Students from both districts attended summer language academy
At the Sept. 18 meeting of the Windsor Unified School District Board of Trustees, the board members heard a presentation on a unique collaboration that occurred this summer between Windsor and Healdsburg.
Windsor ran its Accelerated Summer Language Academy, which serves a specific group of English Learner (EL) students in grades first through ninth.
The 19-day academy featured five hours of instruction per day, focused on English language development. Students identified as part of the Migrant Education program who were already designated English Proficient, also had access to math instruction. In addition, teachers were able to continue their own training in the use of AE or Accelerated English curriculum.
This year, 26 of the 180 students enrolled came from Healdsburg, as part of their Migrant Education program. Summer Academy principal Alicia Lozano presented to the board, with Healdsburg’s director of curriculum and instruction Eric Fender on hand to add her thoughts.
“I want to thank your district for a wonderful service. We only had 25 or so that needed this service, and we’re a smaller district, and getting smaller every year. We spoke internally about the possibility of a more robust program,” Fender said, adding that while Healdsburg has had its own summer program in the past, the small size of the district and having fewer students in need made the program cost prohibitive for their district.
“I broached the topic with (Lisa Saxon, Windsor’s director of educational services), and said ‘what can we do, at no cost to your district?’ So we co-wrote a migrant education grant in order to not have any cost to you,” Fender said.
“But it doesn’t cover everything. It doesn’t cover the kindness in taking care of our kids. I can say it was a great partnership, it worked wonderfully and our kids got better service here, because you provided what we couldn’t in Healdsburg.”
Although Healdsburg’s participation was the biggest change this summer, other changes included integrating movement into the AE curriculum, using “Hometown Heroes” speakers to motivate students and providing morning training for teachers before class started, according to Lozano.
“The integrated movement was fantastic,” Lozano said. “Kids would have to stand up and move around to different groups and answer different questions, then they would have to go and tell other groups the answer, so they were constantly moving, but there was guidance to it. It was a beautiful thing to see. They also made these squeezy sensory stress balls so each kid had one, and there was a lot of integration with sensory needs. When you have an intensive program like this, it’s needed.”
The Hometown Heroes speakers included school resource officer Don Fletcher, Windsor K-9 officer Deputy Alan Collier and K-9 Mako, Windsor High School student America Osorio-Diaz and Oscar Chavez, who ran the WHS shelter during the 2017 firestorm.
“It was important to have our students engage with officers in a non-behavioral way, so it was perfect to have these officers come in and show how they were about community,” Lozano said.
“And America was fantastic. It is next level to bring a kid to speak when we have little kids who can see, ‘This is what I can be at high school.’ Each adapted what they were going to speak on for each grade level, so it was very appropriate on what was discussed.”
In addition to students, Healdsburg also sent a teacher to join with Windsor’s instructors, and the program also hosted a “binational teacher” Cindirella Magana, a PE teacher from Mexico who presented daily lessons about culture, art and life in Mexico, according to Lozano.
Post program test scores showed that all classes made language gains, with a 20 percent growth rate overall. In addition, projections show that students achieved a score of 95 percent on post-tests after 120 days in school, showing a good bridge of the gap from summer school to the regular school year. Students who took math courses also showed 16.8 percent growth, based on pre and post assessments from the state.
“Overall the program was a great success,” said Lozano. “Nothing is perfect, but this is pretty close.”
The board asked a few questions, primarily about capacity and it came to light that the biggest hindrance to student numbers is teacher numbers. Windsor school board member Eric Heitz, who is a teacher in another district, acknowledged that the issue is related to pay, as summer school usually pays half the day rate of what a teacher receives during the regular school year.
Fender had the last word though, about the power of collaboration. “I just can’t thank these three ladies enough,” she said, referencing the leadership team at the academy.
“They had no reason to do this but to do it in service of kids. We were able to deal with finances and busing, but that’s only one piece of her deep pile. It feels like my heart and soul were here. To be able to send my kids off in July and not think twice about it? It’s a wonderful partnership and I appreciate what they put into the community.”
