Since the beginning of the school year, the teachers and staff at Smyrna’s John Bassett Moore Intermediate School have been busy applying a new framework for the school’s curriculum.
The school is in the process of implementing of the Learning-Focused Schools Model, a framework of teaching practices and strategies adopted by the Smyrna School District and other schools throughout the state and country.
A Learning-Focused consultant took notice of the school’s hard work, and nominated JBM for national recognition.
As a result, JBM was among the six schools and one school district in the nation to be recognized as “Learning-Focused Preferred Schools.”
Specifically, JBM was recognized for its “exceptional implementation of the Learning-Focused Schools Model in the areas of leadership, organization, planning and instruction,” as listed in the brochure for the Learning-Focused national conference in Atlanta.
JBM Principal Derek Prillaman explained that the Learning-Focused framework starts by prioritizing the school’s curriculum, and focusing on the essential information that kids must know.
Teachers create “learning maps” to organize their lessons and make use of proven teaching strategies, Prillaman said.
“This is what our teachers have been working on since September,” he said.
The Learning-Focused approach starts with the big ideas, and breaks it down into smaller bits. As an example, lessons begin with an essential question that the teacher and students work to answer.
Although the framework is new, the school is still using the same curriculum and same textbooks.
“It’s how we package it,” Prillaman said. “These are more organized, more standard, more proven ways of doing it.”
The staff at JBM used three in-service days at the start of the school year to work on these strategies, but it will be a three-year process for full implementation, Prillaman said.
JBM’s Learning-Focused leadership team meets once a month.
Prillaman said the school’s preferred school status is a credit to the staff at JBM.
“They worked extremely hard to achieve this award,” he said. “They really stepped up, and I think as a result, student achievement will increase.”
