When choosing learning solutions for the 1,325 students at Middle School 88 in Brooklyn, New York, Peter Russo, assistant principal, ran into the same problem again and again.
“Reading programs would be helpful to some of our students, but not to all,” he says.
The largest middle school in its district, Middle School 88 serves a population that is 12 percent English language learner (ELL). Around 25 percent have IEPs. Yet others are ready for high school level science and math. Teachers were spending a lot of time looking for resources that every student in the class could use.
That wasted effort was put to an end in November 2014 with Russo’s discovery of ThinkCERCA, an online platform aimed at personalizing literacy. Through a combination of close reading and argumentative writing tools and lessons, ThinkCERCA is designed to help students improve learning, not just prove learning. What’s more, the program’s differentiated lessons keep all learners engaged.
“Instead of wasting time on solutions that may or may not work, we were able to provide teachers with a tool that has already been proven effective,” says Russo.
In Middle School 88 classrooms, teachers use ThinkCERCA for 1-to-1 instruction, as well as during small group centers. “Some students will work individually in the system, and others will work together to debate a central topic,” says Russo.
To achieve teacher buy-in, Middle School 88 administrators disseminated information about ThinkCERCA before asking who was interested in piloting the program. Ten teachers volunteered to use the software with ELL and special needs students. “We built time into the implementation process for teachers to incorporate ThinkCERCA into existing literacy curriculum, as well as to meet and discuss strategies,” says Russo.
ThinkCERCA’s differentiated lesson sets, which are available for grades four through 12, are centered around a relevant, debatable topic or theme, such as bullying or social media, to keep students engaged. These sets build students’ background knowledge and close reading skills by asking them to read an authentic, leveled text that’s “just right” for them, highlight and annotate keywords or phrases from the text, and summarize what they have learned. Next, students develop their writing skills by crafting a formal argument using the research-based CERCA Framework, which stands for Claim, Evidence, Reasoning, Counterargument and Audience.
It was also crucial to remove barriers, such as lack of access to technology, to make teacher adoption seamless. This carefully planned implementation set up Middle School 88 for success: Teachers report ThinkCERCA has had an immediate impact on the classroom.
“One teacher says when using ThinkCERCA, 100 percent of students are 100 percent engaged 100 percent of the time,” says Russo.
There has also been an increase in students’ critical thinking skills, due to the way the platform facilitates peer-to-peer debate. “Students are having conversations about what they are reading and why content is important and exercising those communication skills,” says Russo.
On the Degrees of Reading Power literacy assessment, Middle School 88 students who participated in the ThinkCERCA pilot outperformed the national average by 10 percent. At the school level, students who were in ThinkCERCA pilot classes outperformed their peers who did not use the program.
Support from the ThinkCERCA team is always quick and helpful. “Teachers get immediate responses to their emails,” says Russo. “ThinkCERCA is truly part of our school community.”
ThinkCERCA will be expanded to more classrooms in Middle School 88 in the 2015-16 school year, says Russo. The program will also be used in interdisciplinary projects.
“Our school uses the project-based learning approach, and ThinkCERCA fits into that in multiple ways,” says Russo.