TORRINGTON – From 10:20 to 10:50 every morning, the kindergarten hallway at Lincoln Elementary School is filled with students and teachers camped every few feet on the floor, even as still more clump together in their classrooms.
Beginning in September, an “All Hands on Deck” initiative began. Classroom teachers, paraprofessionals, special education teachers and the interventionists funded by federal Title I money group children according to the types of literacy skills they most need to develop, and provide personalized support.
“Henry, Reese, and Chevelle, you’re going to come to this back table over here,” directed teacher Kayla Floerchinger. At the front of her classroom, a half dozen kids sat on the floor staring at tablets and listening through headphones. Others sat off to the side with Title I paraprofessional Frannie Garcia.
“So we’ve been practicing these letters,” Garcia said, holding up a flashcard with the letter ‘T’ on it. “We’re going to practice them again. So everybody say them with me.”
She’d say a word that began with the letter, and ending with the sound the letter makes.
“T. Top. Tih.” they chanted slowly.
“Now we have two new ones we’re going to add this week.” She held up the letter I. “Does anybody know what this one is? Say it with me.”
“I. Itch. Ih.”
On the other side of the classroom, Floerchinger gathered four students around her at a table and, by contrast, raced through the letters of the alphabet.
A. Apple. Aah.
B. Bat. Buh.
C. Cat. Cah.
D. Dog Duh.
Principal Nyana Sims said the “All Hands on Deck” period was an idea from the entire kindergarten department. It involves all the students, so no individuals would be singled out or removed from their classrooms for intervention.
“We were trying to figure out how we can push our kiddos – especially our [special education] kids – so they’re getting more practice, but are also included in things that are happening and not pulled out all the time,” she said. “They’re all based on what their needs are. If we have kiddos that are struggling with identifying letters still or sounds, that might be what they’re working on.”
Garcia supervised her kindergarteners as they repetitively drew letters on lined paper.
“Do the letter B for me,” she instructed. “Skyline down to the grass line. Bump back up to the plane line and around. Land on the grass line. Perfect. Keep going.”
Each group stays with a staff member for 15 minutes, then rotates. On Fridays, there is a formal assessment, which combines with instructor observations to measure student growth.
Lincoln scored below achievement targets for the past two years on the state’s WY-TOPP assessment. The school receives $277,000 in federal money from Title I of the Every Student Succeeds Act. The funding is largely a function of the percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, a proxy for family income. At Lincoln, over 50 percent of students qualify.
“All Hands on Deck,” also known as “Walk-to-Read,” is a “push-in” model of instruction. The National Association of Elementary School Principals outlines that student groups are homogeneous by skill level, with the flexibility to regroup as skills progress. Consequently, special education instructors may have students in their group who do not have individualized education plans, while classroom teachers may coach special education students.
“Right now we have so many of those kids that haven’t had a chance to learn the letters of the alphabet,” Floerchinger said. “Maybe they didn’t go to preschool or they’re just not there yet. So we just had to start with the letter names and sounds.”
Each intervention group at Lincoln had the same catalogue of activities to choose from: letter sounds, writing letters, piecing together students’ names, and pairing upper and lowercase letters.
“Miss Malia. Pick a letter. Pick a red one. What letter is that?” special education teacher Rachel Gurney asked one child who chose an uppercase flashcard.
“I?” the student asked.
“I. Itch. Ih,” Gurney confirmed. The students repeated it. “Good. Find its friend.” The student chose a lowercase I from a series of blue flashcards.
“Good, perfect, my friends. High fives. Head back to class.” The kids rushed away at the halfway mark as the next group of kindergarteners scooted in.
Sims said that while “All Hands on Deck” is literacy-focused, there is additional flex time built into the school day to address other needs, based on assessments.
“If the teachers have any kids that are struggling with the math components, the teacher keeps them for a small group and the other kids go to specials, either art, P.E., music, computers, or library for a half hour,” she said.
Jill Jackson, who runs an educational consulting company based in Southern California, evaluated the pros and cons of “All Hands on Deck.” She wrote that in theory, “It’s a great option for a highly functional staff.”
Jackson warned the factors which could make “All Hands on Deck” difficult to execute over time are lack of trust from classroom teachers toward turning their kids over to a different instructor, lack of data sharing, and differing behavioral expectations between teachers.
Floerchinger said that so far, “It’s cool to see everyone working together. All of us are on the same page. So all of us are doing the same thing. We just have to be flexible and help each other out and do what’s best for the kids.”
As Floerchinger rang a bell signalling the end of the period, a student looked over at Garcia’s notes.
“Why do you have to write really small?”
“Because I need to have room on there in case I have to write notes for all week long,” Garcia replied. “I just write down what you know and what you don’t know so I know what to help you with.”
