Building with Benchmark: A resource for Sioux City elementary schools to take learning to a new level – KTIV Siouxland’s News Channel

SIOUX CITY (KTIV) – The days of chalkboards and loose paper assignments for Sioux City Community Schools Elementary Schools are of the past for certain subjects.

The district is in the first full year of implementing “Benchmark.” It’s a comprehensive literacy, social studies, and science program that focuses on building knowledge through content-based reading and writing instruction.

On the literacy side, one kindergarten teacher said it helps teach print concepts and handwriting, according to a report given to the Sioux City School Board.

She has already seen growth in students’ handwriting from last year to this year, and the school board is excited to hear the feedback.

KTIV stopped by Mr. Donny Short’s classroom at Bryant Elementary. He is all for learning about the unit on ‘Point of View’, from a new point of view resource. His 4th-grade classes use the new tools from the Benchmark Program for literacy, social studies, and science.

Mr Short said, “So benchmark advance is just a curriculum resource. If you think back to when you were in school, it’s your textbook. It’s the book that the teacher uses to make sure that we’re meeting all the requirements of the learning experiences that children are supposed to have according to the state standards,” said Short.

Tools include “magazines” that are full of book excerpts, writing and reading lessons, reflections, and additional tasks for students who want a challenge. For the teacher, it’s a manual and a PowerPoint-style system that is customizable to the instructor’s way of teaching.

“One of the things that I like about the resource is just the different ways that I could deliver my instruction, which allows for a lot of different teachers to approach this in the way that fits best. That format works best for them. So they have some autonomy over how to deliver instruction, but the resource is Rigorous and highly engaging. So all of that coming together provides a really great growth experience for our students across Sioux City,” said Short.

Short is also on the Literacy Committee and helped pilot this program in the classroom last year to get his feet wet in the program, and he is now leading the staff through challenges in learning a new program.

He helps teachers who are working through the program in their first year, “One of the most difficult things is what do I need to be printed? What do I need to project for students to see? What do I need sitting right in front of them? and Benchmark provides us with all of those elements. We just have to explore like, what’s the best delivery method and use what we know to be about good teaching to make this resource come to life for the kids.”

It’s not a traditional book, Short explains, “The text that’s included in these little magazines is authentic literature, so it’s not a prescribed story that’s written by a company. These are from books that they would be able to go check out from the library if they liked the story. At the end of a three-week unit, they get to take this [magainze] home with them. On the back, they have ways for families to continue learning at home. They get to show off all the work that they’ve done.”

Breaking Down the Data

Teachers from Bryant Elementary shared that from Unit 1 to Unit 2 assessments certain classes for language standards. One class increased from 43% to 69% proficient. Another class grew from 55% proficient to 76% in language standards.

“It’s so exciting to see the students grow. Last year between fall to winter, I had a student achieve 300% growth on their diagnostic exam and that alone helped me to know that we had chosen a really great resource that is going to help students find success through their learning,” explained Short.

Benchmark provides students with a depth of knowledge while also providing opportunities on a rigorous level. There is also an online component with each unit.

“If they’re struggling reader, they can go online and they can listen to the story that all of their friends are using. If they want, they can use that technology to highlight annotate, and type on. They can do the good old fashioned way where we’re just going to open a book and we’re doing paper pencil,” said Short.

Growth in learning is the goal, teaching a love for reading that goes beyond the classroom.

Short explained how this can relate to the real world and the excitement of reading on their own, “When reading an article in a magazine, I loved it. I ripped it. I’m reading a book and I’m underlining my favorite passage. Talking about it on Goodreads. I’m sharing about it on my social media platforms. These kids are going to leave this classroom with that authentic experience instead of completing worksheets that have a passage at the top and questions at the bottom. Or They’re reading a book and they have. Line and answer 15 different questions to show that they understood what they. This is just a more authentic way for students to engage with reading as a whole.”

As the district moves into the new year, the committees will continue meetings to address feedback and concerns from teachers and work to connect across content.

“We wanted to be able to support our teachers and so we continue that work throughout this year. We meet monthly where we say What are the problems people are coming up against? and how can we help them overcome those problems so that they have a really great teaching experience? More importantly, we want the students to have a really great learning experience,” Short added.

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