College Community school embraces 'looping'

In most schools, the first day of school consists of a series of sometimes-awkward introductions as parents and students become acquainted with their new teachers and classes for the first time.

Things are simpler for the sixth-graders at Prairie Creek Intermediate School in the College Community district this year.

All of last year's fifth-grade teachers are teaching sixth grade with the same classes they had during the 2010-2011 school year. The former sixth-grade teachers also are changing roles, falling back to start with a new group of fifth-graders.

The practice of having teachers accompany their students as they move through the school, called “looping,” is common in education. But it is less common to find an entire school adopting the practice.

How 'looping' works

• Prairie Creek Intermediate School is adopting a “looping” system schoolwide this year.
• Under looping, teachers follow the same students as they move from grade to grade.
• That means last year's fifth-grade teachers are teaching the same students in sixth grade this year. Last year's sixth-grade students are teaching fifth grade and will follow the students to sixth grade next year.
• Educators say the pre-existing relationships mean students don't have to adapt to new teachers and the teachers know how each student learns and at what pace.

How 'looping' works

• Prairie Creek Intermediate School is adopting a “looping” system schoolwide this year.
• Under looping, teachers follow the same students as they move from grade to grade.
• That means last year's fifth-grade teachers are teaching the same students in sixth grade this year. Last year's sixth-grade students are teaching fifth grade and will follow the students to sixth grade next year.
• Educators say the pre-existing relationships mean students don't have to adapt to new teachers and the teachers know how each student learns and at what pace.

The benefits of looping come from the pre-existing relationships between teacher and student. Students don't have to adjust to a new teacher's style, and teachers already have a year of experience working with the group. They already have a good idea of how each student learns and at what pace.

It has resulted in a more efficient classroom experience, sixth-grade teacher Michael Young said on the first day of school Aug. 18.

“Usually, you're still building relationships with students and letting them know how things are going to work with the schedule and behavior in the classroom overall,” he said. “This year, I'll be able to just go over that today and tomorrow and then I'll be able to start on Monday right in to the curriculum.”

Student Grace Ehle, 11, has never had the same teacher two years in a row, but so far she's on board.

“I don't have to worry about if I will like this teacher's way of teaching, or if she is nice, or will she do things the way my fifth-grade teacher did them,” she said. “I just know it.”

The 800-student school, which serves all of the fifth- and sixth-grade students, was designed to work this way since it reopened as Prairie Creek in 2009. The building previously held Prairie Middle School and grades 6-8.

The school has been preparing to switch to looping since then, but Principal Sue Skala said she was nervous about making the switch without all of the teachers on board.

The new system requires a heavy investment from the teachers and an increased workload, at least at first. Every teacher in the school needs to adjust to a completely different curriculum, with some teaching a different grade level for the first time in their career.

At the start of last year, Skala estimates 90 percent of teachers in the school had agreed to loop. During the course of the year's professional development, the rest came around as well.

“One would come in every day and tell me, ‘OK, I'm looping,'” Skala said. “We really didn't anticipate starting off with all of them. It was a goal, but we didn't think we'd have that.”

But looping is about more than just academics; it also affects the social environment of the students - positively so, according to Young.

“Today when kids were coming in, it was very comfortable. It was more like a reunion as opposed to the anxiety of the first day,” said student Jaxon Osborne, 11. “You already know all the kids in your class, so it's a lot easier to work with them,”

A handful of students did not stay in the same class as the year before; situations Skala described as not being a “good fit.” There also are sixth-grade students who have recently moved into the district and did not attend fifth grade at Prairie Creek. Skala said there were no problems in any of those cases, so far.

But with tightening teacher-student relationships, saying goodbye at the end of the year when the sixth graders leave for Prairie Point Middle School is going to be even more difficult.

Young certainly is not looking forward to it.

“I'm still in denial that they're going to be leaving,” he said. “Talk to me in May.”

• LINK: More on Prairie Creek's approach to 'looping'