FITCHBURG — South Street Elementary School on Wednesday was named a finalist for the Kaleidoscope Collective for Learning pilot program by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, an initiative aimed at involving students and teachers in deeper learning.
According to officials, the 22 finalists were selected because they’ve already started innovative work involving deeper learning and submitted creative proposals for how to enhance that work.
Fitchburg school officials say they are thrilled to be a finalist in the program.
“It’s pretty exciting for us, especially after finding out the other day that there were over 500 applicants,” said Principal Bobbie French. “We’re pretty proud of all the work that South Street has already been doing and to be able to be part of this is wonderful.”
“We’re excited to be one of the 22 communities who are finalists and we hopeful that we’ll be moving forward if approved,” said Superintendent Robert Jokela.
French said deeper learning is all about applying real-world scenarios, preparing students for the future, and connecting students with the community around them.
“Instead of just surface level learning, we’re focused on creating connections with others,” she said. “With deeper learning you really want to increase engagement with students as they connect their learning to the real-world opportunities.”
French said in doing so, students would develop better skills, knowledge, self-efficacy, and self-confidence.
The next steps in the process for South Street include a training session, held on Tuesday, holding an event for community members to contribute ideas to the school’s plan, and a January school visit.
All finalists that complete the three steps will be invited to join the inaugural Kaleidoscope cohort.
The cohort will run from January 2020 to June 2021, and members will receive professional development on implementing deeper learning.
Jokela said that this news goes hand-in-hand with the state’s recent approval of the Student Opportunity Act, which aims to reduce the education gap for disadvantaged students.
“The Kaleidoscope initiative is just another tool that we’ll be using to narrow the education gap here in Fitchburg,” he said.
“We don’t want achievement gaps in our education, we want all of our kids to be achieving at the same level,” French said. “With deeper learning, students will be more invested in what they’re learning. We’re not just giving them worksheets and having them regurgitate information, we want them to be immersed in it.”
Lessons learned from this pilot will inform efforts to bring deeper learning to more schools and districts in the future, DESE officials said.
“We were thrilled that hundreds of schools and districts expressed interest, many of which completed applications for the Kaleidoscope Collective for Learning,” Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley said. “This reflects schools’ and districts’ enthusiasm for deeper learning — learning that is interactive, relevant, collaborative and coherently aligned to Massachusetts standards.”
