Washington Blended Learning Model

The 2014 ASBA Golden Bell winner in the Elementary Category is Prescott Unified’s Washington School for its blended learning model.

Washington is in its third year of the program which began as a solution for declining enrollment. The decline was attributed to two major factors – the recession and a change in the city’s demographics – a growing number of retirees. The school got to the point with budget cuts, that it couldn’t cut any more staff and still operate, so they decided to implement online instruction. 

Principal Harold Tenney said, “We jumped all in. It wasn’t done the way innovation is supposed to be done, but sometimes necessity requires you do things differently.”

The school spent $30,000 to increase to three technology labs and their goal was to use creatively restructure. It would combine effective teachers, support interventions, and utilize digital learning.  But the plan was not without challenges – for months the labs weren’t working. It took until the middle of the year before the kinks were worked out.

Washington replaced self-contained classrooms with multi-grade teams and selected teachers based on experience, training and passion.  The teams include academic intervention teachers and para-professionals. One quarter of daily instruction takes place in an instructional – computer lab. 

Pam Percival, a third grade ELA teacher said teaming, and the communication that comes with it, are key. The team creates shared Google Docs that each member can access and update a student’s progress in real time.

Karen Sampson, a kindergarten/first grade math teacher said computers used to be a resource like an encyclopedia, but now because it’s interactive, teachers have a continuous assessment tool.

“I can observe how the kids are performing in the lab while I’m in another room teaching. I can drive the instruction by what the kids need,” said Sampson. “They learn because they are engaged.”

Sampson also pointed out that students can go at their own level – gifted students can work at a faster pace and those who are struggling can get more help.”

Data shows the students have made significant growth in reading and math benchmarks. They’ve grown 14 points on AIMS. Washington maintained its B rating from the Arizona Department of Education, but has increased its score to just shy of an A. In a recent parent survey, 100 percent of parents agreed that the blended learning model meets the needs of their children.

Other major impacts of Washington’s Blended Learning Model:  teacher empowerment and collaboration has significantly boosted staff morale and the school has $90,000 in estimated annual savings due to staffing restructure.

Jill  Hanks
Tempe Union High School District