took that led them to an incorrect answer. In addition to helping students respond to constructed response questions, the practice helps students build
other skills such as vocabulary, critical thinking, and
self-expression.
Understanding each child’s academic growth.
Rose Park’s relatively veteran staff is committed to
learning how to recognize—and best maximize—
each student’s abilities. They continually assess and
reassess student knowledge, routinely “spiraling”
information delivery to evaluate which students
have mastered what information. If specific students
have not learned something, they review it again in
class or through intervention. “Mastery is the goal
at our school,” numeracy coach Shepherd said. “If
students do not do well on a test, they can work to
learn the material and improve their scores,” she
added. “We believe students should see what they
mastered, not how poorly they did on a test two
months ago.”
Rose Park’s teachers use project-based learning activities that push students to strive for the
next levels of complexity in their understanding.
For instance, math courses use “scavenger hunt”
style activities as instructional methods to teach
the Common Core standards. In these activities,
students find different math problems posted in the
classroom that they must solve and then explain
how they arrived at their solution to the teacher.
Reading classes also incorporate language “stations” dedicated to parts of speech, descriptive writing, and vocabulary games where students rotate to
encourage engagement. Students in science classes build model race cars to bring Newton’s Laws of
Physics to life. “Engagement is important because
it keeps kids interested,” Principal Blankenship said.
“We know that at this age their attention span is
very, very short. So you have to actively get them
engaged by thinking, by doing, by hearing, seeing,
smelling