The state Department of Education expects to establish after-school programs for middle-school students on a half-dozen campuses as early as November in an attempt to build a more nurturing environment for children in their critical early adolescent years.

The plan is driven in part by recognition that students are arriving in middle school with huge discrepancies in their knowledge base, and the need to catch those at risk before they give up on school.

"It's critical that we do interventions at this point to really address the needs of the kids so they feel they still have a chance," said Kathy Kawaguchi, the DOE's assistant superintendent for the Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Student Support.

The needs of this age group have become especially evident because of the new standards-based education the DOE embarked on several years ago — and because of the relative lack of progress of eighth-graders on the statewide assessment. When the latest scores were released last Thursday, eighth-graders still showed poor progress.

"It wasn't until 2002 that we began to really clearly define the standards by grade level," Kawaguchi said. "Before that, the benchmarks were based on grade clusters. Each school did their own thing. By eighth grade there were so many standards and no clarity on what was absolutely essential."

Kawaguchi said she believes this is part of the reason eighth-graders had such a disappointing showing on the standards tests released last week. But the disappointing scores two years in a row have spurred the department to look at providing additional support for this vulnerable age group.

Kawaguchi said intervention during these most vulnerable middle years — before students are failing — is crucial.

Without that, she said, learning gaps may become so huge, "by ninth or 10th grade they're thinking of dropping out."

An after-school pilot program for middle schoolers conducted on Moloka'i last year and again this year has proven popular with parents and students.

Nina Kawano said the program — called UPLINK — has turned her son, eighth-grader Mahi Kan-Hai, from a lukewarm student to an excited one, with better grades and more focus.

"I'm a working parent and at the end of the day I'm not always able to help him with his homework," Kawano said. "This captures the kids' attention and helps them to say 'OK, if I do my work good, I can go to this program. They have incentives — sports, arts and crafts, movie-making. I thought it would be boring for him and he's coming home and saying 'Mom, I love it.'"

If the first few after-school programs this fall go well and students show improvement in academic performance, the department will consider expanding such programs to all schools, though they would be costly. The Moloka'i pilot program cost $193,000 to serve around 68 students for a year, and Kawaguchi hopes partnerships can be developed with other state departments or agencies to provide the new services.

Decisions have not yet been finalized about which middle schools will be the first to get the after-school programs because contracts are still being negotiated with the state Department of Human Services.

While there has been a national trend of providing more after-school support for these grade levels, Kawaguchi said, the DOE hasn't consistently been able to provide it in recent years.

Individual schools have offered some extra programs, depending on their resources, but there has been no systemwide initiative to bolster middle-school students since money for after-school programs disappeared in the late 1990s.

"There used to be funding for after-school instruction programs across the state, but it's been about 10 years," Kawaguchi said.

The after-school program for seventh- and eighth-graders at Moloka'i Intermediate School — through a funding partnership with the DHS — offers everything from cooking and sewing classes to Hawaiian language and hip-hop lessons. Instead of going home around 2:15 p.m., students stay until 5 p.m., getting help with their homework and tutoring before the activities, after which the children are bused home.

Lyn Bonk, coordinator for the Moloka'i program, said the purpose of UPLINK is not to offer just activities, but also instruction and guidance "so students are supported in learning and making healthy choices."

Having been used to strong structure in elementary school, middle-school students can be vulnerable, she said. But adding structure through a program like UPLINK "makes it safe to take risks that support growth."

Mika Awai, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Moloka'i Intermediate, said UPLINK is helping her finish her homework and helped her move from a C in math last year to a B by the end of the year.

"It helps you get done with your work," said Awai, who was excited about learning how to make lumpia in her cooking class.

"It's really 'ono," she said of the lumpia, adding that the group also learned how to make chicken katsu, tortillas "and plenty stuff with hamburger." She is also taking Hawaiian culture and language to prep herself to apply to Kamehameha Schools next year for ninth grade.

Ann Bayer, a professor in the department of educational psychology at the University of Hawai'i, said the onset of puberty and adolescence serves as major distractions for children heading into middle school. Children still need to feel a continuation of the strong caring bonds with their teachers and their schools they had in their elementary years, she said.

With strong relationships and a more trusting environment, students will be more willing to take risks with their learning, Bayer said. But there needs to be a structure in which students can take risks and won't be penalized for failure in a way that would discourage them from participating.

Students of this age also are beginning to question and to make more of their own decisions.

Kawaguchi said she wants the after-school programs to improve on the support system schools offer — and help with the social and emotional distractions students face. "There needs to be a very strong support system for them to address the changes they're experiencing and how to handle the social things they're experimenting with.

"If you can channel that energy," she said, "we should be able to provide them the kinds of extra help and enrichment and also engage them productively in the after-school hours."