K-12 schools
Clarion-Goldfield-Dows School District
A district whose English learner population tripled found a way to give newcomers a running start.
The more, the merrier
Clarion-Goldfield-Dows saw its English learner population triple, and the support the district had in place was built for a much smaller group. Suddenly there were more students than ever trying to navigate an unfamiliar school in an unfamiliar language, and nothing built to help them do it.
Teachers needed something newcomers could start on the same week they arrived, in a language they already read, without waiting for staffing to catch up.
What they did
English, taught in a language they already read
Teachers brought Mango to the superintendent themselves. The district put Mango Classroom in front of its EL students, who could work through English courses presented in their own first language and practice pronunciation against a native speaker as often as they wanted.
It did not stay inside the school day. Parents started working through the English courses at home, which meant the learning at the kitchen table and the learning in the classroom were finally pointing the same direction.
In their words
What they told us
“Right now Mango is providing us with a boost that we didn't have.”
“It's building their confidence. I've seen a huge difference in just a month.”
“We've got kids who never participate in class and all of a sudden they're like 'Let's do this! This is awesome!'”
“Next year I can cut back the number of periods they're using to work on English through Mango and increase gen ed classes, which is a great goal.”
What changed
Newcomers love Mango
The change teachers describe is about participation more than throughput. Students who had not spoken up in class started volunteering.
The principal began planning around it. Cutting back the periods newcomers spend working on English through Mango would let him move them into general education classes sooner than anyone had expected to be able to.
By the numbers
lessons completed
- 1,533
in the first month after launch
hours of learning
- 484
in the first month after launch
learning time
- 3×
month two compared with month one
About Clarion-Goldfield-Dows School District
Clarion-Goldfield-Dows is a public school district in north-central Iowa. Its English learner population tripled in a short span, and the existing language support could not keep pace with the number of newcomers arriving in its classrooms.
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