Brunswick City Schools gives update on academic support system for students

BRUNSWICK — Brunswick Schools aims to improve its academic support of students through intervention and enrichment. Assistant Director of Instruction and Innovation Claire Trujillo provided an update on Tuesday to the board of education on the district's Multi-Tiered Systems of Support initiative that it started implementing a few years ago. Creating a multitiered system of support framework aims to help the district achieve its core goals, she said. It represents a shift in educational philosophy. "Historically, education has followed a model like wait to fail, where we provide help after students fall behind and are showing signs of struggle," Trujillo said. "(Multi-Tiered Systems of Support) flips that. It's a proactive framework focused on the prevention of student failure through tiers of support." The primary focus of the framework is the core instruction students get daily, she said. The goal is for initial instruction to meet the needs of at least 80 percent of students. "When we're doing that well, it allows us to add these other layers more efficiently and effectively," Trujillo said. "If the core is unhealthy, let's say only 50 percent of the students are at the benchmark for a particular skill, it becomes very cumbersome to try and intervene your way out of that. You can't effectively utilize your resources, and those interventions then are not as effective." The district has universal screeners that check skills to ensure students are on track, she said. It allows concerns for students to be identified, a plan to be put in place and the ability to monitor progress. Brunswick Schools built in time for staff to look at student data together, analyze trends, identify needs and create plans to support students, which range from intervention to enrichment, Trujillo said. "This shared problem solving ensures that no student is left to chance and no teacher is working in isolation," she said. "This approach isn't something that we just believe in. It's strongly backed by research." At the elementary school level, there is a 30-minute daily block of time, which is focused on support, Trujillo said. Students are grouped together based on their needs. "What's powerful about this structure is that everyone is getting the just-right instruction for that solid 30 minutes," she said. "Our highest-performing students aren't simply working independently. We have these kids that are our highest flyers working with a teacher and getting actual instruction, not just independent work." In middle school and high school, the framework focuses more on being an early warning system, Trujillo said. The district monitors attendance, behavior and course performance using thresholds set by the state. Intervention classes at the high school are also turned into relationships by intentionally matching a student with an adult mentor, she said. "Research consistently shows that students who have at least one strong, positive adult relationship in school demonstrate higher engagement, stronger resilience and greater academic growth," Trujillo said. "Interventions matter, instruction matters, systems matter, but relationships amplify all of it." There are two mentor programs at the high school, she said. Check & Connect is a nationally recognized mentoring program, and Support and Success was developed in the district as a less intense version to reach more students. "We plan to grow and strengthen this," Trujillo said. "Let people try it, see what works, see how it's developing, and then we're going to provide additional professional development with Check & Connect to be able to expand our reach." Brunswick Schools intends to expand its mentoring program, transition to smaller and more frequent team meetings and deepen its focus on core instruction, she said. "Structures might look different from kindergarten through 12th grade, but the foundation doesn't change," Trujillo said. "The language of support is consistent. The belief in every student is consistent, and our shared responsibility for student outcomes is consistent." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.