For those who haven’t walked into a school classroom in decades other than to attend a parent-teacher conference or Grandparents’ Day, it might not seem like all that much could possibly change in the world of education. One and one is still two. Sentences still need a subject and a verb. And, g enerally, when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking. These and so many other staples of reading, writing, and arithmetic have been taught successfully since time immemorial. But it isn’t necessarily what is being taught that has developed over the past few decades but how it’s being taught – or more to the point, how educators today are being intentional about making sure their lessons are delivered in a variety of ways in order to meet the needs of each individual student in the classroom. “I think that as we grow as a society, we’re supposed to get wiser,” said Amanda Arnold, who was hired last summer to serve as the diverse learners director for the Catholic Schools Office of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. “When we were kids, you sat in a classroom and, most of the time, the teacher taught one way, and you either understood or you didn’t.” Thankfully, Arnold told Today’s Catholic, “the idea of education overall has changed to say, hey, not everybody’s going to learn orally, not everybody’s going to learn visually, and it is the responsibility of the diocese, the school, and the teacher to say, because there are 30 students in this classroom, I might need three or four different ways to teach this in order to help these kids be the best that they can be.” It was with this purpose in mind that led Arnold and others in the Catholic Schools Office to hold the diocese’s Diverse Learners Summit on Wednesday, March 11, in Syracuse. At least one representative was present from each of the diocese’s 43 Catholic schools, with 135 people in total attending the one-day workshop, including educators from the neighboring Diocese of Lafayette and Lakewood Park Christian, a nondenominational private school located in Auburn. “Every year, as we plan these summits, we kind of look at what the needs are when we meet with principals and visit schools,” Arnold said. “This year, we thought it would be helpful to lean into what’s known as MTSS or multi-tiered system of support. This focuses on helping every child in a classroom, from those who are high achievers to students who might need a little more instruction or simply a different way of looking at the material. So, the goal of the Diverse Learners Summit is to help teachers and principals meet those needs within the structure of their schools, which can be very different based on size and resources.” ‘Living Our Catholic Mission’ Before joining the Catholic Schools Office, Arnold spent 17 years as a special education teacher, including 15 years at diocesan schools, most recently at St. Vincent de Paul School in Fort Wayne. Julie Williams, an assistant superintendent with the diocese, said Arnold was the perfect fit when they were looking to fill the new position of diverse learners director. “She’s so passionate about reaching all students,” Williams told Today’s Catholic. “It’s just who she is, and she has such a gift. … She has changed so many schools in just the short time that she’s been in this role.” In the summit’s opening session, Arnold explained the benefits of implementing a multi-tiered system of support for students as well as strategies for doing so, offering tips on how to make necessary changes even with a small staff, tweaking classroom schedules in order to make the best use of available instructional time, and ensuring lessons are engaging to stop bad behavior before it starts. One of the final slides in Arnold’s opening presentation stated, in bold: “Supporting every learner isn’t just good teaching, it is living our Catholic mission.” “Catholic means ‘universal,’ and we need to be able to offer the best education possible to the most number of families who desire it,” Arnold said. “And to be able to give this opportunity to all families does change some dynamics – whether it’s cultural backgrounds, socioeconomic diversity, or different learning abilities. So, classrooms that were once a little more uniform are now looking more universal, and that’s beautiful, but it does raise some challenges. And it’s great to open our doors and our hearts to everyone, but in order to actually respect the human dignity of every child, every student, we actually have to service them the way they need. … That’s our duty.” Mike Obergfell, principal at St. Jude School in Fort Wayne, attended the meeting with three of his school’s teachers. He told Today’s Catholic that “any tools or best practices that we can use to help our diverse populations is a good thing, so it’s always good for us to come and know that other schools in the diocese are doing the same thing. … We do have a staff that’s doing a good job with meeting the needs of our students, and we’re blessed in that way, but we can always do better.” Derek Boone, principal of Huntington Catholic School, concurred, telling