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For the first time, schools along the Waianae Coast and in the Kau-Pahoa area of Hawaii island are offering free "extended learning time" courses this summer to hundreds of students for enrichment or to help them catch up.
At Nanakuli High and Intermediate, the program is allowing about 70 seventh- and eighth-graders who were in danger of repeating a grade to improve their math and literacy skills so they can be promoted.
At Waianae High, dozens of students on track to fail courses are instead making up work so they won’t have to retake them.
Several elementary schools, meanwhile, are offering enrichment literacy and math classes along with targeted instruction to help struggling kids grasp concepts.
Department of Education officials said the summer program, funded with federal Race to the Top dollars, is aimed at giving students with the highest needs an extra boost.
All 18 schools in the state’s Race to the Top "zones of school innovation" are participating, and each is offering at least seven summer courses, said Race project manager Camille Masutomi.
Hawaii set aside $1.6 million of its $75 million Race grant to offer the program this summer and in the summers of 2013 and 2014. The program this year kicked off June 2 and will run through June 28. Classes run from 8 a.m. to noon.
Masutomi said the courses, with about 15 to 20 students each, are being taught by highly qualified teachers offering "targeted and focused instruction."
Children living in the Kau-Pahoa area are also getting free transportation to the program, but students on the Waianae Coast must get to school on their own. Once on campus, students can get free breakfast and lunch, provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture "seamless summer" program for schools in high-poverty areas.
"We’re trying to be out of the box and touch as many kids as we can," said Masutomi.
Hawaii pledged to turn around the state’s lowest-performing schools and boost student achievement as part of its Race to the Top initiatives, and officials believe the summer program could ultimately help significantly decrease the number of students who have to repeat a grade or who fail courses.
Five of the six lowest-performing schools in the state can be found in the "zones of school innovation."
Flora Nash, assistant principal at Nanakuli High and Intermediate, said the summer program already appears to be having positive results for students at her school. She said some students in the summer program have already repeated grades two or three times.
In Nanakuli’s program, students take four 50-minute sessions, each crammed with hands-on learning projects. Students discuss their progress daily with teachers, and attendance is strictly monitored.
"Four unexcused absences and you get kicked out," she said.
Nash said the program has allowed teachers a chance to give students more individualized attention and has also given them the opportunity to try out different ways of teaching. Among the goals of the program, she said, is to increase Nanakuli’s graduation rate.
Just 66 percent of Nanakuli’s class of 2011 graduated on time, compared with a statewide graduation rate of 80 percent.
The summer extended learning time program comes as schools in the "zones" are gearing up for longer instructional days starting in the coming school year. Under an agreement approved in February, teachers will work an hour more on most school days and will also get 12 extra training days.
Offering more instructional time to students in the "zones" was among the terms of Hawaii’s Race grant. The state was one of 10 winners of a Race grant in August 2010.
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