Davie County Schools, Mocksville, North Carolina

At a glance: Davie County Schools

Davie County Schools (DCS) serves 6,000 students across 12 schools in Mocksville, North Carolina.  The district learner demographics consist of 84% White, 5% Black, 7% Hispanic, and 1% Asian. 88% of DCS students graduate within four years. Via its ESL program, DCS offers small classes for students who are non-native English speakers students to receive individual attention from their teachers

Leading and coordinating ESL Learning for Davie County Schools is Luis Muñoz. Born in Santiago, Chile, Luis knows first-hand the importance of English Language Learning, and the challenges of integrating into a new culture and society. After earning his teaching degree in English from the Metropolitan University, Luis immigrated to the United States in 1997. 

That varied experience serves him in good stead as he supports English Language Learners, largely from Latin America. Luis has worked at Davie County Schools since 2003 where, along with coordinating ESL learning, he also serves as a teacher for Pinebrook Elementary School, North Davie Middle School and William R Davie Elementary School. 

As part of those roles, Luis oversees the technology used by schools in ESL learning. Previously Davie County Schools had used Rosetta Stone with its learners. A number of factors led Luis to look for a new solution to answer their challenges. 

Switching From Rosetta Stone

“The main thing about Rosetta Stone is that is very repetitive. It’s always the same pattern. Students would have to listen to a question and then select the correct picture. The bad thing about it was that students started to guess a lot.  If they made a mistake, they would just click again until they got the right answer. And after six months of the same pattern, students would become bored and didn’t like it.  
The second factor was the price. Rosetta Stone is expensive.
The third factor is that it was not friendly for users. You had too many glitches.”
A final factor was that you didn’t have the option to give them homework. You didn’t have a diagnostic assessment or recommendations.  You had to decide what to assign them.”

Luis Muñoz, EL Coordinator Davie County Schools

District Challenges at Davie County Schools

1. Diagnosing gaps in learners with limited literacy skills

Davie County serves English Language Learners (ELLs) with extremely interrupted educational experiences. These experiences might see a student born in the US, move with their family to Latin America, and then return to the US as a teenager. That interruption might leave a student proficient in Spanish but not equipped with the language fundamentals of Spanish (or English). As a result, students are at high risk of being unable to pass the exams necessary to graduate. It is critical that Davie County identifies any gaps in ELLs’ learning.   

2. Bridging the English Fundamentals Gap:

While students might be able to have some level of communication, many face gaps in their basic understanding of English. Interrupted learning means that students may miss the earlier courses covering grammar and the fundamentals of English. General subject-matter teachers then do not have the time or resources to cover that material with the student. 

“No one is teaching them the foundations of English,” said Luis. “No one is teaching them parts of grammar such as the comparative, no one is teaching them how to form the present perfect… If you are the ESL teacher, the expectation is that you are going to do it because the classroom teachers are not going to do it”

3. Technology that is Engaging, Effective and Affordable

Any tool would need to advance learning for students without costing a fortune. 

4. Delivering Quality Instruction in the face of  Budgetary Challenges

Davie County Schools, like many districts in America, face budgetary constraints limiting how many teachers they can deploy to support learners. Teachers must juggle increasing workloads while maintaining and ensuring quality instruction. Technology needs to save time and ease that process. 

The Off2Class Solution

The Davie County Schools ESL program uses Off2Class to support ELL students in a number of departments.  Through the Off2Class platform, ELLs can access their personalized course, homework assignments and unit checks. Administrators and teachers can track progress from a school dashboard.

1. Off2Class Placement Test

One of the strengths of the Off2Class platform is the rich diagnostic assessment for learners and personalized homework recommendations. 

“With Off2Class, you apply the diagnostic and then automatically it tells you the student needs this, this and this,” said Luis. “That’s really cool. When I have my doubts about a student–say with one who is fluent in English, but weak in grammar–I apply the diagnostic and then I can see where the student is still limping.”

2. Step-by-step curriculum and grammar lessons

Off2Class is an ESL toolkit built by ESL teachers for ESL teachers. Curriculum and content are rooted in a strong pedagogical approach to language learning that ensures students will acquire the building blocks of grammar. 

“Language is not only grammar, but no one is teaching it to them,” said Luis. “That’s the reason why I found Off2Class attractive, because it is truly an ESL class.” 

3. Cost-effective technology

Engaging and impactful ESL technology can be delivered in a cost-effective manner. The Off2Class platform makes it easy for teachers to personalize courses so that every student is challenged.  Teachers can choose from 1000s of lessons and homework assignments that are suitable for both direct- and self-study. Even students in the same class can be given individual tasks to support their learning. Off2Class delivers this learning at a fraction of the cost of its competitors. 

4. Embedded training for teachers

For districts facing staffing challenges or budgetary shortfalls, Off2Class offers an out-of-the-box package to enable teachers and paraprofessionals to spend less time lesson-planning and more time teaching students.  

“I’ve faced the challenge of teachers quitting. I used to have eight teachers with three assistants here. Now I have five teachers including myself and only two assistants,” said Luis. “As a coordinator, it will be easier to keep learning going with this tool. If done right, the whole thing is done. It’s like, ‘turn on the lesson projector and your SMART Board and the lesson is done for you.’” 

How could ELLs in your school district benefit from Off2Class?

English teaching is not “one-size-fits-all”. To succeed in Middle and High School, ELLs deserve English programs that are appropriate for their age, educational background, and English level. Our expert team can help you design a personalized Off2Class system that will empower your teachers and match the needs of the learners in your district. We can also advise on federal funding options. Book a consultation with our friendly advisors.