Against the odds, success

In Norristown, fourth graders use video game-like calculators to help them whip through one-minute math problems.

In Collingswood, fourth graders pore over haiku to push their knowledge of words.

And at Philadelphia's Nebinger Elementary, a teacher made home visits to enlist parent support for weekend homework and extra assignments.

Over the last five years, schools throughout the Philadelphia region have experimented with an array of techniques aimed at getting students to score higher on state math and reading tests.

The lowest-performing schools, often serving poor children, face the most pressure to improve. Some of them have embraced new strategies that are showing success.

Prodded by the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind law, public districts throughout the region have transformed their programs to prepare students for the state tests. Next year, they face even higher benchmarks. The ultimate goal is for all children to perform at grade level by 2014.

In 2005 and 2006, 490 schools in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania suburbs gave fifth-grade tests in the spring. Over that span, 49 showed improvement in reading of at least 10 percentage points; 57 showed improvement in math.

In New Jersey, 202 schools gave the tests; 23 showed improvements of 10 percentage points or higher in reading and 31 in math.

The Inquirer visited six of those schools to observe some of the techniques that educators say are showing results.

Using every minute

The fourth graders at Hancock Elementary School were ending the day after an intense math drill this month when Andrew Michener spontaneously broke into a chant of "I do believe."

Classmate Nadeera Hinton, a row in front of him, finished with, "I will succeed."

Spirits are high at Hancock, a neighborhood school in the economically depressed Montgomery County community, where 64 percent of students get free or reduced-price lunches. The children and staff are determined to prove that poverty cannot keep them from learning.

Two years ago, Hancock failed to meet federal standards, but it met them last year.

Reading scores for the fifth grade increased by 28 percentage points, to 55 percent proficient or above; in math, the gain was 27 percentage points, to 87 percent passing.

Schools with high poverty levels are more likely to be labeled as failing, state data show.

This year at the school, which now has kindergarten through fourth grade, many students believe they did well on the test, though scores won't come out for months. The math exams were simple, said Darius Hinton, a classmate and cousin of Nadeera's. When asked why, the 9-year-old said: "I've learned all the math strategies - I understand them, so I understood what is on the test."

There is reason to be confident, teachers and administrators say. Fourth graders now use statistical calculators several times a day to race through one-minute drills that teacher Sharon Kukulski turns into contests - half of the class against the other half, or the children trying to beat their previous scores. The calculators are individually programmed for the problems students need extra help on. "It's our answer to video games," Kukulski said. "It's a whole new way of teaching. We're high tech now."

Hancock also uses frequent testing and computerized data crunching to identify what students need help with. Several times a week, children with similar learning gaps are grouped together for short, special-instruction periods that the school calls focus groups. When they have mastered a skill, they go to another focus group to get help in another area.

"Urgency is a good way to describe us," said Betty Ann Young, a reading specialist at Hancock. "We use every minute we have." At lunch time, she said, aides carry math and vocabulary flash cards so that even there, students are learning.

School is much more academics-centered now than it was a few years ago, said Lisa Andrejko, Norristown Area School District superintendent. "You don't see, around Valentine's Day, two weeks to make a valentine," she said. "We might have a lesson around Valentine's Day, but it's going to be reading and writing, and the standards that are embedded in it."

Much the same transformation has taken place at Evans Elementary School in Yeadon, Delaware County. At the school, in the William Penn School District, 61 percent of students get free or reduced-price lunches. It, too, failed to meet the state test standard two years ago, then made it last year.

Fifth-grade scores improved to 53 percent proficient or above in reading, a 19-percentage-point jump; in math, 54 percent made the grade, a 20-percentage-point increase.

Superintendent Dana Bedden said the staff decided to do more for the students. "If you go to that school now, you'll find a sense from staff and students of 'We are going to show them how good we are.' "

To help instill self esteem, Evans principal Angela Ladson leads the children in a chant when she drops into a class: "The best students in the world are learning here at Evans."

They concentrate on how to make the hard work fun. Sixth graders, for example, recently created math board games, with questions and goals that they selected. Tiara Cannon's was named Fashion Math. Players advanced by answering math problems correctly. The goal is "to see who can get to the mall first," she said.

School "is both fun and work," said classmate Rumere Taylor, who said he enjoyed taking the state tests. Doing well "shows that you know things and shows other people what you know and that you've been working real hard for it," he said. "That's important."

One teacher's role

Nebinger Elementary School in South Philadelphia's Bella Vista section has undergone a dramatic change, thanks in part to the efforts of one teacher.

