Running Head: ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF AT RISK STUDENTS IN THE LOCAL PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY

Addressing the Needs of At Risk Students in the Local Professional Learning Community Jessica Steele University of New England

Addressing needs of at risk learners in a professional learning community

In South Africa, the concept of special needs education is relatively new and as such many teachers are not trained in how to help these learners who are identified as at risk. Therefore, special schools have been developed to house what they refer to as remedial learners. Some are run by the government, but they are overcrowded and ill equipped. Others are run by private institutions. I have the privilege to teach at one such private school, Elsen Academy. As all of our learners are identified as at risk, we have countless systems in place to help them, this is not to say that we do not also fall short of excellence; just that we seek each and every day to provide our students with the meaningful, systematic and timely intervention that they require and deserve. At Elsen we have small class sizes, no more than 14 learners per teacher, and an array of therapists on staff. We have remedial therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, a play therapist and a psychologist. In addition to the professional staff, we currently have 4 facilitators, who help by providing more individual attention to small groups and individuals as needed during lessons. As we grow, we re-examine how best to serve our learners. The small class sizes allow for the individual attention that some of these at risk learners need, which we find allows them to perform at a higher level than they were completing in larger government school classes. For all learners in the school, we have weekly LSP meetings (Learner Support Plan). We utilize this document in our daily planning to be sure that each learners learning style, needs, and accommodations are met. Teacher planning is evaluated bi-weekly by support staff to assure that learners classroom needs are being met. Built into the school week are remedial periods which are hosted by the grade level class teacher. During this period learners who need additional support in content subjects are pulled out for

Addressing needs of at risk learners in a professional learning community

smaller intervention groups to revise material or work on material in a different way. Additionally, students are pulled out for expansion on content topics during this time. As language and math are the two biggest challenges for our learners, two additional periods are built into the weeks lessons, beyond the governments recommended time, for students to see either a remedial therapist or to receive intervention in a small group setting. I think the first step to helping at risk learners in our classrooms is to help the teachers. DuFour, DuFour and Eaker (2008) state that no system of intervention will compensate for ineffective teaching (p.255), and thus in order for teachers to truly help those students who are at risk, they must first receive help, themselves. Unfortunately, in South Africa, many teachers are the product of training colleges who simply train these classroom leaders in only the most basic delivery of the curriculum; with this, comes a great deal of ineffective classroom practice. DuFour, et al. (2008) elaborate that for a professional learning community to truly help at risk students, teachers will need assistance to build their collective capacity to work in collaborative teams, clarify essential learning, develop high quality assessments, and use data to inform and improve individual and team practice (p.255-256). At Elsen, the problem of under qualified teachers does not directly affect us, but I believe we need to experience more growth in the utilization of assessments that we develop to monitor students growth. We currently rely on government tests, classroom achievements, anecdotal notes and psychologist evaluations to guide us on our students progress in comparison to other learners around the country, when we should be using our collaboration to develop what works best for us. Schools are called to work with intervention during the school day in a timely, directive, and systematic way (DuFour, et al. 2008, p.254). I feel that we do well in reacting timely and with

Addressing needs of at risk learners in a professional learning community

direction and clear system in place; however, due to the fact that more than 70% of our learners require remedial therapy and a shortage of time slots, many learners receive remediation after school hours. This is not in line with the guidelines as suggested by the authors and is not truly conducive to helping our learners achieve growth. Now, with the criticisms out of the way, I have found that students working at Elsen have made great progress, according to the Government exams which we currently utilize, since their arrival at Elsen. Each student exhibits at least a 15% rise in English and Maths on the Annual National Assessments. I believe this is because of the support they receive at Elsen, in conjunction with the comfortable, caring and stable learning environment, and lastly, with the teachers belief in each learners high achievement and ability to meet their own potential. As we are an independent school, we have freedom to modify the timetables and curriculum, as needed to meet the needs of our learners and I face no issues with approaching my leadership colleagues about any changes to our school design. Our school ethos values change for the positive gain of our learners and staff; thus, I do not foresee any of the objections featured being relevant to the application of such changes at Elsen.

Addressing needs of at risk learners in a professional learning community

Resources DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R. (2008). Revisiting Professional Learning Communities at Work: New Insights for Improving Schools. Solution Tree Press. Fundai, C. M., (2010). Catering for Children with Special Needs in the Regular Classroom: Challenges and The Way Forward. Edo Journal of Counselling, 3(1), 144-151. Retrieved from http://www.ajol.info/index.php/ejc/article/viewfile/52693/41297