Pontiac High School's Freshmen Learning Community

On Friday, December 9th, I had the opportunity to visit Pontiac District 90 in Pontiac, Illinois to talk to them about their 95.6% Freshmen On Track rate for a class of 187 Students. 

Freshmen on Track has been such a priority for Pontiac for the last decade that they have changed the layout of their building to support Freshmen success. That along with three other components have led their school to be one that is high performing on this metric.  The first of those, is the Freshmen Learning Community that is at the heart of Pontiac HS. The FLC is made up of two English teachers, two global studies teachers, two math teachers and two science teachers that work together to provide consistent skill building and supports for all Freshmen. Both English teachers are teaching the same skills and content at the same time, allowing flexibility of student schedules as the year progresses. The same happens in the other three FLC departments. 

This consistency in instruction happens in part with the help of proximity of classrooms where six of those eight teachers are in the same hallway and teachers are able to have quick, consistent conversations all day long about what is happening in their classes in terms of students and content. Additionally, teachers in this space can share students throughout the day to give Freshmen an individualized approach to their education. An example of this would be a Freshman who has missed several mornings of school and is in need of support in the math courses he/she missed those mornings. English teachers in the afternoon are able to send that student to his/her math class when standards for that day are met so that NO student slips between the cracks.

Deeper conversations amongst the FLC occurs weekly along with their guidance counselors, and principal in weekly team meetings. At these meetings, team members start by discussing "Faces in the Crowd" which celebrates students that are making progress academically and socially to be shared out with the school. Additionally, the FLC utilizes data collection to discuss students with Ds and Fs that are in need of support for the week as well as those with social and emotional needs. These conversations lend themselves to team based solutions including placing students in content based after school tutoring hubs during the week. Pontiac commits to having a teacher that specializes in each of the core areas on various designated days of the week so organized and targeted support takes place with teachers that that are experts on the topics in need.

For more information about these practices, reach out to Eric Bohm at ebohm@pontiac90.org or Elizabeth Hatfield at ehatfield@pontiac90.org

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