Teacher Highlight

Every day we hear about new and innovative ways our customers are integrating response technology into their classrooms. These stories were so good we just couldn’t keep them to ourselves. Thats why we developed "Teacher Highlights".

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Linda Mikels
Principal, Sixth Street Prep
 

If anyone were to look back on Sixth Street Prep in the Victor Elementary School District eight years ago, they would have seen a struggling school with several years of declining test scores. Today, the school is turning the heads of not only surrounding districts but also districts across the country as they break down learning barriers with the help of Turning Technologies' student response systems and earn top Academic Performance Index (API) state scores.

At the root of this transformation is a Principal with a natural drive to improve the learning and ultimately the educational experience of students. Linda Mikels, Principal of Sixth Street Prep, from an early age and with the encouragement from her mother, knew that helping and educating others was the life path she wanted to pursue. After receiving her BA in Secondary Education, Linda went into substitute teaching, started a family and later became a full time teacher. She then went on to teach at the community college level before returning to grade school. She eventually transitioned into administration, serving as a Vice Principal and in 2001, Principal of Sixth Street Prep. Her years of experience in various levels and mediums of education prepared Linda for the challenge of improving student academic performance at Sixth Street Prep.

Sixth Street Prep is a primary charter school in San Bernardino County, CA, with students in grades K-6. The school has overcome what many would consider obstacles in the past several years including declining test scores (1998 to 2000), a large Title 1 population and a relatively young teaching staff. When Linda first arrived, Sixth Street Prep had less than acceptable results with only a 17% proficiency in English Language Arts and 30% proficiency in Mathematics. With the school qualifying as a 'High Needs" institution and a student population of nearly 50% English language learners, Linda's new position as Principal would not be easy.

Determined to turn her school around, Linda held high expectations of her staff and students. As a visible instructional leader throughout the school, Linda actively encouraged student performance through the implementation of a teaching strategy she called "the 10-A-Day Program" which Sixth Street educators enhanced with the use of Turning Technologies' student response system. This instructional method draws from the basics of data-driven instruction, assessment for learning, student engagement and immediate feedback. The 10-A-Day Program is a low stakes teacher-created program designed to help students achieve mastery of the California State Standards. It combines daily skills review with challenging grade level content that isn’t typically introduced until later in the academic school year.

The 10-A-Day Program tools consist of a ResponseCard clicker, a dry-erase board and marker for each student. In a typical class, teachers ask approximately 10 assessment questions gauging student understanding. Questions are created and presented in a manner that elicits the highest and most comprehensive form of understanding. The questions are initially based on California State Standards. Teachers then include three "distracters" that identify the most common mistakes students make. During class, students use their dry-erase board to work through the problem. Linda refers to this as "coaching time" where teachers freely move about the room and view student's work as they complete the problems on their whiteboard. During this time, Linda's staff can see common mistakes as well as offer feedback if they notice the student struggling. Before students submit their response using their assigned ResponseCard clicker, students are expected to prove their answer and disprove all incorrect choices. This practice deepens understanding and takes student thinking to the analytical and evaluation level. The instant aggregate response chart provided through the student response system gives teachers an immediate understanding of what topics students have mastered and what topics should be revisited until all students have achieved mastery.

When teachers choose to show the graphical results to the class, students are able to see how the class has performed as a team. As part of the 10-A-Day Program, students are expected to prove and disprove the answer choices to the rest of the class in complete sentences with correct academic language. This act of proving and disproving the answer choices helps even further solidify a student's understanding of the topic.

After seeing firsthand the increase in student engagement in their own learning experience, Linda and her staff were quick to adopt the 10-A-Day Program across multiple disciplines in the school. "Turning Technologies has had a greater impact on student achievement at Sixth Street than we ever anticipated. The use of their technology has dramatically shifted the focus of my staff from teaching to learning. It has effectively influenced all of our pedagogy," explained Linda. The ease of use of Turning Technologies' student response systems and the technology's ability to engage each student in the learning process has been critical to the success of the 10-A-Day Program.

The 10-A-Day Program has been used in Sixth Street Prep from 2001 to 2009 and has since produced results that any school would envy. Sixth Street Prep's Math scores have climbed from 30% to 94.2%, Reading from 17% to 80.3% and Science from 14% to 92%. Since 2001, the school's API has risen from 599 to an impressive 938. These impressive results have gained Sixth Street Prep well deserved recognition. The school was awarded the Title I Academic Achievement Award in 2006, 2007, and 2008, the California Business for Performance Excellence Star Award in 2007 and 2008, the 29th Annual Golden Bell Awards Program of the California School Boards Association in 2008 and the National Blue Ribbon School Award in 2009.

The use of Linda's 10-A-Day Program and Turning Technologies' student response system is a winning combination. A devoted advocate for improving student education, Linda is truly a leader in her ability to realize a problem and resolve it in a manner that is beneficial to both her faculty and students. When asked to make a final comment regarding this winning combination, Linda said these words, "This is a whole new paradigm for classroom instruction."