Our Story:
Scholls Heights opened in 1999 and currently serves 606 students. We have 68 dedicated staff to serve 24 K-5 classrooms, 2 Independent Skills Center (ISC) classrooms, and specialists for enrichment programs such as music, physical education, library, technology, and English language development (ELD).
It has been the privilege of the Scholls Heights staff and community to have two ISC specialized program classrooms for the past 6 years serving students with special needs in an inclusive environment.
We are a strong community that comes together for the needs of our students. The staff finds a nice balance between rigor and fun. We are a growing community with new developments. The staff prides themselves on building a feeling of inclusion and we focus on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) as well as academics.
When working with our Staff, here is what they had to say:
School Climate and Culture: Kids care for each other, Strong Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and parent involvement, parents are supportive of teachers, ISC Program includes general education kids who volunteer as student staff, perseverance during challenging times. We are willing to pilot district programs, we have care for our school building and our student/child-centered spaces, high expectations are consistent and are held to by staff and students alike, strong SEL support by Counselor and Student Success Coach, creativity is valued, and we adhere to Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) as a school community.
Staff: Very creative, can-do attitude, collaborative, innovative, positive, growth mindset/willing to jump into new learning, adaptable and persevering.
Along with the rest of the Beaverton School District, we have recognized the need to further equip our staff with tools to support and nurture our students’ social and emotional learning. We have made huge gains over the last couple of years in implementing the following structures: morning meeting in each classroom every day, knowledge and use of the Zones of Regulation, fostering a growth mindset, “Peace Places” as calming spaces for students to regulate their emotions, professional development for staff, Harmony lessons, and conflict resolution lessons/problem solving for students.
We use the workshop model for instruction in math, writing, and reading. Focus on knowing the students well as learners, readers, and mathematicians continues to be a primary focus for designing and implementing instruction. Use of the Independent Reading Level Assessment (IRLA) for reading provides specific guidance on where the students are as readers and what strategies need more refinement. In writing, authentic published writing and continual daily practice provide us with a roadmap for instruction. In math, we use the workshop model and mathematical practices to ensure we are supporting individual learners. Each of these areas necessitates conferring to set up individual goals, and strategic grouping during work time to link instruction to need.
Equity, anti- bias, and anti-racist practices are a key component of our learning journey this year and moving forward. We are dedicating much of our administrator directed Professional Development (PD) time for the learning and developing of anti-bias, anti-racist practices. We have brought together a team of educators to help guide us in this work. As a staff we are engaging in learning and reflection with the guidance of this committee. We are then planning to do the learning and reflection activities as a school community. In addition, we are partnering with Pat McCreery and the BSD Office of Equity and Inclusion to engage the voices of our Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities as we move forward.
Successes:
At Scholls Heights, we are proud of our English Language Arts (ELA) work. We have done intentional work with Units of Study in Reading and Writing. Our teachers have participated in district PD, as well as school level PD and collaboration. OurAcademic Coach, studio teachers, and BSD Teachers on Special Assignment (TOSAs) have helped support this work. Our staff are using these skills to meet student needs of our diverse learners.
Social Emotional Learning is also a key component to our core values. We know that when students believe staff care about them and feel accepted, they work harder for adults thus leading to higher academic success. We are a PBIS school and focus on SEL in our daily work. We know that when students are regulated, all students are better able to learn. The beginning of our school day is reserved for community work. During this time teachers build community, empathy, and teach SEL lessons and strategies. We have a strong staff and parent community that come together to support the needs of our kids.
Challenges:
During Covid and distance/remote learning, we know that the level of student participation and success was largely dependent on the age and independence of the child, along with the ability of someone in the family to help support the learning. This created an equity issue as far as access to education. Teachers and support staff did everything they could to engage all learners.
We are concerned with all student growth. However, our biggest concern is with our youngest learners. We believe students learn the foundational skills in the beginning years. With school closing in March during the 2019-2020 school year and limited required instruction, CDL for the 2020-2021 school year with optional Hybrid in the spring, we recognize the impact on students.
We have always had a range of skill levels in every classroom. This year, we are noticing an even greater range.
Action Plan:
We will continue to implement our district adopted curriculum using the workshop model. Teachers will be given time to collaborate during a portion of administrator directed time concentrating on implementing consistent curriculum and focusing on student needs.
We will monitor our schoolwide IRLA data. We will specifically focus on our students identified for schoolwide intervention services. These students will receive targeted support by our intervention team along with individualized instruction from the classroom teacher and access to classroom core lessons.
