By Myrna Trauntvein
Times- Correspondent

"No child at our school is not getting help at our school," said Principal Steven Paulsen, Nebo View Elementary.
Paulsen said that last February, he, Jim Shank, superintendent, Linda Hanks, school board member, and others attended a training event on the topic of Professional Learning Communities and student intervention.
When he returned, said Paulsen, he began to train all of his teachers.
"We never dreamed that we were not effective in our efforts," said Paulsen. "What happens when, despite our best efforts in a classroom, a student does not learn?"
In education circles, the term learning community has become commonplace. However, the professional community of learners, a school in which the teachers and its administrators continuously seek and share learning and then act on what they learn, is the concept that Paulsen and his staff are working to adopt.
The goal of their actions is to enhance their effectiveness as professionals so that students benefit. This arrangement has also been termed communities of continuous inquiry and improvement.
"We call it enrichment," he said.
The school has enrichment groups where the students have an opportunity to practice and review in groups concepts they may not have learned well enough during class time.
An aide comes in during the morning and another comes in during the afternoon to help.
"We have also recruited parents," said Paulsen. "But the best that can happen is that the parent-volunteers can come in one or two days each week."
"Teachers do pretty intensive work to get groups organized," he said.
Various groups meet in various places in the school and the learning is very intentional.
The school began with the math program, he said.
As an organizational arrangement, the professional learning community is seen as a powerful staff development approach and a potent strategy for school change and improvement.
While the school began with math enrichments, they have added writing and reading.
Those in the lower grades work on reading skills.
Nebo View Elementary staff have adopted a system of interventions.
"Intervention is a time set aside for the specific re-teaching, practice, drill or enrichment of students," he said. "No new learning is presented during this time."
Intervention is a process in which teachers communicate to see how students are doing, what they as teachers are doing to meet the needs of the students, and is a collaboration for the improvement of student learning.
"We use cookie sheets and magnetic tags as teachers discuss student needs," he said.
He said that teachers were finding that the enrichment program also was good for student self-esteem and was helping teachers to be more diligent.
One teacher at the school had reported that is was refreshing to work with a student until the teacher could see the "lights come on."
Some time had to be scraped together to make the program workable.
He said the school had carved out the necessary 40 minutes for enrichment activities by taking a bit of time from some programs. For example, a few minutes were taken from silent reading, a little less teacher story reading time, a little less art projects time and combined those minutes until there were enough to provide the enrichment time.
"We are still interested to see that reading time happens at home," he said.
S.B. 115 School Performance Reporting was passed during the Utah Legislature 2011 General Session. Under terms of the bill students are identified as having problems and, last spring, parents of those students were informed by letter.
"Where did all these kids come from?" Paulsen said. "What is the intervention needed so those students are not on the list this January?"
The intent of the school was not to condemn a parent or suggest that the student was not helped at home. Rather, the goal was to get the help for the student that was needed to raise comprehension.
"We have to be intentional about the teaching," said Paulsen.
Parents have been good to respond to the need for a volunteer and Darrin Owens, counselor at the high school, had identified some high school students who could help with the enrichment activities at the elementary school.
He said that the enrichment program was working and teachers could see a difference in student performance.
"I would like to commend Principal Paulsen," said Jim Shank, superintendent.
After returning from the training session in Arizona, he said, Paulsen had worked diligently to implement the intervention and enrichment activities learned.
He would like to see, Shank said, that all teachers had the opportunity to go to a training session in a place that was super-charged with enthusiasm about the possibilities for implementing the program to improve student learning.