Posted on: Thursday, July 22, 2004

Education briefs

Advertiser Staff

Jaycees to collect supplies

The Hawai'i Kai Jaycees will collect donations of new school supplies for needy children from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Kahala Mall.

The supply drive is being held in partnership with Helping Hands Hawai'i's Ready to Learn program, which expects to distribute supplies to 30,000 students this school year.

The most needed supplies are: binders (three-ring, 2-inch); colored markers (washable, wide-tipped); composition tablets (100-page, college or wide rule); crayons (24 count); folder paper (200 count, college or wide rule); glue (four ounces); notebooks (three-subject, spiral); pencils (No. 2, unsharpened); pens (blue or black ink); portfolios; protractors; rulers (12-inch) and scissors (5-inch).

ASSETS School re-accredited

ASSETS School has received top accreditation marks from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and the Hawai'i Association of Independent Schools.

The re-accreditation means that the private school, which serves more than 400 gifted and dyslexic students, will not have to go through the accreditation process again for six years, the maximum term.

Earlier this year, the almost 50-year-old school also earned national accreditation from the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators, one of the leading professional organizations in the country for treatment of dyslexia.

Test score data available online

Free school performance and test score data from Hawai'i's public schools are now available at www.schoolresults.org.

The site is offered by the School Information Partnership, an initiative of The Broad Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education.

Parents can use the site to find out the performance and demographic makeup of their children's schools, as well as other schools and districts across the state.

Educators can use the data to determine which areas of the school need improvement, as well as find other schools to learn effective practices from.

Pizza Hut grants to help literacy

Hawai'i Pizza Hut has awarded $105,000 in grants to four organizations operating literacy programs.

For the upcoming school year, Read Aloud America Inc. will receive $50,000 to bring five public schools a family literacy program that encourages parents and children to talk about and read good books.

Hawai'i Public Television will receive a $25,000 grant to support its Between the Lions literacy program for beginning readers ages 4 to 7 years old.

Hawai'i Technology Institute will use $15,000 to expand and enhance the literacy component of its Career Transition Program, which helps students improve their verbal skills by at least two grade levels in order to receive training for technology careers through the institute's programs.

Mutual Assistance Associations Center will use its $15,000 grant to buy a network computer server and education software for its computer-based after school learning center at Palolo District Park.