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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, April 27, 2003

Hawai'i's schools wired, but face new challenges

 •  How selected schools compare on computer use

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

There's no getting around technology at Mililani Middle School.

Kawananakoa Middle School faces the loss of its technology coordinator because of budget cuts. So the school teaches computer maintenance to students in the advanced computer class to help with upkeep.

Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

It's a requirement.

Every sixth-grader takes an introduction-to-computers class, learns how to write papers in Word, downloads digital photos and creates PowerPoint presentations. The school boasts about 600 computers, five specialized technology labs and a general computer lab in its library. Teachers have laptops with wireless networking.

While Mililani represents the cutting edge, Hawai'i public schools have come a long way since 1994, when the state had just one computer for every 30 students and no public school was connected to the Internet.

The 283 public schools have more than 44,000 computers, every school has Internet access and 94 percent of the classrooms have computers with Internet access. Teachers are integrating computers into everything from English to math classes. And Hawai'i has one of the country's only online charter schools, Myron B. Thompson Academy.

But an Advertiser survey of schools statewide found that while the hardware and software is in place, educators are worried about keeping their technology updated, training teachers to use the equipment and integrating computers and the Internet into coursework. At many schools, a lack of electrical upgrades means that when the computers go on, the lights go out or the air conditioning shuts off.

"In the whole scheme of things, buying the computer is the cheap part of it," said Stephen Kow, state computer education specialist at the Department of Education. "Trying to integrate computers with student achievement is something else."

State legislation requires that all students become computer literate by eighth grade. But computer coursework is not required in middle or high school. And the Board of Education has not yet set criteria on what it means to be computer literate, although DOE officials say they are developing a list of skills.

Jeff Bloom, founder of Computer Training Academy, has worked with the DOE for more than 10 years on computer education. Bloom said computer literacy is more complex than having a lot of computers and Internet connections.

"If you don't know what you're going to do with it and you don't have the right resources, it will sit there," Bloom said. "Three years later, all of that equipment will be worthless."

Last year, $3.2 million for computer training was cut from the DOE budget. And it doesn't appear that the money, which has been used since the late 1980s for training and the purchase of hardware and software, will be restored this year. That has left schools largely on their own to find computers, train teachers and integrate technology into the curriculum.

"Now the schools apply for the federal grants or they do huli huli chicken sales," said K. Kim, telecom director at the DOE.

At Ma'ili Elementary School, Principal Linda Victor said jokingly that she has done everything but beg, borrow or steal for technology equipment. She has used a combination of school money, donations, fund-raising, grants and federal money.

Most of the computer equipment and software at Pahoa School on the Big Island came from grants.

Sandra Watanabe, principal of Waialua Elementary School, also looks for almost anything that can bring in extra money for technology. "We pinch and scrimp and fund-raise for every penny," she said. "We collect Campbell's soup labels, we collect grocery receipts. We look and look and look for anything."

Maunawili Elementary School has raised nearly $133,000 in 10 years for its technology program. Maunawili was one of the first schools to be completely wired in 1995 because the community, including Marines, did the work during winter break, said Mark Rieben, technology coordinator.

The lack of a state-financed technology coordinator position has caused concern at schools statewide as they try to keep pace with repair and maintenance of a growing number of computers.

"It's a cobbled-together position," Kow said. "They're often doing more than they bargained for. There's a movement to make it a permanent position, but it's going to be tough."

At Puohala Elementary School, the technology coordinator takes care of the systems, teaches computer classes, advises the junior police officer program and runs intramural sports.

Kalani High School's band director also acts as its technology coordinator.

Kawananakoa Middle School's technology coordinator has a 50-minute time slot to serve the whole school. "Next year because of the cut in the budget we might not even have that position," said computer teacher Charleen Ego. "A lot of tech coordinators are fighting for a permanent position. They put in lots of extra time and weekends to just upkeep all the computers."

Jayna Gionson, 12, a seventh-grader at Kawananakoa Middle School, plays a video she made in the school's computer lab.

Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

To help out, Kawananakoa has tapped into a natural resource: students. Kids in the advanced computer class learn computer maintenance so they can help with the school's basic upkeep and repair.

Cindy Hagino, Waialua Elementary's technology coordinator, also said about 20 student members of the technology club, all from the fifth and sixth grade, help with computer maintenance. "They might clean computers, or they might work with a teacher on a specific program. And, the students tutor kindergarten students. They work with one class in the lab, and on scheduled days, during their lunch breaks, they would work one-on-one with the students."

Annette Nishikawa, principal of Kapolei Middle School, ended up using school money to hire a second technology coordinator.

"We agreed as a staff that the one we had the first year was getting killed by the rest of us," she said.