Today’s Catholic that the support given by Arnold and the diocese to intentionally reach all learners has made an impact with his school’s teachers and students. “This is especially helpful for smaller schools like ours due to the limited staffing or resources we have on hand,” Boone said. “We’ve seen an immediate impact in our school simply based on support from Mrs. Arnold, benefiting at least 3-5 students and their teachers immediately.” Diocesan Lending Library A portion of the Diverse Learners Summit was dedicated to introducing the teachers and administrators to a new initiative being rolled out by the Catholic Schools Office and spearheaded by Arnold and Williams. Laid out on half a dozen or so folding tables were a wide variety of resources the two have compiled for the diocese’s new Diverse Learners Lending Library. The collection includes instructional programs, intervention materials, assistive tools, and classroom supports that teachers are encouraged to explore and borrow to strengthen instruction and support student success. Schools are encouraged to review the available resources, test tools that might benefit their students, and evaluate programs before making expensive purchasing decisions. Williams told Today’s Catholic that the idea for a lending library came about after a generous donor came to Bishop Rhoades seeking to make an impact on Catholic education across the diocese. Williams said she and Arnold put a plan together for the library, which was then pitched to Bishop Rhoades, who gave them a green light to get started. “Bishop Rhoades has been amazing; he’s been so supportive,” Williams said. “In the three years since I’ve been here, being able to offer a Catholic education to students of all abilities has been one of the things that he has really pushed for, because he’s so passionate about it.” Arnold also credited Bishop Rhoades and his support for the project, saying: “Not only did he think that all students deserve to attend a Catholic school but that all deserve to be educated. That’s huge, and not everybody thinks that way, and he has been so pivotal in that mission.” The goal of the lending library, Arnold said, is to give schools access to resources they might not otherwise have. “If students at a particular school are having academic struggles, we can give teachers there another intervention tool or a program that is research-based and data-driven that they might not have known about or have immediate financial access to,” Arnold said. The lending library focuses on resources to help students in three key areas – reading and math, certainly, but also religion. “We have a beautiful opportunity to take students with more significant cognitive needs and make sure they have full access to the sacraments – and it’s not just receiving the sacraments; it’s being able to actually participate to the best of their ability in the sacraments,” Arnold said. “There are beautiful, amazing, adaptive kits that can help with reconciliation when we have a child who’s nonverbal, or maybe they are verbal but they have language impairment, or maybe they speak a different language. There are picture cards that a child or an adult could give to a priest that then can prompt the priest to communicate with them. That’s just one example.” While the items in the lending library have just begun being shared with schools across the diocese, Arnold said she’s had a chance over the past few weeks to visit with schools and show them some of the resources that are available. “One of the most exciting things has been when a school that might be struggling with something asks me to come in, and I’ll bring some things from the library,” Arnold said. “I’ve had teachers and principals literally in tears because now they have something that they didn’t know existed. They use it, and they can actually see how it can change a child’s life.” Serving the Needs of All Families At the Diverse Learners Summit, Williams said one thing she would stress to educators is that making sure all levels of learners are being reached doesn’t happen overnight. “But throughout that change process, we are here to help and support schools the entire way,” Williams said. “We know this is what is best, and we know this is what our mission is, according to our faith. We’re here to help you get there.” Arnold said the goal of the summit, and the lending library, and her job as diverse learners director is that “families are able to attend their parish school and have the needs of their kids met – academically, behaviorally, socially, emotionally – through their parish school,” Arnold said. “There might be circumstances that prevent them from attending their parish school, but we want to make sure that it isn’t because of a need or a disability or a health concern. … That’s my vision: that every Catholic school can meet the needs of the people who knock on our doors.” Scott Warden is editor-in-chief of Today’s Catholic. Email him at [email protected]. The post Catholic Schools Aim to Reach All Students at All Learning Levels appeared first on Today's Catholic. ...read more read less