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		Past Extra Credits December 20 All issues

The following are excerpts from a recent article in The Honolulu Advertiser:

“Parents are part of the team that has helped elevate Honaunau Elementary School to good standing after years of missing the federal No Child Left Behind Act targets. As the school’s staff members revised their curriculum and teaching methods to help the children achieve the state academic standards, they also called on parents to come to the school to read with their children and learn strategies to continue the learning at home.

“With the entire school community looking for ways to boost student proficiency, the school that once struggled to meet the standards has now done so two years in a row. … ‘Very focused and targeted action’ helped the school improve its status, [principal Faye] Ogilvie said. Teachers analyze data and identify the greatest needs, and design lesson plans to address those areas.”

“Pupils are given various writing and reading assessments, which, coupled with previous test data, can be used to identify the areas in which pupils do not perform well. The school also looks at each pupil’s oral reading proficiency and tries to provide extra instruction in the areas the child is most behind. Because children lose out on other instruction if they are given extra help during the day, teachers try to work with pupils before and after school, if possible.”

“‘We tried to get our parents really involved with children’s learning as well,’ Ogilvie said. Parents are invited to the school, where they learn about the data and test results. ‘It’s pretty much a community effort in helping boost our scores,’ [she] said.”

The complete text of this article is available online