By COLIN M. STEWART
By COLIN M. STEWART
Tribune-Herald Staff Writer
As the federal No Child Left Behind Act’s benchmarks for success have continued to climb, many schools have struggled to meet the standards set for them. In Hawaii, less than half of the state’s students met last year’s federally mandated goals, according to preliminary 2012 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) results released last month.
Failure to attain those goals can result in a variety of sanctions being imposed upon schools that are found to consistently underperform. Among those sanctions is the process of restructuring, in which a school must be assessed by a state AYP Response Team and then follow a plan to address areas that need improvement.
The state DOE has announced its intent to apply for a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education to avoid such sanctions, saying that No Child Left Behind takes a “one-size-fits-all approach” to education reform. The state would join 33 other states that have been granted waivers.
But for some schools, the process of restructuring has made a real difference in their performance. Here on the Big Island, Hilo Intermediate School had languished for six years on a list of those schools undergoing restructuring.
“At one time, we were known as the school in the complex that had been in restructuring the longest,” said Esther Kanehailua, Hilo Intermediate’s principal of two years.
But in academic year 2010-11, the school’s students met their requirements for adequate yearly progress, and then did so again last year, pulling Hilo Intermediate out of its restructuring status to “in good standing, unconditional,” the highest AYP status a school can achieve.
That remarkable increase in performance came about as a direct result of the school’s faculty shaking up the way they assess their own performance, in addition to assessing that of their students, Kanehailua said.
“We’ve always had an outstanding staff,” she said. “The question became, how do we get everyone together? Because, every teacher has very good intentions.”
With the help of a private company, most recently Edison Learning, Hilo Intermediate’s faculty has worked on a constant process of self-evaluation and improvement. That resulted last year in launching a new effort whereby teams consisting of teachers from each of the four core subjects are assigned a certain number of students who are their responsibility. The teachers share information about the students with each other, allowing those who are experiencing success with the student to share what they have learned with their colleagues.
The new program has been very successful, Kanehailua said, and also represents a change from the way things were done before.
“When the AYP Response Team visited our school in 2010-2011, one of the criticisms was that we were giving double blocks to the lowest performing kids of math and language arts, but no electives,” Kanehailua said.
Instead of just focusing on math and reading, the two areas which dictate a school’s AYP score, other subjects are being given increased focus. And that “cross-curriculum” focus has ended up improving the math and reading scores, not hurting them, she said.
“I think it works because you make it relevant for kids. If we teach them math in isolation, they ask ‘Why do I have to learn it?’ But if I’m in home ec and I’m working on recipes in my class, I’ll learn why I have to learn fractions. I think that’s a big piece for kids.”
Joyce Iwashita, principal at Kalanianaole Elementary School, said she too has been impressed with the cross-curriculum approach to improving AYP performance. Ever since No Child Left Behind became law, her school had failed to make AYP. But in 2009-10, the school met its goals, and has continued to do so since, leaving it in unconditional good standing for the last two years in a row.
That’s a feat matched only by four other Big Isle schools this year — E.B. de Silva Elementary, Haaheo Elementary, Honaunau Elementary and Pahoa Elementary.
She and school staff and faculty planned to hold an assembly today for students to welcome them back for the new year. They also planned on congratulating the students for a job well done, and encouraging them to continue to work hard in their studies.
“You really do have to give the children credit,” she said Monday. “The students want to excel, and not only on the testing scores. They just want to be smarter. They just want to do well.”
She also praised her team of educators, saying that ultimately the school’s success would not have been possible without their hard work and willingness to work collaboratively.
“It’s that collaboration that really makes for a stronger team,” Iwashita said. “And the students benefit because of that.”
Additionally, she said, monthly benchmarks set up for the school by Edison Learning have helped to keep teachers focused on improving student achievement every day, not just before tests.
“We’re always asking ourselves how our children did, what we did or didn’t do, what we need to do next time, next week, or even tomorrow,” she said.
While No Child Left Behind and its sanctions have been criticized, Iwashita said that her school ended up benefiting from going into restructuring, coming out of the process a stronger school.
“I think that with No Child Left Behind, although people have said there were some positives and negatives, I think it certainly raised the expectations for everyone,” she said. “It made us focus on what was good for all the children and not just some of the children.”
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.