Plainview Elementary Teachers Step Up Communication to Drive Literacy Success

Here’s a fact about otters: when floating, they tend to stick together in groups called “rafts.”

The same could be said for the teachers and students at Plainview Elementary School, which uses the otter as its mascot.

For example, Tennessee has adopted a new third-grade retention law that potentially holds students back unless they are deemed to be proficient or making adequate progress with English Language Arts.

When the teachers learned about the new law’s implementation and effects, they formed their raft.

“When we found out about the change in the law,” said Shelby Livingston, a member of the third-grade team at Plainview, “we instantly came together with admin.”

Anna Frye is the third-grade lead teacher.

“I think it was the first day back from break,” Frye said, “We had a meeting to talk about our plan. What are we going to do? How are we going to let parents know? How can we best support the children? That’s where it started.”

Across Rutherford County and Tennessee, there have been similar conversations — how can teachers and administrators best support students and parents in the change?

“The first thing,” said third grade teacher Justin Whaley, “is just keeping parents informed. We had a third grade parent night last semester where we invited parents to come in. They rotated through our classrooms, and we shared what we are doing to prepare children and what they can do at home to help. We decided for this semester to do our parenting conferences early, to again, just show parents this is where their kids are at in their progress.”

“We also have been releasing information from the beginning,” Frye added. “So, I guess the first nine weeks we sent home all the data we had, shared with them what that data meant, and showed them ‘this is where your kid is — this is where we want them to be’.”

That information is valuable – consistent messaging and updating from the third-grade team at Plainview has given parents powerful tools to help monitor their children’s progress and tag-team literacy push at home.

Meaningful data from parents answers the question: where are they? Are they growing? Are they not growing? What steps can I take at home to help?

“We’re constantly looking at their data,” said third grade teacher Andrea McCann. “We’re comparing what we had in August, September and December. I know in my classroom, weekly I’m giving them extra homework based on what the data is showing me their gaps are. But we’re looking at each student as a person — not just as part of a grade level. Every student needs to be their own type of successful.”

Data driven pedagogy is not new. Teachers across the county track their student’s data to specifically target areas that are deficient, but Plainview teachers are using the data to their advantage in terms of the literacy law.

“We’ve always looked at data, teachers always look at the data. But we don’t always share the data. We are very transparent with parents about where their kids are and how they are progressing. Are they already there? I think that has made parents a little more comfortable,” Frye said.

“We are also sharing that data with students,” added Whaley. “Making sure not just that the parents understand, but that the student understands what this means.”

The third-grade team at Plainview wanted to make it clear: the curriculum continues to be rigorous and hasn’t changed, but increased communication with parents and targeted interventions have made all the difference. Something to remember is that the goal is not just promotion to fourth grade.

“They have to be prepared for fourth grade,” Frye said. “So even at the beginning of the year we sat down with the fourth-grade team, and we compared our standards. They need to be successful in fourth grade, and we’re building on that in third. Same for second.”

The practice of the third grade Plainview team is intentional by design. While the teachers track students’ data and run small group interventions to reteach and reinforce critical literacy skills, no one teacher is responsible for education. Everyone has an equal share of responsibility.

“The kids in my class, they’re not only my kids. Mr. Whaley takes accountability for them. Miss Frye. They’re our third-grade students. Every student is our student. That’s what (Principal) Dr. (Mark) Gonyea always says, and it’s true. Every day is just building on the growth from the day before. We support them, and because we’re supported also it trickles down,” McCann said.