Two major measures taken to improve learning for school district's youngest students

Overall, enrollment figures in the Newberg School District remained flat, but superintendent Kym LeBlanc-Esparza did share some encouraging news in her report to the school board Nov. 4.

In light of the growing base of research that indicates the importance of getting kids to read on grade level by third grade, the district shifted some staffing resources away from the high school and into the elementary level.

With a gain of 5.4 full-time equivalent (FTE) licensed teachers in the district’s five elementary schools for the current school year, the district shrank average class sizes in three grades while maintaining previous levels in the two others.

The size of the cohort that was in fourth grade in 2013-2014, which was the highest in the district, dropped from an average of 29.83 students per class to 27.31 in fifth grade this year. The other significant drop came from last year’s second-grade cohort, which went from 26.58 to 25.08.

The third-grade cohort fell slightly from 25.69 to 25.09, as did the kindergarten group, which came in at 23.8 a year ago and is at 23.59 for this year’s first grade.

The only cohort to see class size increase was last year’s second-grade students, whose average class size rose nominally from 25.19 to 25.53. The average size of kindergarten classes in the district, although being different cohorts, was basically steady, going from 23.8 last year to 24.07 in 2014-2015.

“If we can increase by one or two in the upper grade levels so that that K-3 piece really does happen, it certainly helps us out considerably,” LeBlanc-Esparza said. “It just means less intervention and less additional resources that have to be put toward making up ground for kids later on.”

The positive change was also reflected in the elementary funding ratios, as the average across K-3 fell from 26-to-1 students per FTE to 24-to-1 and the average for fourth and fifth grade dropped from 29.1-to-1 to 26-to-1.

“Some of the latest research out of the Oregon Department of Ed said we’re like 48th or 49th in the nation as far as class size, so it’s trying to bring some of that down and give our teachers more manageable numbers,” LeBlanc-Esparza said. “You need them reasonable and we’ve been able to provide class sizes that are definitely competitive and, in some cases, smaller than most of our neighbors around us at elementary.”

LeBlanc-Esparza said that while there is strong research that really large class sizes do have negative impact on learning, she also cited research that indicates that in order to significantly improve learning, classes must be smaller than about 18. That, she said, is functionally impossible for American public schools to achieve in the current system.

The district also increased licenced regular education teachers at the elementary level by 2.8 FTE, specifically expanding the music and physical education staffs to give elementary teachers more prep time. Previously they had 30 minutes per day, but have seen that increase to 40 minutes this year.

“We’re walking through our schools and doing our observations and doing our work with principals around instruction; we’ve had elementary folks just say they appreciate it,” LeBlanc-Esparza said. “It’s not a huge amount of time, but any little bit does help. It takes time to be able to look through your materials and really think through the learners you have and design instruction.”

In terms of overall enrollment, the district shrunk from 5,204 students to 5,146, but when accounting for how the state weighs various student populations, like English Language Learners and special needs students, the change was less than 20 students, according to district spokeswoman Claudia Stewart.

While that is positive in that the district doesn’t need expand infrastructure or build new schools, LeBlanc Esparza said it does mean the district has to be intentional in addressing the needs of its various student populations, from kids in poverty to gifted and highly-talented students.

“So in all of that, every one of those populations needs us to spend time and energy making sure we’re getting it just right,” she said. “I think that each time this annual report has us stand back and go, ‘Who is the Newberg School District and how do we go about getting all of their needs met?’ That’s a really long-winded way of saying we have to account for every kid.”

Written by: Seth Gordon