Waukesha: Elem. schools by Grade level, not neighborhood

Seems to be a trend in schools facing closedowns or boundary changes.

Schools by age, not address

Waukesha board calls merging elementary facilities, grouping by grade
level an experiment in education

By AMY HETZNER
ahetzner@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Sept. 16, 2007

"Theory" and "experiment" were two ways Waukesha School Board members
last week described the district's move to create two schools focused
solely on the lower or upper elementary grade levels.

But staff in schools already organized around such grade levels
describe the model another way: child-focused.

"Really, the whole building kind of revolves around those early
learners," said Deb Ristow, principal of Pewaukee Lake Elementary
School, which has housed students in kindergarten through third grade
since 2002.

Although not as common in southeastern Wisconsin, "grade centers" that
serve students for a fraction of their elementary years make up one of
every five elementary schools nationwide, according to an analysis by
the Educational Research Service. The facilities can be
kindergarten-only centers, pre-kindergarten through second- or
third-grade buildings or third- through fifth- or sixth-grade schools.

And if the centers are successful in Waukesha, they could become even
more prevalent in that district and Wisconsin, where the concept is
used in schools and districts scattered throughout the state. Waukesha
School Board members have said they could turn to grade centers to
help address thorny elementary enrollment issues without resorting to
a massive attendance zone overhaul.

"This is an opportunity for us to try a new theory, a new way to do
things in our district," Waukesha board member Patricia Madden said.
"This is a rare opportunity for us, and we should take full advantage
of it."

Driven by resources, needs

As in Waukesha, resource and facility needs have provided the biggest
push toward grade centers in Wisconsin.

By pooling students into schools by grades rather than geography,
school administrators can better control class sizes and target
instruction, they say.

Reading specialists at the early elementary levels, in which students
are learning to string letters and words together, for example, have a
different task from those working with upper-elementary students
focused on making sense of books full of words they know.

"I think most of the time, when districts look at these things, it's
resource-driven," said Carol Topinka, superintendent of the St.
Francis School District, where declining enrollment prompted the
replacement of two K-8 buildings with kindergarten through grade three
and grades four through eight schools four years ago.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, however.

"We had two libraries serving K-8 kids," Topinka said. "Now we have
one for K-3 kids with twice as much in it."

In Milwaukee, where K-8s have been replacing traditional elementary
and middle schools, Westside Academy's decision to divide students
between kindergarten through grade three and grades four through eight
campuses preserves the continuity of a K-8, Principal James Sonnenberg
said. At the same time, it avoids some issues related to having
elementary and middle school-age students in close proximity.

"It's nice to have the younger children together and looking forward
to Westside II, where their brothers and sisters go," Sonnenberg said.
"Sometimes when you put the eighth-graders with K4s or Head Start
kids, it doesn't work, even in the morning in the playground."

Research doesn't show a clear tie between academic achievement and the
way grades are configured in schools. But there are concerns about how
the number of transitions between different buildings could affect
student achievement and school participation.

Addressing transition

In Pewaukee, school principals say they do what they can to ease the
passage between Pewaukee Lake and the school fourth- through
sixth-graders attend, Horizon Elementary School. That transition is
made easier by the district's campus setting, which hosts all four of
its schools within walking and parking distance.

But the schools also take advantage of the ability they have to focus
staffing and services toward the specific age levels in their
buildings.

Pewaukee Lake has three reading specialists compared with Horizon's
one, while Pewaukee Lake's Spanish teacher spends part of her day at
Horizon, where students take Spanish more frequently than their
younger counterparts.

Assemblies and even character education programs at each of the
schools differ based on student needs, said Horizon Principal Sandie
Carter. Horizon might focus its lessons on bullying, while Pewaukee
Lake would stress friendship, she said.

Although parents in Pewaukee and St. Francis might have become used to
how their schools are structured, some Waukesha parents have concerns
about their district's decision to create schools of kindergarten
through grade three and grades four through eight next year.

What happens when a third-grader is reading at a fifth-grade reading
level but has access to a library with books written for mainly lower
levels, asked Waukesha parent Stacy Blank, who has a second-grader at
Hillcrest Elementary School, which has been designated to become a
kindergarten through grade three building next year.

And if the model is such a good one, fellow Waukesha parent Michael
Kahler questioned why the entire Waukesha School District isn't moving
to it instead of just two of its 17 elementary schools.

Added parent Amy Prothero, who also has a second-grader at Hillcrest:
"I feel like, 'Why are we being picked on?' "

From the Sept. 17, 2007 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel