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October 9, 2014 VO LUME 1 26 | IS S UE 1 1 | 7 5 ¢
A R A P A H O E C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
LittletonIndependent.net
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A nightmare
District seeking to raise scores LPS goes from first in state to fifth for English-language learners By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@coloradocommunitymedia.com
on Main Street
Zombies prove once again they are a patient bunch, politely waiting in line at the Reinke Bros. parking lot for a lunch of barbecue pork, corn on the cob, rolls and more. The annual Zombie Crawl drew hundreds to downtown Littleton on Oct. 4.
POSTAL ADDRESS
Each year in Littleton, shortly after fall arrives, hundreds of zombies march along Littleton Boulevard, then onto Main Street and take over downtown Littleton. This year, the parade of the undead came on Oct. 4. It started at the Woodlawn Shopping Center and ended downtown at Reinke Bros. for a pig roast. The annual Zombie Crawl is sponsored by the Historic Downtown Littleton Merchants Association. Greg Reinke, president of the merchants association and owner of Reinke Bros., said at least 500 zombies took part this year.
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P L EA SE R ECYC L E T H I S C OPY
ABOVE: The zombie on the right believes communication is key for the undead, apparently pausing to snap a selfie on her cell phone. BELOW: Zombies showed little interest in window shopping on Main Street, instead pushing forward with relentless determination to their final destination: a pig roast at Reinke Bros.
The growth and achievement scores for English-language learners in Littleton Public Schools fell from first to fifth in the state for the 2013-14 school year, according to data presented to the board of education on Sept. 25. “It doesn’t really matter what subgroup they’re in,” said Patti Turner, director of learning services. “If they haven’t caught up, that’s what’s important to us.” The district encourages families of English-language learners to send their kids to the five schools that are equipped with specialists: Centennial, East and Field elementaries; Goddard Middle School; and Littleton High School. Of those, Centennial and Field are over the median growth percentile of 60 on the TCAP, sitting at 65 and 69, respectively. The others are within seven points of reaching that benchmark. Deputy Superintendent Connie Bouwman says staff will be reaching out to betterperforming districts and consultants to get a fresh perspective on their approach to raising those scores. She also said the “co-teaching” strategy implemented last year is really working. Instead of taking kids out of regular class to spend time with a language specialist, the specialist stays in the regular classroom. “With our old pull-out model, students were spending lots of time in transition,” Andrea Scott, an English-language acquisition teacher at Field, said last October. “They were leaving during tier-one instruction, not finishing the tasks in the classroom and then coming back into the classroom as lost little lambs, trying to catch up with what they missed. Now instruction feels more seamless. Students are a part of the magic that happens in the classroom.” Bouwman said a particular focus going forward will be on encouraging the students to participate more in class, so they are “less fearful of speaking in front of their peers and sharing their thoughts, even though their language might not be all the way there.” The good news, said Turner, is that the district has maintained and at times even narrowed most of the achievement gaps that are evident across the nation, not just in LPS, despite rising poverty and changing demographics that make it more challenging. “Catching kids up is really important,” she said. “They’re not necessarily all proficient, but at least they’re showing growth.” Bouwman explained that interventions for any kid who needs them, not only Englishlanguage learners, always begin in the classroom, and that’s successful for as much as 85 percent of those kids. “We realized all students have to be exposed to grade-level material before they have any chance of being successful at grade-level assessments,” said Bouwman. “Before, we thought meeting them where they were was the right thing to do, rather than exposing them to more challenging material.” Another 10 percent to 15 percent will need help from a specialist or enhanced curriculum, and up to another 5 percent will need intensive intervention. “It might be different instruction, but it’s still the same standards,” said Bouwman.