1. Gap Closing Instruction in Action
Presented by
Jessica Harding, 8th Grade Teacher and
Vince Lindsey, Principal
Massillon Junior High School November 17, 2016

2. Origins
Situation: Addressing the issue of closing the achievement gap in Mathematics between non-identified students and students with disabilities.
First Several Years: All the students with disabilities that were assigned on Mr. Reed’s caseload, received specially designed instruction in a full inclusion classroom. One Gen Ed Teacher (Harding) and one IS (Reed).
Last Year: Branched out to include 2 Gen Ed Teachers and one IS
: Our model has expanded to include 4 Gen Ed classrooms and one IS.

3. Overall 8th Grade We (4 Gen Ed, 2 IS) serve…
300 total 8th grade students in a full
inclusion setting (no resource
room pull-out)
17% are identified as SWD - ID (CD),
LD, ED, MD, Autism, OHI...
4% have 504 plans
2% are ELL/ESOL
These students are spread among minute math classes: Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Geometry

4. Our Students We (2 Gen Ed, 1 IS) serve…
130 total 8th grade students in a full
inclusion setting (no resource
room pull-out)
25% are identified as SWD - ID (CD),
LD, ED, MD, Autism, OHI, ...
3% have 504 plans
1% are ELL/ESOL
These students are spread among 5 80-minute Pre-Algebra classes.

5. maintained or improved their performance level from 7th grade PARCC
How is it working for our students?
Exponent (EE.1) Pre-Data Post-Data
All Students - 33% All Students - 65% +32%
SWD - 8% SWD - 56% +48%
Gap = 25% Gap = 9%
Angle Relationships (G.5)
Pre-Data Post-Data
All Students - 36% All Students - 78% +42%
SWD - 19% SWD - 75% +56%
Gap = 17% Gap = 3%
AIR Results Spring 2016 (Ohio’s State Assessment)
Non-Identified Students: 59% SWD: 73%
maintained or improved their performance level from 7th grade PARCC

6. Our Planning Time Previous Years
-No common planning time, so we met for 1-2
hours outside of school hours each week (am or pm)
and
-Complete 8th grade math TBT meets three days
each week for 40 minutes
-Our mini-TBT meets two to three days
each week for an additional 40 minutes

7. How do we begin to co-plan to co-serve?
What standard(s) will we be teaching the following week?
What are the key element(s) of those standards? What are the “must-knows” by the end of the week?
Where is each student toward mastering those “must-knows”?

8. Our Typical Daily Classroom Plan
Warm-Up (5-10 minutes)
Instruction (10 minutes)
Practice (10-15 minutes)
Q&A/Progress Monitoring (5 minutes)
Re-Arrange
This gives us the flexibility to group, combine classes, tier activities, work one-on-one, pair, etc.

10. A Recent Lesson... Topic: Scatter Plots and Trend Lines
Goal: All students will construct and interpret scatter plots, fit a trend line, and write the equation of the trend line in y=mx+b, interpreting slope and intercept. 8.SP.1,2,3
Timeline: 5 days
Pre-Data: 59% All students at or above mastery
32% SWD at or above mastery
Gap = 27%

11. Days 1 and 2
*Followed the typical plan, with high-interest activities involving celebrities, fast food, and
real data
*Worked whole group briefly, pairs, and
One-on-one
*Collected student mastery data throughout

12. Days 3,4,5
*Students completed one of three activities:
Monopoly Task (Level 1)
Real-World Data Task (Level 2)
What Would You Sell? PBL Task (Level 3)
*Day 5 included a gallery walk with the combined
classes sharing their findings for the tasks

14. Post-Data: 80% All students at or above mastery +21%
76% SWD at or above mastery +44%
Gap: 4% (-23%)

15. Creating Groups
*Our groups are always mixed and based on data - SWD are not automatically in the lowest group when we tier/level
*We use a variety of methods to create groups - mixed readiness, levels, tiers, etc. - based on the data we collect.
*Often, we create groups by combining students from both classes and use all of our resources to work with students where they are.

16. AIR Review Rotations

17. AIR Review Rotations - The Groups

18. Kirby’s Daily Schedule (2016-2017)
Block 1 (80 minutes) - Travel between Harding and
Ruffner classrooms while co-teaching
Block 2 (80 minutes) - Travel between Harding and
Enrichment Time minutes
(focus on IEP goals, intervention)
Block 3 (80 minutes) - Co-teach an ELA class

19. Barriers to Success *Adult Resistance *Student’s Prior Knowledge *Time
*Student Insecurity
*Resources
*Adult Prior Knowledge

20. Describe Pre-Algebra in 2 words

21. Questions? Contact Us! Jessica Harding jharding@massillonschools.org
Vince Lindsey