{"id":15304,"date":"2022-05-26T01:00:15","date_gmt":"2022-05-26T05:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/?post_type=cw_post&p=15304"},"modified":"2022-06-06T14:22:40","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T18:22:40","slug":"the-primary-person-model-and-transformative-learning-experiences-at-opportunity-academy","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/the-primary-person-model-and-transformative-learning-experiences-at-opportunity-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Primary Person Model and Transformative Learning Experiences at Opportunity Academy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Teacher<\/p>\n

Image: Holyoke Public Schools<\/a><\/p>\n

The Holyoke Public Schools in Massachusetts describe Opportunity Academy<\/a> as \u201ca set of alternative pathways that allow students to continue or restart on a pathway to a diploma\u201d who are not currently on track to graduate. The school serves students aged 16 and older who transferred from other high schools in Holyoke or nearby districts.<\/p>\n

The first pathway is the Success Center, a competency-based program where students engage primarily in project-based, competency-based, multidisciplinary learning. The second pathway is Gateway to College<\/a>, a national dual enrollment program that enables students to earn high school and college credit simultaneously. The third pathway is Lighthouse Holyoke<\/a>, a private high school that offers active, personalized learning with strong socioemotional supports. The Holyoke district pays the tuition for Opportunity Academy students to attend Lighthouse. This blog post focuses on the first pathway\u2014the Success Center.<\/p>\n

Opportunity Academy serves about 200 students, with about 140 at the Success Center, 25 at Gateway to College, and 35 at Lighthouse. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, 88% are Latino, 7% are Black, 5% are white or other, and 29% are English learners.<\/p>\n

Most Opportunity Academy students attend the Success Center, which is part of the Engage New England<\/a> network of schools that were awarded grants from the Barr Foundation. The network identifies \u201cthree high-leverage practices for schools serving students who are off track,\u201d explained Principal Geoffrey Schmidt. The three practices are project-based learning, competency-based education, and what Springpoint Schools<\/a>, the network\u2019s professional learning provider, calls a \u201cprimary person model\u201d\u2014an approach in which every student has a relationship with at least one adult in the school who knows them well and provides a variety of academic and personal supports.<\/p>\n

In years past, the Success Center\u2019s focus was helping students pass the state exam required for graduation, which they had failed previously. Then students returned to one of Holyoke\u2019s larger high schools. But Schmidt explained that \u201cstudents got here, started having academic success\u2014many of them for the first time in their entire academic careers\u2014and they would say, \u2018Why would I go back to one of the other two campuses? I wasn’t doing well there!\u2019 So the school staff decided to build a model where students could go through a multi-year progression of rigorous and relevant learning, setting them up for a choice-filled postsecondary life.\u201d That was the basis of the Barr Foundation grant application.<\/p>\n

\"Student<\/p>\n

Image: Holyoke Public Schools<\/a><\/p>\n

Primary Person Model<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Success Center\u2019s \u201cprimary person\u201d model ensures that every student has support from a caring adult who is consistently available, invested in their growth and well-being, and provides clearly defined structures to help them become leaders of their own learning. As described<\/a> by Springpoint, the primary person or “advisor” is \u201cintentionally connected to supporting academic and developmental success, and has two core functions: holding structured academic conferences with students, and serving as a liaison to other sources of student support including content teachers, student support team members, families, and external resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schmidt explained that students and staff at the Success Center have long had strong, positive relationships, and annual Panorama surveys showed that students felt that adults in the building cared about them. The primary person model has taken that strong foundation and made it more deliberate and systematic. A key element is \u201cacademic conferencing\u201d\u2014frequent, structured one-on-one conferences between students and advisors that focus on both short-term planning and long-term goals. Part of this process includes students completing academic and socioemotional self-assessments that become key information for setting goals, arranging supports, and assessing progress.<\/p>\n

Springpoint\u2019s report, Supporting Every Student: Academic Conferencing in High School<\/a>, is a valuable resource for understanding the primary person model more deeply. Drawing from Zaretta Hammond\u2019s book Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain<\/a>, they describe the stance of a successful primary person as a \u201cwarm demander\u201d who:<\/p>\n