“We now have compelling evidence that when teachers team up with their colleagues they are able to create a culture of success in schools, leading to teaching improvements and students learning gains. The clear policy and practice implication is that teaching is a team sport” (Fulton & Britton, Teachers in PLCs…, 2011, p.4)

Organizing our elementary school teachers into full, grade-level teams allows the benefits of collaboration to happen to our students and staff. These collaborative teams are critical to implementing best practices, and providing the support students need to learn at high levels. These teams use cycles of instruction, assessment and intervention to be able to guarantee learning for all students. “Reforms must move the system towards early identification and swift intervention, using scientifically-based instruction and teaching methods” (President’s Commission on Excellence in Education, 2002, p.8).

Housing grade-level collaborative teams inside one building provides the environment to develop these collaborative teams. “High-functioning teams schoolwide [are] essential to ensuring improved and inspired learning for all learners – adults and children”  (D’Auria, Learn to Avoid and Overcome Obstacles, 2015, p.54). 

Transition to 5-12 campus 

Community surveys and listening sessions last year brought attention to the difficult transition 5th grade students experience in our district. This is, in part, due to the different classes rising 5th grade students have been attending (i.e. Humphrey and Winsted) now being one grade level, in one building, together. The lack of connections with many of their classmates, while also managing their new life at the 5-12 campus has proven difficult for many. Combining all students across a grade-level into one building throughout their Laker experience increases the community feel of our district and facilitates transitions to different buildings. 

Equity across district 

Students, families and staff in our district deserve an equitable experience, regardless of where they live. Although our staff tries hard to provide a similar school, there are differences in practice and experiences between the schools that we can/should standardize. For students, their grade-level teams will be better-equipped to provide intervention and enrichment to students by fully using the power of their collaborative teams. Families will be able to expect a guaranteed and viable curriculum with a consistent set of supports regardless of their location within the district. Our collaborative teams will be able to guarantee learning for every Laker. Also, supporting services like mental/physical health, food service and transportation can be provided more consistently to students of similar grade-level and development. Staff members experience more similar case-loads for their students.

During the 23-24 school year, district leadership continued to feel the impact of a structural imbalance to our budget. As noted during the levy campaign, the amount asked for was half of the projected shortfall. We committed to effectively and creatively using our resources to bridge the gap. 

THIS SPREADSHEET provides insight on a number of resource-related items. The first sheet provides information about our current budget outlook and projections into the next five years. In addition, there is a projection for the budget impact given the switch to grade-level buildings. The next sheets provide historical data as to recent budget adjustments the district has completed during the 23-24 school year and during the 24-25 school year. The final sheet provides average monthly costs to the district to provide perspective on the money needed, month-to-month to maintain operations. 

District leadership feels the move to a grade-level building scheme provides significant savings as to warrant consideration. These cost savings come from reducing 2-3 staff positions. With the switch to grade-level buildings and the different population sizes between Winsted and Humphrey, the district is able to realize these savings while maintaining similar class sizes. 

Families move in and out of the district throughout the school year. Under the current set up, there are situations where we push students and families to Winsted for lack of space at Humphrey. With grade-level buildings, our teams will be able to more equitably distribute students and accommodate families that are leaving the district. This idea also applies to students receiving any of our additional services and supports (special education, english language learner, etc.). Our service providers will be better able to specialize for age-appropriate supports and balance case-loads across the district. 

Community leaders and families in all three towns of the district have been clamoring for additional day-care options for residents. A move to grade-level buildings allows the district to use classroom space more efficiently at Humphrey and Winsted. Thus, we are able to open a number of classrooms in Waverly and Winsted and provide LakerCare within Waverly and Winsted. Also, McLeod county is eager to expand their Head Start program into Winsted. As this is a competitive federal program, and as such there are a lot of rules and expectations surrounding the facility the program is housed in. Winsted Elementary is one of the few facilities in Winsted that would be able to meet most of the Head Start requirements. A Head Start program in Winsted provides additional support to the citizens and students of our community. If McLeod county is able to expand into Winsted, this also provides additional revenue for our district. 

Disproportionate population growth across the district and space constraints in our elementary buildings will eventually require the use of attendance boundary lines. The size of our district is such that these lines may need to shift yearly to accommodate changing grade sizes, move-ins, open enrollment and more. These changing boundaries create great uncertainty, especially for families in Howard Lake where the boundary line would likely rest. Naturally, the district could provide exceptions to the boundary line; however, these exceptions are difficult to manage and generate angst and conflict.

Since before the Pandemic, and certainly after, instructional staff have struggled with increased community expectations of schools and reduced student readiness. Our staff is dedicated, hardworking and eager to guarantee students learn at or above grade level. However, our mission is more complicated now than ever before. “[Leaders] increase the capacity of others by asking them to work in teams with interdependent relationships… We increase capacity when we work together, rather than in isolation” (Patterson, The Power to Change Everything, 2008, p.183).

Collaboration is both one of our core values and a focus area from the Strategic Plan. Increasing the capacity and efficacy of teacher teams is the central goal of the grade-level proposal. 

John Hattie, famed educational researcher, analyzed the results of decades of school initiatives and efforts to increase student learning. His work, titled Visible Learning, ranks these efforts according to effect size. Below is a graphic which has a few of these findings summarized. School actions having an effect size from 0 – .2 have little impact, which cannot be discerned from typical human development. Items between .2 and .4 have a slight impact beyond normal development. Initiatives with effect sizes .4 and beyond accelerated student learning. 

The highest effect size on student learning found through this exhaustive research involves collaborative, interdependent teacher teams, able to guarantee learning for all students. These are the actions and initiatives we agreed to focus on as a result of the Strategic Plan. Giving our staff permission to focus their efforts and stop doing things that do not align with our goals provides continued support for staff.