She notes that the GAIN platform does not replace the curriculum in any way, but rather provides systems and practices that ensure that children have mastered the essential skills that are a precursor to learning. Smith provides an example of a young student who may be struggling in math. Traditional pedagogy would normally intervene to simply provide more and better math instruction to break through a seeming inability to learn basic math concepts. Yet the problem for this particular student may be a lack of what’s known as “executive functioning skills,” which would normally allow him to pay attention, plan and organize thoughts, follow multi-step directions, have a working, short-term memory, and deal with the stress of absorbing new information. “If the student is missing some of those executive functioning skills; doesn’t have working memory, say, where he can work with a particular component for at least 12 seconds, and then leverage that for future learning, he’s going to struggle. And it doesn’t matter how good the content is.” To ensure all students have the executive functioning skills needed to be successful, the EVSC assessed all of its kindergarten students via the Minnesota Executive Functioning Scale (MEFS), a performance based assessment of executive functioning skills . “Now we have baseline data on that,” says Smith. “We can identify individuals who have deficiencies in executive functioning skills, and by isolating and building upon those skills, we can ensure they will have the executive functioning foundation necessary to take on the content and make it their own.” HIGH SCHOOL AND BEYOND At the other end of a student’s educational journey in the EVSC, the district provides many options for high schoolers to acquire the real-world skills that will prepare them for college or employment.“Our district is rich in dual credit and AP (Advanced Placement) opportunities for students,” notes Dr. Darla Hoover, EVSC’s Chief of Schools and Instructional Core. EVSC offers approximately 30 AP courses and more than 100 different dual credit courses from a variety of 456 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 07 BUSINESS VIEW AGAZINE VOLUME 11, ISSUE 01
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