Northern California District Doubles ELL Performance After Utilizing Performance-Based Coaching

Chico Unified School District 

Chico, California

Four years ago, the reclassification rate of English learners (EL's) in Chico Unified School District's middle schools hit an historic low.  Like many districts throughout the country, only one of every 10 English learners met the reclassification criteria yearly.

District leaders studied the trend and then got proactive.  They made reclassification a top priority and made a big change.  Historic approaches to language instruction were just not working.  They began a long-term initiative to improve language instruction.

To do that, they agreed that a grammar-based system was the answer together with regular in-class support from the district's team of coaches, all of whom had been trained in a unique and powerful coaching system known as Performance-Based Coaching.

The first year, reclassification rates immediately soared from less than 10 percent to more than 50 percent.  The systematic teaching of English grammar using interactive and engaging methods, together with a top-notch coaching team, turned the tide.

Today, you can find Tami Oberg, Anna Mayfield and Terri Crawford supporting teachers with real-time coaching and achieving great results for the students in Chico. 

"Since beginning this program at the middle schools, each year has been a game changer,” says Terri Crawford, district coach.  “This year, we are focusing on a systematic approach to student language production that builds on the work we have done over the last three years."

"We are always available to help teachers with materials and training but getting into classrooms and coaching has made the biggest impact,” echoes Tami Oberg, another member of the district performance coaching team.  “Our teachers request our in-class support and we are glad to help."

Training in the Classroom / High-Impact Summer Academy

Camp U - Summer Academy, 2018

Novato Unified School District

Novato, California

Lisa Heslip - 1st Grade

During her coaching session Ms. Heslip worked on writing more specific subjects as she pushed her students from “baby birds” to “Osprey chicks”.

Erin Heart - 2nd Grade

Ms. Heart works with Bernadette and her students to break down the syntactic patterns of sentences and deepen comprehension.

Alyssa Pappas - 1st Grade

Watch Ms. Pappas take words that her students generated during their Verb Tense Study and move them to the Grammar Wall so that they can be used in the future.

She pushes students to articulate each word’s form, function and meaning so that they not only know but can also use the new vocabulary as they are exposed to it.

Ms. Pappas students are all currently classified and Newcomers having little to no ability to use the English language.

Summer academies provide a powerful opportunity to close achievement gaps for students and provide intensive in-class professional development for teachers.

Tracy Harding - 3rd Grade

Ms. Harding creates sentences with her students that state facts or talk about the present during her Verb Tense Study

After learning the simple present tense, Ms. Hardy checks in with each group to Push! to write more complex sentences.

Lisa Hanley - 4th Grade

Ms. Hanley is teaching her students the foundational skills needed to write argumentative text.

She works closely with a coach as she learns to use more focused questioning techniques to push students thinking and oral production.

Bernadette steps in briefly to redirect the last question so that it will elicit a compound response from students.

Ms. Hanley teaches her students to apply their new language skills in the form of an academic paragraph.

A team of teachers in Novato California are utilizing their summer semester to the fullest. Their students, all of which are classified as English language learners, are using the summer months to learn the skills needed to read with comprehension and write academically next year. The teachers are receiving real-time in-class coaching sessions every day during the summer academy to work on specific skills that they want to improve for their instruction next year. 

Summer has historically been a time of backslide in student achievement but here in Novato, both the students and the teachers are focusing on their performance. We are excited to see their results next year when everyone is ready to hit the ground running. 

A Principal with a Clear Vision

Dr. Becky Henderson

Principal, San Marcos Elementary School

Dr. Becky Henderson of San Marcos Elementary School in Chandler, AZ, leads a language-acceleration and in-class coaching program that has produced state-leading results. 

During her six years as San Marcos’s principal, Dr. Henderson has developed a culture among teachers and students that every lesson should, at its core, be focused on supporting skills needed to read with comprehension and to write academically. The shared philosophy is that well-developed English grammar skills are requisite for school tasks and that they must be taught. Therefore, all students participate daily in one-hour grammar lessons that are both intensive and interactive.

She is also a pioneer in her district for Performance-Based Coaching utilizing her yearly resources to staff a full-time dedicated coach that spends her entire day in classrooms supporting teachers by co-planning, co-teaching, and coaching in real-time right alongside teachers during instruction.