PAL Update

PAL Update

The West Valley School District is committed to fiscal responsibility while delivering an outstanding instructional program. Services for highly capable students include differentiation in the regular classroom as well as advanced class options. At the elementary level, the advanced class option, Program for Advanced Learners (PAL), is offered at Wide Hollow Elementary for students in Grades 3-5.

The District has a mutual agreement with the West Valley Education Association to maintain low class sizes. At the elementary level, the maximum number before a class is considered overloaded is as follows:

Grade K = 21 students

Grade 1 = 22 students

Grade 2 = 23 students

Grade 3 = 25 students

Grade 4 = 26 students

Grade 5 = 27 students

Funding from the state legislature is based on student enrollment. The District administration works in the spring to forecast school enrollment and identify the number of teachers that will be needed at each grade level. The goal is to match classroom staffing to meet student enrollment needs.

For the PAL program, the District will match staffing based on student enrollment.

The PAL program at Wide Hollow will not be eliminated for the 2025/26 school year.

For the 2025/26 school year, staffing for the PAL program will include two multi-age classrooms at Wide Hollow as follows:

Grades 3-4, 25 students

Grades 4-5, 26 students

As per the District’s mutual agreement with the education association, class size limits for multi-age classrooms follow the limit for the younger grade.

Why move to multi-age classrooms?

Since the 2022/23 school year, enrollment in the PAL program has decreased.

Enrollment	Grade 3	Grade 4	Grade 5	Total
Feb. 2023	21 students	21 students	26 students	68 students
Feb. 2024	16 students	22 students	20 students	58 students
Feb. 2025	16 students	19 students	27 students	62 students

The current large group of fifth grade students will move to the Mid-Level Campus in the 2025/26 school year. With the move to multi-age, staffing for the PAL program will match student enrollment for the 2025/26 school year.

Projected Enrollment in the PAL program for the 2025/26 school year.

Projected Enrollment	Grades 3-4	Grades 4-5	Total
2025/26	25 students	26 students	51 students

Are there any benefits to a multi-age program?

While the PAL program will be different - with multi-age classrooms - there will be benefits for students served in a multi-age program. A benefit of the multi-age classroom model will be that over their three years in the PAL program, students will have one teacher for two years. This practice in education has been called “looping.” Research has found the following benefits of looping:

-Stronger Student-Teacher Relationships: When students stay with the same teacher for more than one year, they build a stronger, more trusting relationship. This helps students feel more supported and motivated to learn.

-Better Understanding of Student Needs: Teachers who loop with their students have a deeper understanding of each student’s strength and individual needs. This allows teachers to tailor their teaching more effectively, leading to better academic outcomes.

-Improved Academic Performance: Research has shown that students in looping classrooms often perform better academically. This is because teachers can build on the previous year’s lessons and work at an appropriate pace, helping students retain more information and progress more effectively.

-Emotional Stability: Looping provides more emotional stability for students by reducing the number of transitions that students must face. This can be particularly helpful for students who struggle with change or have anxiety about the new school year.

-Better Classroom Environment: Teachers and students who have already worked together tend to have a more positive, cohesive classroom environment. Teachers can establish routines and expectations more quickly, and students are more familiar with how to work together as a group.

Guidelines/Priority for Placement

For the 2025/26 school year, the following guidelines/priority will be used for placement in the PAL program:

Current in-district students served by PAL

1. In-district students served by PAL in the 2024/25 school year will continue to be served by PAL in the 2025/26 school year.

Students Scoring at Level 3

2. Newly qualified students currently in Grade 4 who scored at Level 3 whose parents requested placement.

3. Newly qualified students currently in Grade 3 who scored at Level 3 whose parents requested placement.

4. Newly qualified students currently in Grade 2 who scored at Level 3 whose parents requested placement.

Students Scoring at Level 2

5. Newly qualified students currently in Grade 4 who scored at Level 2 whose parents requested placement.

6. Newly qualified students currently in Grade 3 who scored at Level 2 whose parents requested placement.

7. Newly qualified students currently in Grade 2 who scored at Level 2 whose parents requested placement.

Out-of-district students

8. Out-of-district students served by PAL in the 2024/25 school year who scored at Level 3.

9. Out-of-district students served by PAL in the 2024/25 school year who scored at Level 2.

10. Newly qualified out-of-district students who scored at Level 3 whose parents requested placement.

11. Newly qualified out-of-district students who scored at Level 2 whose parents requested placement.

Note: If more students are in a priority group than space is available, the students will be rank ordered by scoring criteria and the student with the highest score will be placed into PAL.

With these placement guidelines, the following number of students will be served:

51 students

20 students in Grade 5

17 students in Grade 4

14 students in Grade 3

The following number of students will be placed on a “wait list” for an opening:

3 in-district students

3 students in Priority 7.

Newly qualified students currently in Grade 2 who scored at Level 2 whose parents requested placement.

4 out-of-district students

1 student in Priority 8.

Out-of-district students served by PAL in the 2024/25 school year who scored at Level 3.

1 student in Priority 9.

Out-of-district students served by PAL in the 2024/25 school year who scored at Level 2.

1 student in Priority 10.

Newly qualified out-of-district students who scored at Level 3 whose parents requested placement.

1 student in Priority 11.

Newly qualified out-of-district students who scored at Level 2 whose parents requested placement.

Procedures for student placement in the multi-age classrooms.

Students in Grade 5 will be placed in the Grades 4-5 classroom.

Students in Grade 4 will be placed based on space available with parent and teacher input.

Final placement decision will be made by the Wide Hollow principal.

Students in Grade 3 will be placed in the Grades 3-4 classroom.

Superintendent's Comments

West Valley’s Superintendent, Dr. Peter Finch, explained, “Our community does expect fiscal responsibility from the West Valley School District. The move to multi-age classrooms for the PAL program is a change but I am confident that our students will continue to have an excellent experience in the PAL program and our teachers will continue to meet the unique learning needs of our students who are served by the PAL program.”

Highly Capable Services website

For more information about highly capable services in the West Valley School District, CLICK HERE