Rocketship outlines rotational schedule and supports for English learners and students with disabilities

Rocketship Public Schools told the Rutherford County Schools review panel its elementary model uses four daily instructional blocks—humanities, STEM, learning lab and enrichment—that rotate students through specialized teachers and aim to provide targeted intervention time.

Chief Academic Officer Isir Kaur said students typically receive about 160–180 minutes of literacy (humanities) instruction, roughly 70–90 minutes of math (STEM), 50–90 minutes of learning-lab instruction for high-dosage tutoring or differentiated online work, and about 40 minutes of enrichment. “Our students experience about anywhere between 5 to 7 months of accelerated learning, based off of our model,” Kaur said, citing network research.

Curriculum and Tennessee alignment: Rocketship told the panel it uses Amplify CKLA (CKLA skills/knowledge/integrated depending on grade band) for humanities, Eureka Math Squared for math and Discovery Science for science; staff said the application language referring to “Common Core” was an error and that curricula were selected from the Tennessee Department of Education’s approved adoption list.

English learners: Rocketship representatives said they project roughly 40% of the new school’s student population will be identified as English learners and outlined five staffing and programmatic “buckets”: a codified identification process, staff development, EL-certified teachers providing direct instruction, an EL-aligned intervention that connects with grade-level curriculum, and collaborative co-teaching/co-planning/co-assessment structures. The team said they use WIDA and EDPA/ELPA screening and DIBELS for interim checks while identifying a longer-term ELPA-aligned screener.

Students with disabilities: Rocketship said the majority of students with IEPs would be served in inclusive, co-teaching classrooms with additional small-group or pull-out instruction during the learning-lab block; the team projected three special-education teachers in year one and said speech-language pathologists and occupational therapy may be provided either in house or via contracted providers with contingency plans to source alternate providers if needed.

Staffing and credentials: Rocketship described recruitment pipelines with local colleges and a national pool, credential pathways for staff to become EL certified, and a professional-development model that includes 210 hours of teacher PD annually and live coaching. Panel members pressed on contingency plans for certified EL teacher shortages; Rocketship said it plans a mix of EL-certified specialists, dual-certification development for other teachers and university partnerships to meet mandated ratios.