Educational Support Team? More like Educational Support DREAM!
Cedarwood has long held the wish to offer truly differentiated academic programming to our students in an equitable manner that meets the diversity of learners in our building.
Over the last decade, this has shifted from outside tutors and classroom assistants to specialized in-house support instructors. As with everything else, the pandemic caused this support to shift and evolve to meet the needs of the time. I am pleased to report that on the Educational Support end, we rose to the occasion and then some.
The beginning of the pandemic marked the one-year anniversary of the Educational Support program at Cedarwood. Up until that point, I was the only teacher in the department. An incredible and unexpected gift as we headed into Connected Learning was that we were able to add two instructors to the ES team.
Grace Rahn and Bobby Smith have been integral in helping me evolve this program to meet the academic needs of students we served both individually and in small groups during Connected Learning — whether over Zoom, in the Emergency Child Care classrooms, or in the grades classrooms as students returned to campus for hybrid learning. We learned as much as we taught, and though we were physically distanced, we were able to connect with each other and our students in new and more effective ways.
During the 2020-21 school year, the Educational Support team was able to:
Run assessments with 87 students at the beginning of the year, including:
Assess all 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders in spelling, reading, and math
Assess all 6th graders previously receiving Educational Support, as well as students new to the class
Assess all 7th graders previously receiving ES for language arts
Assess select 1st and 2nd grade students in phonemic awareness and early spelling
Write 93 assessment reports for parents and class teachers in the fall of 2020
Write full class overviews for class teachers in grades 3-6 in each area assessed
Provide weekly support sessions to 49 students in grades 1-8 in:
Literacy & language arts
Mathematics
Academic planning
Assignment support
This support was flexed to accommodate students learning from home, in Emergency Child Care, and in either cohort as students came back into the building for hybrid learning.
Write or update academic Personal Educational Plans (PEPs):
For all students in grades 1-8 receiving ES
Reflecting the support provided by the team
Conduct mid-year reading assessments with 27 students in late January & February:
After just 2-4 months of support sessions, all students receiving ES in reading-focused language arts work showed progress in both words read per minute (WPM) and accuracy in decoding words read
WPM improved by anywhere from 20-400% increase, while accuracy improved by 3-28%
Attend dozens of student-specific meetings and/or conferences with parents and class teachers.
Assist in the transition process for students applying to new schools or high schools.
“Graduate” 6 students from our services before the end of the school year.
Conduct end-of-year assessments:
With all students assessed earlier in the year
Any students who joined mid-year in grades 3-5
Write 2020-21 progress reports for all students assessed:
Noting gains and challenges in each area
Making recommendations for summer support
Deepen Orton-Gillingham dyslexia training.
Looking ahead…
Now that we have been back in the building for two months of the 2021-22 school year, we are bringing what we learned with us as we welcome so many more students to in-person assessment and support sessions. We are also maintaining the positive momentum made with several students who have needed to remain online this fall, continuing to send resources home and meet over Zoom.
We have increased our ES resources selection and streamlined our record-keeping. We’ve maintained the level of beginning-of-year assessment and reporting that we accomplished in the fall of 2020.
Mr. Smith and I are currently completing practicum hours for our Orton-Gillingham certifications, Ms. Rahn is embarking on her Orton-Gillingham training this November, and I am also pursuing dyscalculia training.
We brainstorm and collaborate on a daily basis to better meet the needs of the students, parents, and teachers with whom we work.
On behalf of the team, THANK YOU to the parents who have advocated for this program and informed this work. There are so many nuances to the family and student experience, especially when neurodivergence and learning differences are involved, and we could not do this work successfully without the collaboration of home and school.
Overall, we find ourselves continually inspired and determined to build this program in a way that serves the students in our community with comprehensive, equitable support for the diversity of learners before us. This is a challenging and satisfying pursuit that only gets more interesting and more fulfilling the more we learn and the more we get to know our students.
Please reach out to us if you have any questions about your student or our program. We are here for you!
Curious about a Waldorf education for your child? Let’s connect!
Claire Harrison is what you might call a Waldorf lifer. She attended the Portland Waldorf School for fifteen years, and though her daydreaming nine-year-old self would be shocked to hear it, she graduated high school determined not to be a teacher. During high school, there were few school-related activities/teams/events she didn’t enjoy/join/plan, yet she found solace in the handwork and art studios. A pursuit of all things art- and museum-related led her to major in Art History & Visual Culture Studies at Whitman College, to study abroad in Florence, Italy, and to intern at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA.
While museums and cathedrals will always cause her heart rate to quicken, Mrs. Harrison came to realize that she wanted to bring a love of art and history to young students. She committed to pursuing a career in Waldorf teaching right after completing undergrad, accepting the position of First Grade Assistant to the Class of 2016 (who would later be her 8th graders!) the day before her senior exams (she passed!). She has worn many hats at both Cedarwood and PWS since 2008, and received her MEd in Elementary Education with Waldorf Certificate from Antioch University NE while teaching full time. Now serving as the Educational Support Specialist, she greatly enjoys working with students in every grade, helping them find true success in their time here at Cedarwood and beyond.
When not in the classroom or researching for a future lesson plan, Mrs. Harrison can be found singing The Wheels on the Bus to her son, breathing deep and building strength in a barre or yoga class, or reading late into the night. As early as second grade, she remembers stuffing a towel under her bedroom door so she could read well past bedtime without her parents seeing the glow of the flashlight. A love for the written word knows no bounds; it even inspired her graduate thesis on language arts! Educating her students has taught Mrs. Harrison more about life and learning than she ever anticipated, and she looks forward to this continuing for years to come. Supporting her every step of the way are her husband/teammate-in-life, Craig, their charismatic infant son Everett, and their zippy little pup, Biggie Smalls Harrison.