Gosnell talks technology, at-risk students

GOSNELL -- New technology and intervention for at-risk students were the main topics of discussion at Monday night's meeting of the Gosnell School Board.

In her report, Elementary Principal Angie Middleton gave board members a demonstration of Live Binders, a new database-type technology that allows teachers to create online "binders" for sharing links, resources, curriculum documents and other instructional materials. The binders provide an easy place for teachers to access resources from other teachers, and are also being used to store documentation for the state's upcoming new teacher rating system based on a virtual portfolio of their work and students' test scores.

Middleton also showed the board "BookFlix," an online database of e-books available to teachers from primary to high school levels. The program presents both a non-fiction and a fiction book together on a common topic, both of which can be watched in a video format. Games are also available for reinforcement of certain math and literacy topics.

Secondary Principal Lynn Whitehead told the board that his school has been focusing on improving its graduation rate, and has debuted a new twist this year on its Alternative Learning Environment (ALE) program.

According to high school counselor Kelly Lammers, who runs the program, ALE is all about providing students who are at a high risk of dropping out with an alternative setting to learn, and helping them to catch up on credits lost so that they can graduate. In a small group setting of no more than 15 students at a time, the ALE program keeps the students fairly isolated from the general student body -- in the same classroom all day, with no visits to lockers and a separate lunch period. Teachers visit the classroom on a rotating basis to work with students in small groups, and they also have access to online credit recovery programs and distance learning courses. Lammers said at first she had doubts about Whitehead's idea for the program, thinking students and parents would resist at the idea of being isolated to one room all day. But she said the response has been overwhelmingly positive and the program is producing results.

"We always have some students at risk of dropping out for some reason -- problems at home or discipline issues -- there's really no common thread between the students who end up in this program other than the fact that they need help to graduate," she said. "It's really working. Struggling students are able to graduate on time, and I have never seen students so proud of themselves and their progress in learning. Attendance improves for them -- students who were only showing up one day out of the week are coming four or five now."

Also Monday, Assistant Superintendent Kevin Evans said through some funding available at the state educational co-op, the district plans to provide its career and technical education teachers with two carts of 16 laptops each, which can be rotated between classrooms.

In other district news, the board adopted a calendar for the 2013-14 school year, approved a 3 percent raise for administration and classified staff, and discussed the district's recent audit -- which showed no negative findings.

The board meeting for April was moved to Monday, the 15th, so that administrators will have sufficient time to do any necessary hiring for next year.

sharris@blythevillecourier.com