The teacher teams use four planning periods each week to organize and structure curriculum, instruction, and assessment for their students. For example, some teams have structured additional math or reading time into each day, while on another team, all homeroom teachers teach the language arts curriculum. One team is completely interdisciplinary, doing interdisciplinary units throughout the year. Another team is moving to a project-based curriculum in 2000 - 2001. To accommodate the project-based curriculum, this team will organize itself into double blocks to allow more time for students to work on projects in class.

Teachers and students get to know one another well at this school, both through the teams and because students stay with the same teachers for their two years at Marshall, a practice known as "looping." Advisors keep the same group of student advisees for two years. When making advisee assignments, the team discusses student and teacher styles and tries to make appropriate matches. The team also makes an effort not to match students with their homeroom teachers. The rationale behind this is to make sure that students develop relationships with more than one adult in the school. Students develop strong relationships with their teachers and say that the teachers are the "best thing" about Marshall.

When students are asked what they like about being on teams at Marshall, they reply that they love going on field trips with their teams. They also like team time, "when the teams all play together in group activities." The students report that they like being with the same teachers for two years because, "They get to know us and we get to know them… they respect you." Students also say that they feel safe in the school - not just because of the metal detectors they walk through every day as they enter the building, but because of the mutual respect between teachers and students that creates a safe and nurturing environment.

Business partners report that teaming is a strong component at Marshall. They say a major reason for its success is that kids share three or four teachers, and therefore each student has a positive connection to an adult. They also report that the autonomy of the teams allows teachers and staff to take the initiative. "They can run with the programs. There is a lot of freedom for the staff to be creative," says Lisa Merth, regional supervisor of Youth Guidance, which provides clinical and art support to Marshall. "There is a small community in the school."

Dev. Responsiveness - NEXT

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