In December, five Maine educators leading school innovations and working towards systemic change to create powerful outcomes for Maine students were featured in a webinar hosted by The Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Northeast & Islands with nearly 100 educators from across the country present.
The goal of the webinar was to deepen understanding of different types and purposes of educational assessment within the context of implementing an educational innovation. These educators shared a variety of data sources they used to establish evidence of efficacy as they worked toward systemic change.
Portland Public Schools
The first team of educators to present in the webinar were Brooke Teller and Katie West of Portland Public Schools. They shared assessment tools to measure the desired outcomes of increased exposure and engagement for all students, teacher joy, knowledge and commitment to outdoor and experiential learning, and a greater awareness and understanding of Environmental Literacy Practices and Indigenous Worldview. They have a district-wide innovation for 3,200 K-5 students. By examining student field journals, conducting interviews, and surveys, these innovators were able to begin to capture the impact of their innovation on not just students but the larger community.
“We’ve been doing interviews and collecting anecdotes and stories because we know how powerful a story can be,” said Brooke Teller of Portland Public Schools.
Falmouth Middle School
Katie Coppens of Falmouth Middle School shared their Rethinking Responsive Education Ventures (RREV) Pilot: The Navigator Program. The goal of this innovation is to foster empathy and responsibility for the community by immersing students in the natural, cultural, and historical elements of the community and to use these as a foundation for the study of science, social studies, and other subjects across the curriculum. The People & Places of the Presumpscot unit was the first step in creating district-wide place-based programming. Katie shared creative pre and post unit assessments that demonstrated student growth.
“When you think of the Presumpscot River what word comes to mind?”
“This simple snapshot is a measurement that shows the impact this place based unit has on student understanding and connection to the Presumpscot River,” Katie Coppens, Falmouth Public Schools.
Agnes Gray Elementary School
Outdoor Learning in the Oxford Hills was the focus of Sarah Timm’s presentation. As a result of capturing outcomes of increased engagement and motivation, improved student behavior, and academic achievement, the program began the second year of implementation by moving from one elementary school in the district to all 8 elementary schools in the district. The success of the innovation with the elementary schools has informed their decision to provide outdoor learning opportunities to preK-12 students.
“We are collecting data about how student behavior in the woods compares to student behavior on metal and plastic playground equipment.” Sarah Timm, Outdoor Learning Coach describes one data measure at Agnes Gray Elementary school a school with a forest playground for students.
Maine Indian Education Schools
Gen Doughty, the RREV Leader for the Maine Indian Education Schools, has been supporting the implementation of Extended Learning Opportunities, Place-Based and Project-based learning in order to increase meaningful student participation and to strengthen connection to the community. It only makes sense that as their innovative pilot focuses on a shared way of life, culture, customs, and traditions, that they assess educational outcomes in a way that aligns with Wabanaki Culture. Gen shared that while they originally tried to measure connection to community and culture through surveys but it wasn’t meaningful information. That led Gen and her team of educators to the challenge of examining how the Wakanaki culture would go about a quest for knowledge. That led to the use of storytelling through small and large talking circles which provided a much deeper understanding of how to respond to student needs.
“The school is a place where many gather , not just a place for our students, our families are involved and we have community meetings and different sorts of activities that happen for our entire families to join in with our students.” Gen Doughty.
The Maine Demartment of Education (DOE) encourages all schools and districts across the State of Maine to learn more about RREV innovative educators and their pilot programs through the RREV website and the online RREV collaborative platform known as EnGiNE. It is through EnGiNE that we hope to continue the momentum to change students’ lives through innovative and responsive educational programs.