Students achieve through hybrid learning
A relatively new concept in personalized learning is working for Washington School District students.
Washington Park Elementary students made progress in achievement through hybrid learning, according to a recent report by the Hybrid Learning Institute.
Hybrid learning combines three methods of learning – instruction from teachers, group activities and self-instruction.
“It’s intended to assist teachers working with groups,” said Washington Superintendent Dr. Roberta DiLorenzo, who was named HLI Producer of the Year in 2016 for promoting classroom technology. “It breaks down the students into much smaller groups, so the instruction is a little more targeted and direct.”
Within one classroom, some students can be working at their own pace on a computer, while another group receives instruction from the teacher, and another works together to solve a problem.
DiLorenzo said the teachers have embraced the program, which is just one method of instruction used in the district.
The hybrid learning program is an improved form of differentiated instruction, a framework for teaching that provides different avenues to learning, DiLorenzo said.
“It can be difficult without a formula, resources or assistance,” she said. “You have groups of students at varying levels. This is very helpful in increasing student achievement.”
In January 2015, the hybrid model was implemented in grades four through six, then expanded to third grade in January 2016. This school year, the district started implementing it into math courses for seventh- and eighth-graders.
The report, the 2015-16 District Storyboard, reviewed academic outcomes from 30 school districts that use hybrid methods of instruction.
Students in Washington Park’s 24 English classrooms made improvements. Third-graders scored six percent higher than the school’s historical average on state exams. Fourth-graders achieved higher academic growth on state benchmarks compared to students in traditional classrooms. Fifth-graders passed their state exams at a rate of 27 percent higher compared to the previous year, and sixth-graders experienced 18 percent improvement.
The grant money that enabled the district to hire an HLI consultant will run out at the end of the school year. Even if the school board decides not to fund that position, DiLorenzo said the staff is well-equipped to continue the teaching method.
“We would not end the program. Our elementary teachers have been doing it for three years,” she said. “We have built the capacity internally to continue. The teachers believe in it.”