At Waimanalo Elementary & Intermediate School, the technology coordinator also teaches reading. When Joanne Holokai took the technology position three years ago, she was capable in program application but not in the repair and maintenance side. She learned on her own, taking classes at her expense. She also purchases material for the students with her money.

Holokai and other tech coordinators said the DOE needs to create a designated position for every school, much like a librarian.

Sometimes the lack of electrical upgrades is the biggest hurdle for school computer use.

In some rooms at Kapa'a High School on Kaua'i, teachers can't run the computers and the air-conditioning at the same time. "It's really hard to get a computer program going with the lack of current and wiring, and no computer ed money," said Kapa'a principal Gilmore Youn.

Maunawili Elementary is scheduled for electric upgrades, but not all computers can operate at the same time or the power will kick off.

Carolyn Hashiro, technology coordinator and teacher at Lihikai School on Maui, said electrical problems also are their primary difficulty. "Our computers are breaking down because of low wattage going into the rooms," she said.

The solution on some campuses has been to go wireless. Palolo Elementary Principal Ruth Silberstein said her campus will receive 45 laptops — doubling the number of working computers on campus — next year as part of a federal grant that will also give Jarrett Middle and Jefferson Elementary mobile computer labs, essentially rolling carts with battery-powered laptop computers.

Palolo will use the computers to give every student in third grade a laptop computer to use next school year. The students won't be allowed to take them home, but they will use them all day at school.

The DOE is pushing schools to integrate technology into their regular curriculum. But Silberstein said it's hard to do unless each child has a computer to work on in the classroom or a lab.

At Kaiser High School, Dennis Okamura, the school's tech coordinator, said teachers try to integrate computers into the classroom curriculum, sometimes requiring students to use computers to finish assignments. They use computers to apply to colleges, do research and do PowerPoint presentations for their class. They create video, using the computer to integrate music, commentary and to edit the video, he said. Math students incorporate computers by producing spreadsheets.

But students interested solely in computers can enroll in a computer science class, programming, repair, networking or digital media to create Web pages and animation.

At Waimanalo Elementary, students use computers for research, drafting reports and creating digital movies and interactive slide shows. One class used the computer to create a Hawaiian language book.

But Bloom said one of the DOE's weaknesses in computers comes at the advanced programming level.

"When you get higher up in the technology that is a weakness," Bloom said. "If the teachers are that strong they're probably out in the tech community. I ask teachers, 'What's your background?' They all say, 'Oh history, English, math.' That's the issue for us. It's part of the teacher preparation."

For years through various grants and a consortium of tech companies, DOE computer teachers have come into Bloom's company on weekends to learn programming languages and other skills. Bloom said he thinks the business community needs to take a lead in keeping school teachers updated on the latest in technology, because the DOE will probably not be able to afford all of the training by itself.

Kow said the DOE wants to make computer skills a part of a new report card system that is being piloted at several schools this year. "There's a lot of machines that are being underused because people don't really know how to use them," Kow said. "That's why we're going to work toward testing the students on their skills."

Because middle and high schools don't require computer classes, officials hope the report card will prompt schools to make sure they are integrating technology with the regular curriculum.

Some schools are moving to that model. At Kawananakoa, Ego typically gets 150 of the school's 800 students in her computer classes. But in two years the computer class will be part of the Business Practical Arts program, and all eighth-graders will be required to take computer classes.

Schools are also responding to student demand for computers.

In high-poverty neighborhoods, schools often are the only places where children can use computers. At Palolo Elementary, kids use their lunch, recess and after-school time to get into the computer labs.

Victor, of Ma'ili Elementary, said few students have computers at home. "I just wish more of our families could have computers and access to the Internet," she said.

At Waimanalo Elementary, Holokai said students are more attentive when they work on computers and often display better abilities than some of their teachers. "The behavior problems diminish and they like what they're doing, so they're more focused," she said.

Nationally, high-poverty schools usually fare worse than more affluent schools when it comes to technology.

But in Hawai'i, high-poverty campuses receive additional federal money that often goes toward technology.

A 2001 report called "Technology Counts" from Education Week noted that all of Hawai'i's high-poverty schools had Internet access from one or more classrooms, compared with a national average of 76 percent.

Sometimes, though, the age of a school has as much to do with the quality of its technology as anything.

'Iao Intermediate School in Wailuku, with some buildings dating to the 1930s, offers a computer lab and the Internet in each classroom and the library. But many of the computers are 8 or 9 years old.

By contrast, Kamali'i Elementary School in Kihei was built seven years ago and has twice as many computers for 70 fewer students.

Mililani Middle School, which opened in 1998, hasn't had to upgrade its computers or software yet. But even it has a need for more.

