still in its infancy, Phoenix International Academy has been a bright light for many students and their families living in an underserved community in Phoenix, Arizona.
Ivette Rodriguez is the executive director at the school and says that from day one, its mission has been to give every child what they need when they need it, which is just what Teach to One has to offer. When COVID-19 forced schools to close, Rodriguez and her team knew that they needed to act fast to keep the kids engaged, including delivering laptops and hotspots to students in need.
Rodriguez explained during the webinar that the benefits that TTO offers made the transition to remote learning much easier and ensured that students stayed on track. As a result, student engagement has been highest among those enrolled in TTO at the school.
Amanda Van Dusen is the learning community leader at Phoenix International Academy and has helped bring Teach to One to the school. She shares that prior to school closures, TTO helped bring students and teachers together, working collaboratively and with less stress.
“The system and the structure was already there, which was the most exciting part of planning the remote learning process. TTO has made teachers and students less stressed during this time,” explains Van Dusen. “It’s been wonderful to know that there is still one harmonious piece to the students’ day.”
Collaboration Is the Key to Success
At SLAM! Charter School in North Miami Beach, Maritza Soto is one of the teachers that operate Teach to One. During the webinar, she shares that “TTO set the foundation from day one, even before COVID-19 Important of Teamwork.” The culture that TTO encourages is that of teamwork and collaboration between peers and educators. Because one of the important modalities used for teaching students core concepts is technology-based, the transition to remote learning has been almost seamless.
Everything from the TTO portal can be accessed at home. To continue team activities, Soto, like many others, turned to Zoom, using breakout rooms for each group and trying to make it feel as close to the classroom setting as possible. Soto explains that the communication line was very fluid to continue moving forward with instruction as the school closed. Soto shares that parent involvement has been extremely important in student success. Any concerns regarding TTO were met with practical solutions as a team.
A Transformative Solution to Filling the Gaps
At Somerset Academy Charter Schools in Miami, Teach to One has proven that students have much to gain from personalized instructional lessons. The TTO approach allows students to fill in mathematical gaps in proficiency while still learning grade-level concepts to stay on track.
Athena Gullien, the principal at Somerset Academy’s Central Miramar Campus, shares incredible results, noting that the school has seen 65 percent of students enrolled in TTO make three grade levels of progress in just one year. Gullien raves about the positive way that Teach to One has empowered the students. She says, “They are self motivated. TTO has instilled a sense of intrinsic motivation.” She and Joel Mesa, the math curriculum director at Somerset Academy, say that the students continue to be motivated and engaged even through remote learning.
As they look toward the new school year, the versatility that Teach to One offers will allow it to continue to be a mainstay at Somerset as an approach to intervention and filling in the gaps in student learning.
Teach to One Is a Holistic Learning Approach
Rounding out the webinar, Joel Rose, co-founder and CEO of New Classrooms, shared insight on the importance of dynamic approaches, such as Teach to One, for filling in the gaps to promote student success.
Rose highlights his report, “The Iceberg Problem,” in which the data shared identifies the significant impact that learning gaps can have over time. Student growth and grade-level proficiency significantly drop, especially in the subject of math, which relies on cumulative concepts.
He shares that TTO is working to combat the Iceberg Problem by creating a tailored path to get students from where they are to where they need to be. The goal is to get them caught up and back to grade level as quickly as possible. While he agrees that technology-based solutions like Teach to One are not going to replace traditional classroom learning, he does feel that a blend of both methods are key to student success.
“Teaching is a social and emotional process, and that shouldn’t change, regardless of the level of technology we have,” he goes on. “Teachers provide the magic that really helps the student learn. The technology we use allows us to help those teachers do what they do best.”
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