Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 12, Number 3, 1 March 1995 — Getting up to speed [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Getting up to speed

Waimānalo school revs up accelerated learning program

by Patrick Johnston Studying and going to school isn't an easy task. It's that mueh harder if you eome from a broken home, have few incentives to study, and your school environment is an alien plaee. Native Hawaiians have eonsistently had one of the worst educational records of all the different groups in Hawai'i. But they are are not alone. Nationally it has been shown that poorer minority groups often enter the school system below the academic level of other students and fall further behind throughout their school years. This is due both to problems at home, and a home culture fundamentally different from the cultural expectations of the school they attend. These at-risk students have traditionally been treated remedially, curriculum is "dumbed down," and the students don't go very far in the education system. Blanche Pope Elementary School, located in the heart of the homestead community in Waimānalo, is taking a different approach. With the help of an OHA grant they have started a program that expands the learning process for disadvantaged kids and helps them reach the same academic level as more privileged kids when they finish elementary school. The Accelerated School Project was created at Stanford University and is

designed to reverse the direction of education for educationally at-risk students by setting high standards for these students and accelerating their learning. "Other kids have more in terms of familial support," explains Pope School resource teacher * Kahulumanu Landgraf, "Here, it is more incumbent on schools to provide opportunities for the ehildren." In addition to establishing a higher standard for the students, the Accelerated School program works closely with community, using all its resources - business, parents, clergy - to help guide and strengthen the school. The hope is to have an institution with high academic achievement and one where the values of the school better reflect those of the tyAn important part of Pope School's program is integrating Hawaiian values into all facets of the school's organizational structure, decisionmaking process and curriculum design. School officials believe that providing materials and an environment that students ean identify with will encourage them to study and have a more lasting educational impact. Pope School has been aided by the fact that many of the principles and values of the Accelerated Schools program - working together, eommuni-

ty spirit - are compatible with Hawaiian values. A central part of the school's new organizational structure has been the creation of cadres - think tanks consisting of teachers, school officials, community members and students - whieh eome together weekly to develop educational strategies for the school. An important function of the cadres has been to bring teachers out of their isolated worlds and get them to share their ideas and experience with other teachers. "Traditionally teaching is an isolated job without a lot of sharing of ideas and strategies," says Blanche Pope Principal Louise Wolcott. "Now there is a ehanee for everyone to eome together regularly. This builds a unity of purpose and shows that we have the same goals." Cadres have also encouraged parents to take part in the decision-making process of the school. In the past, parent activity would consist mostly of meeting individually with teachers, going to open houses, or joining in on field trips. Now they ean directly participate in the decision-making of their child's school. Only student representatives from the higher grades take part in cadre meetings, but pupils as a whole have been encouraged to take a more active role in the educating process. Wolcott explains, "We give responsibility to the

kids, let them make decisions, problem-solve. ... We build on the strengths of different people." Building on the strengths of the students and the eommunity is one of objectives of the Accelerated Schools program. In line with this thinking and in response to requests from parents, Pope school has initiated a Hawaiian language class for parents and the eommunity, this to complement the instruction students receive at school. Students and staff have also begun cultivating a native Hawaiian garden, and painted a "Waimānalo mural" in the school's cafeteria. In the future Pope hopes to have Hawaiian craftspeople, authors, and painters eome to the school and share their ideas and expertise with the children. These cultural elements help strengthen the students' understanding of Hawaiian values, and provide a bridge between the home and school cultures.

"We've tried to break down the walls between the eommunity and the school," says Landgraf. "There is more a climate of sharing now." Blanche Pope is in the early stages of its Accelerated School Project, whieh will take five years to fully implement. During these five years it hopes to have students reach an academic level that meets grade level expectation and double the level of parental involvement in school deci-sion-making. It also wants to increase daily school attendance from its present 92 percent to the state average of 95 percent. "Our commitment is to working with Hawaiian ehildren," Landgraf says. "We want to make a difference with Hawaiian kids." For information about Blanche Pope's Accelerated School Project eall the school at 259-8861. For information about OHA's grant program eall 594-1888.

A section of the "Waimanalo Mural" in Pope School's cafeteria. Photo by Patrick Johnston

Teaching Hawaiian language at Pope School: bringing school and home cultures closer together. Photo by Patrick Johnston