National Heritage Academies Teachers Tackle Learning Loss

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., July 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As students across the nation make strides toward pre-pandemic learning levels, at National Heritage Academies (NHA) schools there are countless examples of students and teachers excelling in the face of adversity.

Throughout NHA's network of schools, staff and students are closing the gap in proficiency and outperforming surrounding schools with a variety of methods. Here are some highlights of NHA success stories that led to improved test scores for the 2021-22 school year:

Colorado

Mountain View Academy Fourth Grade Teacher Melissa Mendez attributed several factors to helping students improve test scores. She put in countless hours after school tutoring, even during virtual learning. She found success with center rotation (small groups), allowing her time to tailor instruction to each individual, and intervention groups. She also incorporated a Candyland-like game where students have to move spaces and solve a problem or Math War, where the largest fraction or the largest answer to a multiplication problem wins.

Louisiana

Math Teacher LaTisha Starks and her students persevered as Advantage Charter Academy was recognized by The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) as a Comeback Campus. A Louisiana Comeback Campus is a school where students are performing at higher levels in math and reading than before the pandemic. Forty-one schools in the state earned the honor by increasing the percentage of students scoring mastery and above and decreasing the percentage of students scoring unsatisfactory in both math and ELA on 2022 statewide assessments when compared to 2019.

To combat the time spent learning foundational skills that were diminished because of virtual learning, Starks made sure she was as organized as possible with her scope and sequence to make sure certain standards were covered before advancing. She worked out test questions herself to break down the process of arriving at an answer. During the second half of the school year, she took the remaining units and condensed what needed to be covered before the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) test.

Throughout the year she stressed the importance of exercises that would help students on the LEAP, but the students were on their own once the test arrived. When she heard of the positive scores, her nerves were put at rest. Among the results:

• Advantage closed the learning loss gap in proficiency on the state test faster than the local district, closest schools, and the state in every subject.
• In 2021-22, Advantage outperformed its local district in every subject and by 14 percentage points overall.
• In 2021-22, Advantage outperformed its closest schools by 2 percentage points overall.
• In 2021-22, Advantage received an overall letter grade of a B, the first time an NHA school in Louisiana has earned this grade.
• Advantage's overall School Performance Score (SPS) change from 2020-21 to 2021-22 was at the 98^th percentile of all K-8 schools in Louisiana.

North Carolina
The workshop model has benefited students and teachers at Peak Charter Academy, and the numbers back that up.

Peak outperforms the local district in all subjects, including science, which Jill Fischer has taught for five years at Peak and 17 at NHA. The model was incorporated in all subjects by Principal Steve Pond when the school opened in 2017.

Students begin in mixed ability groups and branch out to ability groups based on where they are with the concept and receive personalized instruction. A heat transfer lesson, for example, includes an introductory video station that provides an overview, an illustration station where students draw different types of heat transfers, a reading station where they read a passage, a hands-on station, and a writing station for questions about the subject.

By having stations for reading, writing, and vocabulary for a small experiment, demonstration, graph, or mapping activity, Peak students exercise multiple skills in a lesson. In 2021-22, Peak outperformed the local district and the state in every grade/subject combination. Peak's state test proficiency returned to pre-pandemic rates in science at 96% and exceeded pre-pandemic rates in math, from 80% in 2018-19 to 84% in 2021-22. Also, in 2018-19 and 2021-22, Peak earned the highest school letter grade of A.

In addition, Peak and Johnston Charter Academy outperformed the local district, closest schools, and the state in overall proficiency. Wake Forest Charter Academy outperformed its local district and the state in overall proficiency, and Rolesville Charter Academy outperformed its closest schools and the state in overall proficiency.

Ohio
At Alliance Academy of Cincinnati, Fourth Grade Language Arts Teacher Jennifer Zappia helped some students go from limited to proficient in the span of one school year. She noticed that students were struggling with writing more than in the past and created graphic organizers that help students construct paragraphs and identify themes through prompts and scaffolded questions.

Those efforts helped Alliance's state test achievement to be well above expected compared to schools with similar student demographics. The school is at the 69th percentile when compared to schools statewide with a similar FRL rate (risk-adjusted proficiency was calculated internally).

Other schools also seeing success

Aspire Charter Academy (Indiana) is the highest performing school in the area and outperformed the local district and closest schools in overall proficiency at 19%, compared to 6% for the local district and 11% for the closest schools.

Milwaukee Scholars outperformed the local district and schools students would otherwise attend in overall proficiency. Milwaukee Scholars closed the learning loss gap in overall proficiency on the state test faster than the local district.

About National Heritage Academies:
National Heritage Academies (NHA) is a network of 100 tuition-free, public charter schools across nine states, serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through 12^th grade. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.

SOURCE National Heritage Academies