"If we had more staff resources, we could do a lot more in terms of technology," said technology coordinator Chris Akahoshi, who handles the maintenance of the school's voice, video and data networks. "We don't have the latest and greatest, but it's sufficient for what we're doing in the classroom. Some schools want to be on the cutting edge of technology. But I think technology is used as a tool, not as a 'gee-whiz' factor."

Staff writers Eloise Aguiar, James Gonser, Timothy Hurley, Jan TenBruggencate, Will Hoover, Kevin Dayton, Suzanne Roig and Catherine E. Toth contributed to this report. Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.

• • •

How selected schools compare on computer use

While computer hardware and software are in place at most public schools statewide, educators worry about keeping their technology updated, training teachers to use the equipment and integrating computers and the Internet into coursework. Others worry about more basic problems. At many schools, a lack of electrical upgrades means that when the computers go on, the lights go out or the air conditioning shuts off.

Ma'ili Elementary School

  • Students: 825
  • Computers: almost 300
  • Adequate resources? "There's never enough."
  • How they afford it: school funds, donations, fundraising, federal money, grants
  • Have electrical upgrades? yes

Waialua Elementary School

  • Students: 550
  • Computers: 150
  • Adequate resources? "Right now we're stable."
  • How they afford it: grants, school funds, donations, grocery receipt and soup label collection drives
  • Have electrical upgrades? yes

Kapolei Middle School

  • Students: 1,590
  • Computers: 550
  • Adequate resources? Yes. "But maintaining it is going to be the problem..."
  • How they afford it: school funding, fundraising
  • Have electrical upgrades? yes

Pahoa Intermediate and High School

  • Students: 800
  • Computers: 243
  • Adequate resources? school wants a new writing lab
  • How they afford it: mostly grants
  • Have electrical upgrades? yes, but the power supply coming into the school fluctuates

'Iao Intermediate School

  • Students: 820
  • Computers: 125
  • Adequate resources? no.
  • How they afford it: grants, formerly used state money
  • Have electrical upgrades? no

Kamali'i Elementary School

  • Students: 750
  • Computers: 300
  • Adequate resources? no. some equipment already outdated
  • How they afford it: school funds, Parent Teacher Association, fundraisers
  • Have electrical upgrades? yes

Kapa'a High School

  • Students: 1,165 students
  • Computers: 237
  • Adequate resources? The computers are aging, but officials aren't complaining about it.
  • How they afford it: most money came from legislative funding that ended two years ago.
  • Have electrical upgrades? no

Mililani Middle

  • Students: 1,900
  • Computers: 600
  • Adequate resources? yes — for now
  • How they afford it: startup funds when the school opened in 1998; Castle & Cooke donated $150,000 for two labs.
  • Have electrical upgrades? yes

Palolo Elementary

  • Students: 274
  • Computers: about 50
  • Adequate resources? no, but the school just received a grant that will provide 45 laptops
  • How they afford it: grants, donations from Bank of Hawai'i and Rotary Club of Honolulu
  • Have electrical upgrades? no

Kaiser High School

  • Students: 1,060
  • Computers: about one for every 7 students
  • Adequacy of resources? "For basic items, we have what we need. But we don't have what we want."
  • How they afford it: school funds, donations
  • Have electrical upgrades? yes

Kalani High

  • Students: 1,071
  • Computers: about 100
  • Adequate resources? "I don't think we'll ever have enough."
  • How they afford it: school funds, donations
  • Have electrical upgrades? no — but might receive upgrades this summer

Lincoln Elementary

  • Students: 464
  • Computers: more than 100
  • Adequate resources? doing well, but is hoping for three more high-speed iMacs
  • How they afford it: school funds, PTA donations, Foodland's Shop for Better Education program
  • Have electrical upgrades? yes

Kawananakoa Middle

  • Students: 835
  • Computers: 80
  • Adequate resources? "We could always use more. We never get enough technology."
  • How they afford it: school leases computers; the rest have come through school funds and parent-teacher fundraising
  • Have electrical upgrades? yes, but there are still problem areas

Waimanalo Elementary and Intermediate

  • Students: 675
  • Computers: 122
  • Adequate resources? no
  • How they afford it: mostly through donations
  • Have electrical upgrades? yes, but electricity is inconsistent in Waimanalo

Maunawili Elementary

  • Students: 430
  • Computers: 120
  • Adequate resources? "We can always use more computers."
  • How they afford it: fundraising
  • Have electrical upgrades? no, but the school is scheduled for upgrades

Puohala Elementary

  • Students: 368
  • Computers: 60
  • Adequate resources? no
  • How they afford it: donations, fundraisers
  • Have electrical upgrades? computer lab and one building have upgrades; school is scheduled for more work

Lihikai School

  • Students: 1,141
  • Computers: 314
  • Adequate resources? no. school needs more money for training and equipment
  • How they afford it: fundraising
  • Have electrical upgrades? no