The RTI pyramid is divided into 3 tiers, with the bottom being universal and the top being more intense attention to a smaller number of students.

Dear CNMT Community,

As the year is winding down, it’s time to start thinking about summer planning and next year. I have been looking at some of our student data for this year, thinking about the exciting plans we have for grade-level teams inspired by what we saw at Kearny DMD in San Diego. I realize that project-based learning is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to turning our school around and seeing the dramatic improvement in student outcomes that I know we all want.

The District’s approach to Response to Intervention and Instruction, what they call RTI2, can be a useful guide here. RTI is based on a pyramid, where the bottom is all students, called Tier 1 instruction. The middle is about 15% of students who don’t respond to Tier 1 instruction. These students require more intensive group intervention, what is called Tier 2. Finally, at the top is the small group of students who require even more intensive, individualized intervention, and this is called Tier 3.

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Mayor Villaraigosa, artists, students and volunteers posed in front of the new mural in the entrance of the R-Building.

Dear CNMT Community,

This week a large group of teachers from CNMT went to visit Kearny High School Digital Media Design in San Diego. This visit was inspiring and motivating, and came at a perfect time as we move into summer planning for next school year.

Thanks to a grant from Boyle Heights Learning Collaborative and support in planning from Los Angeles Education Partnership, we were able to stay overnight and get to the school early in the morning. The principal, Cheryl Hibbeln, gave a presentation about the school to our 14 teachers and guests from LAEP, BHLC and Edelman. Principal Hibbeln has qualities that I aspire to as a school leader, and I think all the teachers were taken by her confidence and no-nonsense approach to supporting teachers and students and building a culture of success and high expectations.

Kearny DMD is a small school of 500 students on a shared campus with three other small schools. DMD’s instructional program is built around a pathway that connects academic classes with a multimedia CTE class in the 9th, 10th and 11th grades. These grade-level teams plan semester-long projects in collaboration with community partners like Warner Bros. and the Surfrider Foundation.

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Student art work completed for an imaginative project.

Dear CNMT Community,

When UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education and Access (IDEA) published their book on multiple pathways a few years ago, they changed the wording of the goal of this model of school reform, which now goes by the name of Linked Learning. They said that the goal of the multiple pathways approach is to prepare all students for college, career and civic engagement, rather than just college and career.

I take this last part very seriously, because I believe that democracy is essential and the only true path to a better society. This is not to say that democracy is perfect, or that the United States is a perfect example of a democracy, but I don’t think there is a better system for striving for social justice and freedom. Continue reading →

Roosevelt students enjoyed the extended lunch for the Cinco de Mayo food fair.

Dear CNMT Community,

A small school gives us the opportunity to form closer relationships with our students and their families. We have just over 500 students, and some of them are siblings, so there are fewer than 500 CNMT families. I would like to get to the point where I know all of them, because I know that families are the key to student success.

In CNMT, we have a strong belief that families are partners and should be respected and welcomed at the school. This came across on Saturday at our first Power to the Parents conference.

Parent Mr. Rodriguez and teacher Mr. Chavez collaborated on a workshop.

Thanks to the inspiration of Mr. Chavez and the perspiration of Ms. Haskin and a bunch of teachers, student volunteers, our community rep, Nelson and myself, we pulled off the biggest parent event of the year for our small school, with 39 parents signing in.

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CNMT mom Alicia Gomez and kids at Lea-LA

Dear CNMT Community,

I want to thank Nelson Hernandez for the excellent work he has been doing for CNMT this year. A full-time college student, Nelson is also working part-time as the CNMT Community Rep. He is the point person for parent engagement activities, including all of our advisory committee meetings, our Family Action Team and activities such as the Padres como Autores workshops.

Nelson, a former student of mine and several other CNMT teachers, has a great way with parents, and has become quite popular. Last week, he spent three evenings phone banking for yesterday’s trip to the LEA-LA book fair, and also enlisted the help of some of our more active parents.

The trip was a great success. We started the day with a light meal from Arctic Hotspot and then boarded the school bus to the Los Angeles Convention Center. We had about 15 parents, who brought a number of their children, mostly younger students, but props to Horacio Mejia for coming with his mom. Continue reading →