|  | Study affirms that Excel Program works
6/28/2005 11:30 AM The Excel Program — which places students in half-grades as an alternative to retention — has shown clear signs of helping students catch up in reading and math, according to the findings of University of Minnesota researchers released in a 31-page report today (Friday, Sept. 20). The gains were particularly strong for the students in the half-grade between third and fourth grades, grade 3.5.
The Saint Paul Public Schools introduced the Excel Program in fall 2001 after announcing an end to social promotion, the practice of passing students on to the next grade level even if they have not met the requirements for promotion to the next grade level. According to Superintendent Pat Harvey, the Excel Program is a step in the right direction toward helping students succeed.
“The Excel Program reflects the Saint Paul Public Schools commitment to challenge every child,” said Harvey. “The research makes it clear that when we hold students who are severely behind to the same high standard, and when we provide them with constant rigor, they too can succeed.”
Key features of the Excel Program include:
• a written plan for students identifying specific ways to help them improve academically based on their strengths and interests;
• specially trained Excel teachers who work closely with students and families to ensure success;
and
• specific instructional strategies in reading, writing and math that have been proven successful
with other students around the country.
The first 467 students to complete the 15-month Excel program spent at least three-and-a-half hours a day during the 2001-02 school year in the smaller half-grade classes for accelerated reading, writing and math. They also received at least 80 hours of specialized instruction during the 2001 summer session and again during the 2002 summer session.
The overall goal of the Excel Program is to accelerate the learning of students so that they can rejoin their peers at the end of the 15-month program. After one year of implementing Excel, the study showed progress toward this goal, although there was variation across grade levels and background characteristics of students. Specifically:
• Excel had the greatest effect at the 3.5 grade level: a larger proportion of students in grade 3.5 made gains in both reading and math than students in grade 4 from across the district.
• Larger proportions of Asian American, Hispanic American, African American, and Caucasian
Excel students made gains in math compared to their racial/ethnic peers not in the Excel
Program.
• Larger proportions of American Indian and African American Excel students made gains in
reading compared to their racial/ethnic peers not in the Excel Program.
• Excel students in grade 3.5 who were English language learners showed accelerated gains in
both reading and math.
What we learned
The three most important lessons the school district learned from the first year of implementing the Excel Program, Superintendent Harvey said, are these:
1. Intervene early. The task of accelerating learning is much easier with younger students, as is
evident in the data showing much higher achievement gains for students in grades 3.5 than for
those in grade 8.5.
2. Keep students with their peers. The inclusion model — in which students spend as much of
their day as possible with their peers — turned out to be a more effective way to deliver
instruction than the pull-out model, which separates students from their peers. Students in
grades 3.5 and 5.5 who experienced the inclusion model showed positive gains in reading and
math.
3. Provide professional development. The school district offered Excel teachers a variety of
opportunities for professional development and support, such as training in Balanced Literacy
and team meetings. The research showed a direct relationship between teacher participation
in professional development and student achievement. Students in the grade 3.5 classes
where teachers had high participation in professional development activities had the highest
achievement gains.
What’s next
Because the inclusion model turned out to be the most effective way to accelerate learning, the school district will take a closer look at the secondary schools with pull-out programs and explore the feasibility of developing inclusion programs there instead.
With the Excel program now “housed” at the Professional Development Center for Academic Excellence at 1001 Johnson Pkwy. in Saint Paul, Excel teachers will have better access to resources and support in literacy, math and science.
The second cohort of students to participate in the Excel program is off to a strong start. The 653 students in grades 3.5, 5.5 and 8.5 for the 2002-03 school year were required to attend the
2002 summer session and had 71 percent attendance as a group, up from 60 percent the previous year. Because attendance has a direct impact on achievement, the school district has worked closely with the Truancy Intervention Project to improve attendance and will continue to do so.
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