Laurel Woods Elementary School received high praise from U.S. Department of Education Deputy Secretary James Cole Jr. Thursday morning during a tour of the county's elementary school model developed to expand children's achievement and close opportunity gaps.
The elementary school model, one of Howard County Public Schools Superintendent Renee Foose's hallmark initiatives, was first piloted at Ducketts Lane Elementary School in the 2013-2014 school year with the aim of closing educational opportunities for poor students.
It has since been expanded to eight schools in total, all of which are Title I schools with high proportions of low-income students.
"I think the model is amazing," Cole said during his tour with Foose and County Executive Allan Kittleman. "One of the things that we're really excited about is the ability of the schools to be more involved in how children learn and how they can move forward. I'm very excited that they've expanded focus not only to improve math, science and reading, which is incredibly important, but also the way they introduce world languages."
The program features Spanish language instruction from kindergarten through fifth grade. Departmentalization also allows teachers to focus on two, rather than four, subjects and expanded pre-kindergarten.
Technology, including iPads, is also included in class instruction.
"Part of the reason students are becoming more advanced is because of the departmentalization," Cole added. "I think the departmentalization in elementary school is really what stuck with me [during the tour] and the ability to drill down so deeply in the subject matters. It has been really exciting to see the kids focusing on their whole selves and their ability to talk about their challenges and how they can use their strengths and confidence, which allows them to learn."
Cole said he looks forwards to the program's expansion to other schools throughout the county and the country, utilizing evidence-based successes, such as Laurel Woods Elementary.
School officials said the program will be refined and adjusted based on its success.
"One of the reasons why [officials] were interested was because this is a chance to close opportunity gaps," said John White, the school system's director of communications. "Not every kid has this chance, but we want to expand it to every child."