TIME Collaborative: College View Elementary School | Page 6

Challenges + Solutions
Implementing a new model or approach always
comes with its own set of challenges. Here’s what
College View had to navigate as it expanded its
school day.

Family Buy-In.

Meaningful Use of Technology.

When Gamba first announced the expanded day
would include an extended recess period, he
witnessed mixed reactions among parents. “Many
parents thought this would be an open time for kids
to be kids,” he explains, but upon learning it would
be a more structured exploration led by staff, some
parents were initially disappointed. Following
many conversations with families, Gamba decided
the best way to guarantee success would be to bring
parents into the fold early to become their child’s
partner in education and influence the model.

Another challenge College View has overcome is
the integration and use of technology in meaningful
ways. From the beginning, Gamba and his team
were committed to improving students’ computer
literacy through a technology block. College View
implemented an adaptive software solution to help
students become more comfortable using
computers productively. Two years later, Gamba
realized the software was not having any
measurable impact on student outcomes. The team
recruited a teacher to completely rewrite the
technology curriculum so that it is no longer a
separate, 45-minute block, but instead is integrated
in a way that reinforces academic growth and
character development throughout the day.

Proof of impact
College View is still in the early stages of evaluating
the impact expanded learning time has had on
student outcomes. Over the past two years, it has
leapfrogged 80 other schools on standardized
assessments, but there is a lot of work yet to do. As
of now, College View is at about 50 percent
proficiency, Gamba shares, which means it still has
work to do. “It’s much better than where we were.
The needle is definitely moving, but we’re not quite

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there yet,” he says. For students, the changes have
injected a noticeable energy into the entire College
View experience that has been absent for far too
long. “We are building relationships, and the kids
feel it,” Gamba says. “You walk in the school and see
high-fives left and right. It is a very different student
culture here.” Only time will tell what impact this
culture will create on long-term success.

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