A year ago Doug Haynes made a recommendation to the board of Rocky Mount Prep to adopt a blended learning plan modeled after the Rocketship
elementary model and the Carpe Diem high school. The board asked him to become CEO and implement the plan...over the summer.
The 1,200 student K-12 public charter school, opened in 1997, is located 45 minutes east of Raleigh North Carolina. Haynes, a social entrepreneur with an
education business background, was a founding board member and came back a year ago to help the school recapture its’ original mission of delivering high
achievement at a lower cost using best practices in education and business.
Doug and his team gave me a tour last week. They looked at all the new models out there and visited a lot of schools. They decided on desktop lab models
powered by 20 inch Lenovo (the US headquarters is nearby) all in one units.
A computer lab was added to the library and the walls were torn down in classrooms to create two big labs and one smaller learning lab. The beautiful,
well-maintained campus would make any community proud.
The 600 student elementary and the 300-plus middle school use a rotating ABCD schedule where students spend about an hour of the 8am to 4pm day in the
learning lab daily. Like Rocketship, staffing is departmental with math and English specialists. Middle school students take social studies, supplemental
reading and math online one period a day and will get more blended learning next year.
Math Dean Angela Langley said “We are seeing great results with Dreambox,” an adaptive math program, “And we plan to add ST Math next year.”
They use NWEA’s MAP adaptive assessment to pinpoint needs and Reflexmath to boost fluency. Online speech therapy is provided by PresenceLearning.
Transitioning to a blended elementary model was relatively smooth and they are already seeing strong academic gains. However, transitioning the 250 student
high school to a rotation blend has been more of a challenge. For high schoolers used to a traditional schedule, spending half the day working online in Edgenuity (formerly e2020) has been an adjustment.
The Carpe Diem instructional model was also a big challenge for secondary teachers--it requires teachers to provide targeted support to prepare
students for online success and to extend and enrich the online experience. Haynes said, “We continue to adjust and must provide better support for
teachers and students.” They use NC VIrtual courses for specialty and AP courses.
Haynes and the board decided to make the facilities changes and take the plunge all at once rather than phasing in the changes over several years. They
made changes in about 30 of 100 staff positions before the beginning of the year.
“We are adding a career focus to college prep next year so students get real-world skills while being able to earn college credit,” said Haynes. The school
is next door to NC Wesleyan College and students have access to Nash Community College, where they can be transported for courses or take them
online.
The current challenge for the high-poverty school is that many entering students are several years behind. They use tutors, TenMarks, Tutor.com and are considering a Mastery-style academic bootcamp. Rocky Mount uses Illuminate for assessment and data management and
Faronics Insight for desktop management.
Rocky Mount is a blend in progress but definitely a school worth visiting. What Doug and team accomplished in a year is remarkable but it is a reminder
that the toolset is still rough and the transition is complicated. The early results are very promising.
Disclousures: Dreambox and MIND Research Institute are Getting Smart Advocacy Partners.