“A lot of people still think of this old model of 23 kids sitting in desks in rows, getting the same instruction at the same time. And we know that model doesn’t work,” said Melissa Cropper, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers. “In an elementary classroom, there are so many different things going on at once.”
Cropper said having another person in the classroom, even if it’s just to take care of management issues, allows a teacher to focus on instruction. Ohio Department of Education data shows the number of special education teachers and instructional aides have increased every year from 2011 to 2015.
Kettering schools use teacher teams and data teams to analyze each student’s needs and decide what support is needed. Some Dayton schools use teams of Title 1 teachers and aides — who serve low-income and other disadvantaged students — putting as many as four staffers in a classroom for brief sessions to work with students at different ability levels.
“My experience is that there is no single best way,” said Damon Asbury, director of legislative services for the Ohio School Boards Association. “The key is for the classroom teacher and the specialist to have ongoing communication to ensure that the student remains on track and that any out-of-classroom instruction … is in synch with the classroom teacher.”
One class example
Mandy Guilmain’s 23 third-graders were working on the book “Third Grade Angels” on a recent Tuesday morning at Stevenson Elementary in Riverside. One group read the chapter aloud together, others took a computer quiz, while a third group did a worksheet tied to the book.
Most students made steady progress, but as in any classroom, some needed help. In the reading group, one boy trying to follow the text with his pointer finger struggled to keep up. He shot quick glances around to see if the rest of the group noticed.
In the worksheet group, one student had barely started and got up to sharpen and resharpen his pencil repeatedly. In the computer group, one girl stalled briefly because she couldn’t navigate to the quiz page.
Guilmain surveyed the room, providing academic support at one table, encouraging students to solve organizational problems at another, and always steering 8-year-olds back on topic.
But having another educator in the room helps to ensure problems are addressed more quickly, especially when some students are uncomfortable raising their hands.
“I have to work very closely with my student teacher and my intervention specialist. We do planning and collaborating so we can meet the needs of all of my students … then we put them in small groups according to their needs,” Guilmain said. “Having that extra hand in the room really allows us to meet the needs of the kids.”
On that recent small-group Tuesday, intervention specialist Danielle Wyen read along with the struggling reader, sounding out some words. Guilmain corralled the serial pencil sharpener, helping him focus on the first worksheet question, which led him to zoom through the next five questions. And reinforcing the room’s theme of “friends,” a classmate saw the girl struggling on the computer and helped her log in.
Money a factor
It’s no shock that the presence of more adults in the classroom make it easier to respond when multiple students have concerns — ask any coach who has run a practice without an assistant, or a parent who has chaperoned a large group to a museum.
But schools have limited resources and must decide how to allocate them to meet the needs of students while still keeping the bills paid.
Stevenson Elementary Principal Cory Miller said he relies heavily on performance data and teacher input before asking district leadership for additional staff. He said his school tries to be creative, whether through training for existing staff, or this year, getting three AmeriCorps volunteers through the county Educational Service Center.
“When you have limited funds, you have to make tough decisions,” Cropper said, agreeing with Miller’s statement about understanding students’ needs. “How do you decide what’s more important — an intervention specialist or a librarian or music teacher, or another classroom teacher?
“It costs a lot to give our children a high-quality education, and some students cost more to educate than others.”
Making it work
Most educators agreed that districts vary widely on how they support teachers. Dru Miller, director of curriculum and instruction in Kettering schools, said her district has been using its federal Title 1 money to hire more teachers than aides, saying the extra cost is worth it for the better instruction.
Bob Buchheim, who holds the same position in Dayton Public Schools, said they’ve been using an inclusion approach, trying to push more support into classrooms, rather than pull students out for 1-on-1 time. He said pulling kids out can create wasted transition time and risks having them miss key classwork.
Third-grade teacher Melissa Gallagher, Kettering’s teachers union president, said getting those type of details right can be the key to successful teacher support.
“Extra people can be wonderful, but it depends who are the kids, how much does it impact your schedule, who’s supposed to be where when? Sometimes I’m more time manager than teacher,” Gallagher said. “We can’t put the average and high kids on hold while other people need (help). So it’s a real fine line.”
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