Fayetteville's Leverett School Continues STEM Focus

Designated As School Of Innovation By State

FILE DAVID GOTTSCHALK Maurissa Roberts, right, Projects Lead the Way teacher at Leverett Elementary School, works with Kele Estes-Beard, from left, Grady Gottschalk, Anshuman Nandy, assistant principal Joe McClung and Joseph Casey on Feb. 26 at the Fayetteville School.
FILE DAVID GOTTSCHALK Maurissa Roberts, right, Projects Lead the Way teacher at Leverett Elementary School, works with Kele Estes-Beard, from left, Grady Gottschalk, Anshuman Nandy, assistant principal Joe McClung and Joseph Casey on Feb. 26 at the Fayetteville School.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Early observations indicate student learning is on the upswing at Leverett Elementary School because of a continuing shift in instruction that started two years ago.

Leverett administrators and teachers are integrating more science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM subjects, into traditional core subjects of reading, math, science and social studies.

At A Glance

School of Innovation

A School of Innovation is a new designation for schools as a result of Act 601 adopted by the Arkansas Legislature in the 2013 session. A school may apply for waivers from existing state education standards which have a high likelihood improve outcomes for students. The State Education Commissioner is charged with approving applications for Schools of Innovation. Beside Leverett Elementary in Fayetteville, six Springdale schools were approved as Schools of Innovation. They are Springdale and Har-Ber high schools; Central, George and Lakeside junior high schools; and Westwood Elementary School

Source: Staff Report

The effort has made Leverett one of the first Schools of Innovation in the state. A law passed in 2013 created a designation for schools to provide innovative strategies to raise the level of student learning and student performance on state and national assessments.

The state Department of Education recently announced six Springdale schools and one each in Flippin, Weiner and Russellville also have the designation. The department received more than 100 applications.

"True innovation is to change the way teachers teach and engaging students more deeply in math and science," said Mike Daugherty, head of the curriculum and instruction department in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas.

Leverett is doing that, Daugherty said. He and others from the university have been working with the Leverett teachers on professional development, collaboration activities and developing curriculum.

Leverett is one of the oldest schools in Fayetteville with 300 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The school was declared an open enrollment school several years ago, allowing students from throughout the district to attend. About one-third of the students are transfers, said Principal Cheryl Putnam.

A STEM school includes student collaboration, experimentation, problem-solving and reinforced critical thinking. The basics are taught under the Common Core state standards with more math, science, technology and engineering built into the instruction, she said.

Using an engineering design process, students are given a problem and asked to find a solution, Putnam said.

"When you teach this way, you have no idea of the outcome. The sky's the limit," Putnam said while stressing the importance of reading in instruction.

Justin Minkel, whose daughter will be in the first grade, said the best things his daughter is learning are innovation, ingenuity and collaboration. These skills will be more important when his daughter graduates from college in 2030 than learning cursive writing now, he said.

Kindergartners, including Minkel's daughter, last year did a Humpty Dumpty Egg Drop. They designed a protective cradle for an egg to protect it from breaking when dropped several feet to the ground.

"I did this in fifth or sixth grade and then only the gifted and talented class got to do it," Minkel said. "At Leverett, all children were doing this experiment as 5 year 0lds."

During a presentation to the School Board in March, Minkel said, "The thing we like about Leverett is they focus on kids as thinkers."

In a first-grade classroom last year, for instance, students were given cardboard, straws, paper and a tub of water. The problem was to build a device to float across a body of water, like a river. By the end of the first semester, the students wrote a story about the how, why and limitation of the exercise, Putnam said.

Gracen Armendariz said her first-grade students created a lemonade stand. The goal was to learn about economics by owning or running a business. Math was necessary to measure each cup of lemonade and science for taste testing. Art and music teachers helped students design advertising posters and jingles. The money raised was donated to tornado damaged schools in Vilonia.

"The kids absolutely loved it," Armendariz said. "They are getting hands on experience but they are taking control of the topic being studied."

Armendariz said second-graders will probably tackle six projects throughout this year.

Units such as the lemonade stand are more challenging for teachers to plan and implement, Armendariz said. But the units provide more engagement for students and help students remember lessons learned during assessments.

"It's working out for the kids and that's what it's about," she said.

Goals for the coming year include increasing integration of STEM-focused instruction in math, literacy and science; improving student engagement in STEM-focused programs; reducing the number of students who need intervention and increasing the number of students working on grade level, Putnam said.

NW News on 07/14/2014

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