School aid being used for extended day, technology strategies, small-group instruction

"Extended-day learning," "small-group instruction" and "tech-driven strategies" are catchphrases often employed in education these days, and for good reason.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in extra state and federal aid have flowed into schools on Long Island and elsewhere over the past year in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, a frequent question is how best this money can be used in helping students make up for time lost and in boosting achievement. 

Education experts agree that extended classtime, tutoring and computerization all can help — so long as these instructional approaches are supported by strong curricula and well-trained teachers. Many Island school systems have employed such techniques for years. 

Some examples:

Extended time: The 1:49 p.m. bell at Plainview-Old Bethpage High School signals the end of classes, but not of instruction. 

At the close of the regular school day, dozens of students head back to classrooms for an additional 40-minute session known simply as "Remedial." The name is a bit of a misnomer, because the session provides more than remediation.

For some, the extra time is spent making up missed lab assignments or prepping for tests. Other students use the period to pursue research projects, or perhaps arrange with a favorite teacher to write them a letter of recommendation for college.

"When you come here, teachers are able to give you their full attention," said Nicole Gleicher, 16, an 11th-grader, She recently stopped by a science lab during the remedial period to get help with physics homework.

"Remedial" was added to the high school schedule in September 2016 as part of a broader expansion that also included a ninth class period. Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School enrolls about 1,600 students in grades 9-12.

The idea behind the move was to give students more time for elective courses and college-level Advanced Placement classes during ninth period, along with remedial help during 10th period. In addition, some students whose class schedules were especially crowded found time for lunch.

Lorna Lewis, the district's superintendent at the time, was the chief advocate of expansion. 

Extended high school schedules are increasingly common across the Island, at least in districts that can afford this. To provide remedial sessions, Plainview-Old Bethpage agreed to pay teachers for a sixth period of work, on top of their normal five-period daily class schedules, local officials said.

Supporters said extra time pays off in terms of increased learning.

"What's nice about it, it gives the administration and teachers another tool to offer parents when their kids are struggling," said Mary O'Meara, the district's current superintendent. 

High-tech learning: In the Lawrence school system, kindergartners receive new laptop computers during their first days of class.

Lawrence is among a growing number of districts adopting "one-on-one" policies — that is, distribution of laptops for use both in classrooms and at home. All 2,700 of Lawrence's students in grades K-12, together with the district's 300 teachers, have received Chromebook computers costing the district $300 apiece. 

Lawrence began purchasing laptops in September 2019 and completed distribution in March 2020, just as schools closed down in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The timing, while coincidental, was of immediate help to the district in switching to remote online instruction.   

"It really was just fortunate timing," said the district's superintendent, Ann Pedersen.

Pedersen added that, with about 80% of local students categorized as economically disadvantaged by the state, the district's policy serves to provide laptops to families that otherwise might be unable to afford them. 

For students, individual laptops supply a virtually limitless supply of books and other reading materials through specialized software, school staffers said. Students also use the devices in keeping track of homework assignments, in writing essays and in submitting those essays to teachers for editing and scoring.

Teachers, for their part, can use laptops to monitor the academic progress of an entire class electronically, as a supplement to personal observation.

At Lawrence Elementary School, Susie Hurwitz, a fourth-grade teacher, taught a lesson on literary essays one recent afternoon. Students then turned to their laptops and began reading stories, while also typing in answers to questions about what they had read. Among the questions were some that prompted children to identify the main ideas in stories, as well as specific facts supporting those ideas.

Students' answers generated scores, which were then transmitted electronically to Hurwirtz's laptop. One helpful aspect of the system, Hurwitz said, was its capacity to identify groups of students who need more intensive instruction in specific concepts or skills.

The teacher added that another useful feature was the system's capacity to automatically adjust the difficulty level of questions either upward or downward, depending on what children were able to handle.

"It meets them at their level," Hurwitz said. 

Small classes. In Jericho, the use of small classes to help students struggling with their lessons is a tradition stretching to the 1980s.

Heather McGee, a high school English teacher, recently engaged her class of seven 10th-graders in a lesson revolving around a Shakespearean play, "Julius Caesar." Anticipation mounted as the lesson neared the point of Caesar's assassination, with students reciting dialogue in the gravelly tone of Roman senators. 

One student, Brandon Luong, 16, voiced appreciation for the small-class setting. "It definitely helps me understand what's going on in the book," he said. 

These days, Jericho provides one small-sized English class at each grade level, six through 12, for students needing more individual attention. Class sizes range from seven students to 12. A similar approach is taken in other academic subjects: math, science and social studies. 

Such classes, though expensive, produce impressive results.

Last year, for example, 63% of Jericho's high school seniors with disabilities graduated with advanced Regents diplomas, showing they had completed upper-level courses and exams. Nassau County's average was 18%. 

Hank Grishman, now in his 27th year as Jericho's superintendent, described small classes as part of a broader approach that also offers extra help to any high school students seeking this at 8:15 a.m. before classes begin. 

Grishman added that such programs were "tied into a broader philosophy that all kids can succeed."

By John Hildebrand

john.hildebrand@newsday.com@johnhnewsday

John Hildebrand is Newsday's senior education writer and has covered school news and policy issues affecting Long Island for more than 40 years.