Instruction

This innovation ensures rigorous instruction for special education students at North Middle and Everett High. Rather than students on IEPs being pulled out for separate ELA and math classes, the teachers partner together to support these students being able to access grade level, rigorous instruction and curriculum with their peers. This has changed their perception of themselves and their academic outcomes.

Beginning in the fall of 2019, Instructional Reviews were created to better understand teaching and learning in schools in order to improve learning at scale. An Instructional Review is a process, in collaboration with a group of educators analyzing instructional practices, aimed at creating greater coherence around instructional improvement designed to fit each school setting.  Instructional Reviews support equity – ensuring each child has access to powerful learning no matter which classroom they are in; capacity – building skills and capacity of team members by coming to a common understanding of effective practice and how to support it; and support – instructional improvement at the host school by sharing what the team learns and by building skills at the local level.

Contact: Peter Scott

By October 2022, 1200 new interactive flat-screen panels have been installed in all classrooms district wide, replacing the outdated Epson projectors and related technology. 

The most significant aspect of the new interactive panels is not the technology itself, but the innovative ways that teachers are using them in classrooms to support teaching and learning. 

The benefits and opportunities for innovation include:  

  • Increased student interaction & collaboration  
  • Better student engagement 
  • Enhanced support for all learning styles 
  • More inclusive classrooms 
  • More flexible learning environments 

5th grade classrooms are piloting a program to have students use the interactive panels through their devices.

Contact: Brian Beckley

Due to the vocational nature of 18-21 programs for students with IEPs who require a transition program, the district worked to contract with the Volunteers of America at the Carl Gipson Center to house one of our GOAL classes. Having our class at the Carl Gipson Center has afforded our students the opportunity to get hands-on training in a professional kitchen where food is prepared for the seniors and other patrons who frequent the facility. It has allowed our students the ability to expand their skill set to include maintenance and operations, retail science, food handling, child care, community engagement and customer service. This partnership with the Volunteers of America has proven to be invaluable to our students, staff and the community. Our students have added a lively hum to the facility that our senior community and the staff at the Carl Gipson Center have come to love and look forward to. 

 Contact: Mindy Arnold

Students are learning through the Engineering and Design Process how to build bridges by learning about the different components of bridges, bridge designs, and types of bridges that are used depending on their purpose. Through the use of the STEM science kit provided by the district, students will also learn about the properties of materials and the forces that act upon bridges. While collaborating with their team, the students will then plan, create, and test their bridge creations for strength, stability, and usefulness. Teams will then gather information after testing to improve their bridge designs. Purchasing the bridge building kits through the EPS Foundation Grant will enhance student understanding by building various bridge designs in order to test for strength. It is the hope that, while building with the kits, students will have a deeper understanding of the various structures of bridges and how these structures distribute forces placed on them Transferring this knowledge into their own team-created designs is the student learning target. The kits allow students to build 4 different types of bridges. We will make connections to their world with these kits and discuss the bridges they see in their everyday lives and why different bridges are use depending on length of span needed, amount of force placed on it, and the materials available to build them. Students will also learn that bridges are an important technology that solves a problem and that engineers are the problem solvers.

Contact: Lisa Noble

The grant for "Band is Awesome" helped purchase curriculum materials for learning instruments. . Access to these resources ensures no student misses out on the opportunity to excel in music.

Contact: Joseph Gudorf