Bell to Bell Learning

Mesquite Elementary opened as a new school in the Vail Unified School District in Tucson, Arizona in 1999 and currently operates as a K-8 elementary school serving 575 students. In just a few years, this young school has made outstanding progress by focusing on standards and using a problem-solving approach to educational management. The process includes goal setting and planning, administering of benchmark and formative assessments, curriculum implementation and instruction, and evaluation/monitoring. This process helped Mesquite educators realize that they needed to more effectively teach all of the standards students were being held accountable for. Research shows that time-on-task is a significant factor in achieving this goal and with that in mind, Mesquite staff created the "Bell to Bell Learning Program." This program won the 2004 Arizona School Boards Association’s Golden Bell Award and, as the name implies, it promotes the use of every available minute during the school day for learning.

"Bell to Bell" culture assumes that student learning is a responsibility shared by parents, community, staff, and students. Kids are expected to focus on learning and are taught how to be an engaged participant. These students speak the "language" and know what it means when the teacher directs them to "stay on-task." This is exemplified through posters in the classrooms with tips for how to maximize time, as seen below.


(Source: http://mes.vail.k12.az.us/ribbon-goldenbell.html)


Parents of Mesquite students are doing their part by making an effort to ensure their children are prepared for learning. Measured by decreases in absences and tardies, and increases in the number of students regularly completing homework, the parental awareness-building has helped. In addition, Mesquite teachers created and staff homework clubs and Saturday school to help students struggling with "being prepared for school."

Strategies for pacing and smooth transitions are shared among staff and reinforced, and classroom interruptions for messages or announcements are restricted. Principal Connie Erickson also provides motivational challenges to make Bell to Bell fun and keep it top-of-mind. For instance, she gave egg timers to each class with the goal that transitions take less than one minute. Classes who achieved the goal receive school-wide recognition. Recognizing achievement is an overall motto. Erickson says, "In our world of high stakes testing, Mesquite recognizes students who achieve and improve academically." In addition to end-of-year recognition based on standardized test scores, exceptional student attendance, which has been shown to promote learning and achievement, is recognized quarterly.

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