April 2009

No Middle-of-the-Road Membership for Kingston Middle School

Susan Wistrand, Principal, Kingston Middle School

Kingston Middle School joined the DLC last fall and Principal Susan Wistrand began to make the most of their membership from day one. She understands that the key to her students’ future success lies in her ability to leverage all she can for them at this crucial developmental stage.

“The National Association of Secondary School research tells us that students’ success in the middle school years is often the key to academic success in high school,” says Wistrand, “The DLC’s resources make it possible for my staff members and students to reach academic success with quality online resources. Some of our challenges include our students lacking access to computers at home and our school budget preventing us from having the most current technology.” By joining the DLC, Wistrand was able to use the money she saved to shore up her school’s digital hardware—more computers and other necessary equipment.

Train your staff for free—early and often

The DLC provided free training for Wistrand and her staff at the start of the school year, outlining and demonstrating the powerful teaching and learning resources included in the school’s membership. “My staff members have requested additional content area trainings and library resource trainings on our professional development days. Our librarian and I attended a Seattle DLC trainer training that was wonderful. All of these free trainings have provided meaningful and relevant professional development that staff can immediately implement into their teaching practices,” she says.

Differentiated learning and assessment is key

DLC materials support individual students working at their own reading level and at their own pace. Many of the resources support individual practice, formative and summative assessment, and provide a means of tracking student progress. “Students are engaged in interactive learning which is far more appealing and engaging to them,” Wistrand explains, “My teachers facilitate the learning process and meet students’ levels with ease.”

Teaching resources help struggling students master core concepts

“We have a before-school support program that uses ExploreLearning Gizmos to meet our struggling math students’ individual needs. The program enables students to manipulate the data so they understand concepts visually and at a much deeper level. Students and parents can also access these resources from school, home and any public library computer, which builds on that valuable home-school partnership for success. This is particularly important given many of our families do not have access to computers in their homes,” says Wistrand.

Math staff members use the interactive math Gizmos as a supplement to group to help students visually understand complex concepts.

Library databases support those social studies CBAs

Kingston social studies and English teachers and their librarian use DLC library resources with students as they complete research projects and OSPI’s state-mandated social studies classroom-based assessments. The DLC search engines enable students to locate primary resources and resources that fit their reading level and their research project choice.

Online Courses? Oui!

Wistrand has even introduced online courses at the middle school level: “We have numerous students taking French online because budget cuts required us to eliminate this foreign language from our offerings. We hope to encourage students to take more advanced courses or intervention type courses next year.”

Help them envision a concrete path to success

Kingston’s counseling staff uses DLC career planning resources that were purchased at a reduced rate with their membership. Wistrand sees career planning as an integral part of her work with middle school students. “Because many of our students come from disadvantaged homes, it is extremely important that we help our students set goals and plan for those goals that lead to success in high school and in their post secondary plans,” she says, “The DLC resources enable our staff members to help all students rather than just a few.”

“In my 35 years of working in education in three states,” Wistrand reflects, “this is the most cost effective and exciting program I have had the privilege of working with and implementing in schools. My staff and I have great plans to further expand these resources in our middle school.”

Want to read more? Browse the Success Stories page.