Reynoldsburg City Schools dives districtwide into deeper learning program

Students in seventh and eighth grades at Hannah Ashton Middle School are embarking on a method of teaching and learning this year that has been used in many other Reynoldsburg schools for more than a decade.

It’s called deeper learning, defined by the nonprofit Learning Policy Institute website as a way to equip students “with the problem-solving, critical-thinking, communication, and collaboration skills to solve the complicated problems and meet the complex challenges of our fast-paced, quickly changing world.”

It’s also part of a five-year strategic plan the district outlined in 2019.

Chief Academic Officer Jocelyn Cosgrave said the district decided to embrace deeper learning principles at all schools.

“We choose to embrace this districtwide,” Cosgrave said. “Our goal is deeper learning in every classroom every day – regardless of whether students are in a STEM school, regardless of whether students are in 12th grade, third grade or kindergarten. 

“We wanted to make sure that every single student was afforded the opportunity to learn in this way and that every single teacher was trained to teach in this way,” Cosgrave said. 

“Ultimately, it is the teacher as the facilitator of learning and the students are taking charge of their learning versus the teacher being the one to just give the information the student receives,” she said. “It is really changing the role of the teacher in the classroom.” 

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cosgrave said it’s been difficult to collect quantitative data over the past year on student performance as a result of the deeper learning program.

Regardless, she said district officials had started to notice local assessment scores climbing for students who had been exposed to deeper learning methods.

Such methods have been part of Reynoldsburg’s curriculum for more than 10 years, according to district communications director Valerie Wunder, but at first were employed only at STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) schools at Baldwin Road Junior High, eSTEM Academy and (HS)2 Academy.

“When we decided a few years back to create our strategic plan, one of the things we knew was that the students that were attending those STEM schools were outperforming our other students,” Cosgrave said.

“It’s really based around project- and problem-based learning to close opportunity gaps for students,” Hannah Ashton Middle School principal Breen Slauter said. “It kind of implements those same ideas of traditional learning but then takes them deeper.”

For example, Cosgrave said a recent project undertaken by third-graders at Herbert Mills STEAM Elementary saw students work with Reynoldsburg City Council members and other city officials to imagine Reynoldsburg as a “smart city” in the same vein as a Smart Columbus program undertaken by that city several years ago.

“If you would have walked into classrooms in some of our schools three years ago, you would have seen things look very different and feel very different than they do now for students,” Cosgrave said. “Students are making it more clear that they feel more supported and that they enjoy being able to collaborate with their peers.” 

Hannah Ashton sixth-graders Teyah Cole and Meredith Zeallear are enthusiastic about the deeper learning methods implemented at the school last year when they were in fifth grade.

Both said there were noticeable differences between their fourth- and fifth-grade years. 

“It was a lot more fun and engaging to be helping out with classmates and doing projects instead of sitting at your desk typing and writing the whole time,” Cole said.

“You can definitely tell the classroom culture is one that is positive and supportive,” Cosgrave said. “We embrace diversity. I think everybody across the district is understanding that this way of teaching and learning is really having a positive impact on school culture.”

Reynoldsburg’s deeper learning program is facilitated districtwide through a partnership with New Tech Network, an education consulting firm based in Napa, California. Wunder said the district's contract with New Tech Network is valued at $666,355, 75% of which is paid for through grants.

Cosgrave said the New Tech Network provides training to Reynoldsburg teachers and administrators and has helped the district build and customize its system around Reynoldsburg’s strategic plan. 

"(Reynoldsburg Schools) is unique in that their strategic plan states 'deeper learning in every classroom, every day,' which is powerful," said Alan Veach, Director of District and School Development at New Tech Network. 

The firm maintains a network of schools nationwide, allowing Reynoldsburg Schools to connect with other districts that are implementing deeper learning procedures. 

"I think the biggest thing that we’ve seen - last year, specifically - is just the level of care and concern from students for each other, for their teachers, a bigger sense of belonging to the school and a sense of some student choice and ownership of the ideas that come out of their classes,” Slauter said. “So it’s not just the teacher saying ‘this is what you will do,’ but our teachers are saying to our students ‘here’s a problem to solve. How would you solve it? And let me help you get there.’” 

sborgna@thisweeknews.com

@ThisWeekSteve