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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, July 3, 2003

OUR SCHOOLS • KAULUWELA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
School excels at educating children of immigrants

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

The past four years, Kauluwela Elementary School in Kalihi has become an example of what a low-income, or Title I, school can accomplish with a dedicated staff working together, according to principal Gwen Lee.

Because it sits right next to H-1 Freeway, Kauluwela Elementary School is now almost completely sound proofed and air conditioned to keep out the noise and fumes from cars.

Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

Kauluwela was founded in 1888 to teach the growing number of children from the prosperous business class then moving into urban Honolulu.

Today, the school is surrounded by government-subsidized housing projects occupied by struggling immigrant families.

The median household income of $34,350 is about 30 percent lower than the statewide average of $49,820, and more than 75 percent of Kauluwela's students qualify for the free or reduced meal program.

English is a second language for more than 60 percent of the students, many of whom recently emigrated from China and Indochina.

Targeting these students, the school implemented the Core Knowledge educational program to provide basic background knowledge that helps them understand what they hear and read. The program helps them develop a wider vocabulary for comprehension and communication in writing, Lee said.

"Immigrant students come to the United States and are really great at drills and memorizing, but when it comes to comprehension they score really low because you need basic background information to comprehend what you are learning," Lee said.

The large immigrant population also limits community and parental involvement in the school because parents often work more than one job to support their families, and language difficulties make communication tough, Lee said.

"We have to educate the parents as well as the students," she said. "I have monthly literacy meetings where we talk about what the children are learning and how the parents can assist, but I have to have an interpreter there."

After one parent asked if the school could provide adult English classes, Lee contacted Farrington Community School for Adults and, as a result, a special English program for Kauluwela parents is being developed.

Lee said despite the difficulties, the school has met its "adequate yearly progress" goals for student achievement for four years straight, showing at least a 2 percent improvement in three of four key educational indicators: math, reading, writing and attendance.

The campus was cut in half by construction of H-1 Freeway nearly 50 years ago, but losing most of its playground and the associated exposure of students to the noise and gas fumes from thousands of cars every day has had one benefit, Lee said.

The school is almost completely sound proofed and air conditioned, she said. "On these hot days it is a blessing."

• What are you most proud of? "We work as a team," Lee said.

"I don't sit up here and say, 'You teachers are going to do this or that.' We look at our data every year, we discuss and try to problem-solve and teachers agree if we decide to implement a program, everybody implements it."

• Best-kept secret: Thousands of people pass the school every day while commuting to and from Honolulu, but few know where it is.

• Everybody at our school knows: Tech coordinator and Title I teacher Beverly Suzuki.

• Our biggest challenge: Languages. "Whenever you teach social studies or geography you've got to teach it from a language point of view. Do you understand the vocabulary," Lee said.

• What we need: A new cafeteria. The building, which is more than 100 years old, is one of two on campus without air conditioning.

"All the noise from traffic and the smell is unbearable during rush hour" every morning, Lee said.

• • •

At a glance

• Where: 1486 A'ala St., Honolulu

• Phone: 587-4447

• Principal: Gwen H. Lee, 15 years at school

• School nickname: Tiger cubs

• School colors: Purple and gold

• Enrollment: 485 students, down from 585 four years ago

• Testing: Here's how Kauluwela Elementary students fared on the most recent standardized tests.

• Stanford Achievement Test: Listed is the combined percentage of students scoring average and above average, compared with the national combined average of 77 percent. Third-grade reading, 76.9 percent; math, 86.3 percent. Fifth-grade reading, 74.7 percent; math, 86.3 percent.

• Hawai'i content and performance standards tests: Listed is the combined percentage of students meeting or exceeding state standards, and a comparison with the state average. Third-grade reading, 37.9 percent, compared with the state average of 42.3 percent; math, 22.1 percent, compared with state average of 20.2 percent. Fifth-grade reading, 40 percent, compared with the state average of 43.4 percent; math, 19.8 percent, compared with state average of 21.8 percent.

• History: Founded in 1888 for the children of business families that were not allowed to attend nearby Royal School, which was reserved for ali'i.

• Special features: The library is decorated with scenes of Hawaiian culture and life painted 40 or 50 years ago. Kauluwela School is operating under the School/Community-Based Management system and a modified school year schedule.

• Special programs or classes: The school uses the Direct Instruction program that teaches reading and language in the first 90 minutes of each school day. Students learn in small groupings that correspond to their ability.

• Computers: Kauluwela has two computer labs and a school-wide computer program to support the reading initiative. Every grade has a mini-computer lab with eight computers.