Palolo gets aid in tech upgrade
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer
In an effort to help meet the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act, the Rotary Club of Honolulu has joined with Palolo Elementary to try to improve the school's technology program.
Educators and Rotarians hope their plan, called Project Matrix, can be used to develop reading and math labs and allow the campus to open a computer lab to parents and community members who don't have computer access at home.
While the group has started out by developing a school technology plan and trying to upgrade computers and software, what they call their "pie-in-the-sky" goal is $300,000 in upgrades and day-to-day improvements such as the ability for teachers to put assignments and grades up on a classroom Web site for parents and students to access.
"We already have technology in the workplace," said James Kerr, president and chief executive officer of Super Geeks, who has loaned some of his staff to the school to work on upgrading the labs. "Why not in the 'schoolplace?' "
Rotarians, who have been volunteer reading tutors at the school in recent years, said they didn't want to see the school try to face the uphill battle to meet No Child Left Behind requirements on its own.
"They don't get the attention that a lot of schools get when they have more politically involved parents," said Phil Norris, a retired financial consultant who helped organize the partnership.
Palolo Elementary has been identified as a "corrective action" school under the No Child Left Behind Act, the new federal education law that mandates reading and math proficiency for all public school students. Schools that fail to reach adequate standardized testing goals face sanctions and will eventually be at risk of losing federal dollars.
At Palolo Elementary, 93 percent of the students come from a high-poverty background, 70 percent live in housing projects and 32 percent are learning English as a second language.
"Our kids are very anxious to get onto the computers because they don't have the exposure at home," librarian Claire Matsumoto said. "The library fills up at recess. There is a definite need for hands-on time on the computers."
Palolo teachers have gotten students involved in mindbenders such as word searches and reading investigations to develop critical thinking skills, but said they have to focus on phonics and letter and word recognition because so many students are learning English. The campus cannot afford much of the reading software that's on the market.
The volunteers plan to seek grants and do fund raising to meet the long-term goal of improving the technology.
"The computer is a wonderful tool," Kerr said. "Kids love it because it's interactive and teachers see the need for it in the workplace. Just pulling together computers and throwing them in the classroom doesn't mean it's excellent computer education, though. You need the right hardware and software with educational value that is interesting to students. The real beauty of computers is that they allow for individual work. If a student is more advanced, the software can accommodate that."
Keith Inafuku, assistant vice president at American Savings Bank, said Project Matrix may be able to be duplicated at other campuses.
"It didn't appear there was a structured technology program at any public school," Inafuku said. "Most schools have obsolete computers and basic software."
Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
