Beaumont High Students Gain Language for Life, Not Just for Class

Beaumont High School serves its entire district, so its biggest challenge is meeting the wide-ranging needs of a vibrant student community—young people with varied backgrounds, economic status, learning styles, and levels of English acquisition. Beaumont's teachers regularly evaluate and adjust instruction to meet students' current and future needs. While there is no single approach to instruction in a school this diverse, Beaumont's teachers agree on the importance of language. As English Department Chair Jackie Wagner expresses it,

“Reading, writing, and speaking are the most basic building blocks. The better you are at expressing yourself, the easier your life is going to be. Language is absolutely a life skill.”

Asked how Beaumont High teachers used to equip student vocabularies before implementing Membean, Jackie chuckled. “We were using a textbook, and probably our wits?” She noted that engaging in SAT prep was helpful, but not inclusive of all students' needs. Beaumont required a digital vocabulary tool to be flexible and scaffolded, providing lasting gains and accommodating busy student schedules.

“We were really trying to find something that would help kids—who don't seem to be reading as much as they once were—acquire language. I was surprised by how many words on the Membean lists the kids didn't know. I wanted them to have language for life, not just for class!’

Jackie and her colleagues discovered a few products that partially met their goals. But they were particularly drawn to Membean's simple calibration. Additionally, they were impressed by its ease of access regardless of prior knowledge, processing speed, or overall time constraints. “At first, we did a lot of low-stakes work so students were comfortable with the program,” Jackie recalled. Since then, teachers have adapted Membean to their own schedules, incorporating it as a ten-minute “bell ringer,” or assigning brief, structured homework that feels manageable for everyone. Today, Beaumont continues to expand Membean's use across high-school grades, and there's discussion of offering it to junior-high students as well.

Jackie appreciates the ease with which teachers can review individual student performance data, Membean's end-of-year reports on overall gains, and the program's measurable impact—not only do students display a more robust vocabulary in classroom activities, but many are also scoring more than 10% higher on the language module of the Star Reading Assessment than past cohorts. Jackie gave a simple response when asked why Beaumont plans to continue using Membean.

“Show me something better! We have 24 people in this department always looking for something to help our kids. We haven't seen anything better than Membean!”