Although only 21 percent of fifth graders scored proficient or above in reading in 2004, 82 percent did in 2006. Math proficiency jumped from 24 percent to 86 percent.

Administrators say the turnaround at a school with an 80 percent poverty rate stems from the personal attention possible with only 260 students from kindergarten through eighth grade. They cite extra after-school help, school-wide writing assignments, and the use of testing data to tell teachers what they need to focus on for state exams.

But administrators also credit a classroom dynamo with sparking academic improvement throughout the building.

"There was a turning point with the fifth-grade teacher," said John Krause, Nebinger's longtime principal, who retired in June. "It was the faculty who pulled together."

Anthony Majewski, in his first year as principal, says Margarita Wilson "bumped it up" in the fifth grade. "She is just phenomenal," he said. "She's the best of the best. She's top gun. Now she's doing the same thing in kindergarten."

Wilson's explanation sounds simple: "What I do is, I ask the kids for a commitment."

She explains the importance of the state tests for them, their class and the school.

"In September, I let them know right away that it's on our shoulders," Wilson said. " 'We are responsible. I am and you are. And I believe that every one of you will make it - not just the advanced kids. All.' "

Wilson calls students' parents and visits homes to enlist support for weekend homework and the extra assignments she sends home to help their children achieve. She later invites the parents to a classroom feast.

"The goal is to bring them in so they can be part of my classroom, and it works," she said.

Nebinger has a growing population of students from Mexico and China. Wilson promises those who pulled out of her class for the school's English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) program that they will not fall behind in her class.

Wilson said that when she arrived at Nebinger four years ago, some teachers told her that test scores were low because of the ESOL students.

"I said to myself, 'I'm ESOL, too,' " recalled Wilson, who is of Filipino descent. "English is not my first language, but I'm here. I was able to go to college. I was able to get my master's. So if I can do it, they can do it."

All six ESOL students in her fifth-grade class last year scored advanced - the top level in the state tests known as the PSSA.

This year, Wilson switched to kindergarten so she could make sure the youngest students receive the foundation for reading, writing and math that is critical for academic success.

"I know the need in fifth grade," she said. "So let me start in kindergarten."

At Rhoads Elementary School in West Philadelphia's Mill Creek neighborhood, six kindergartners trooped into the office of principal Gayle Daniels last week to read aloud journal entries about pets, cookies and hot cocoa. Daniels discussed the entries with each child and handed out "I read to the principal" erasers to encourage continued writing.

"You want to get the early learner off to a good start with reading and writing," she said. "Once you get that instilled, it just goes."

Rhoads' strong emphasis on literacy has helped boost scores at a school where there is high poverty. Nine out of 10 of the school's 517 students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

In 2004, 14 percent of fifth graders scored proficient or above on the PSSA in reading, 18 percent in math. Last year's scores: 55 percent proficient in reading, 68 percent in math.

When longtime teachers Linda Krinsky and Annette Lark are asked how Rhoads accomplished the feat, they chorus: "We got a new principal."

But Daniels, who is in her third year at Rhoads, points to teachers who volunteer to tutor before school and at lunch.

"The dedication of the teachers makes a great difference," she said.

In addition, a retired Rhoads teacher comes three days a week to help struggling students. Volunteers from the neighborhood, the University of Pennsylvania, and Drexel University tutor students, as well.

Teachers use test data to prepare students for the PSSA. And to get them revved up about taking the tests, Rhoads has daily PSSA trivia quizzes and word-of-the-day challenges. On Wednesdays, staff wear "PSSA All the Way" T-shirts.

"It helps keep them motivated," said Lark. "If they don't like something, it's more difficult to get them to accept it."

Moving ahead

Before fourth-grade teacher Lori Jakimiak begins her afternoon lessons, she sets a timer.

And then she moves about the classroom at Zane Elementary along with coteacher Lisa Roehrig, rotating among three groups of students. They teach math and language arts for about 90 minutes.

"We can accomplish so much more," said Jakimiak. "You get to know them so much better."

For the second year, third- and fourth-grade teachers in Collingswood's five elementary schools are using a team approach to teach math and language arts.

It is the latest attempt by the Camden County district to boost student performance on state standardized tests.

Students typically work in groups of about eight, and get more teacher supervision. Teachers say they can quickly identify students who need more help.

District officials think the strategy has helped make a difference in at least two schools.

Sharp Elementary's language-arts scores jumped 18 percentage points, with 82 percent of its fourth graders achieving proficiency. Math proficiency also went up 18 points, to 78. Sharp's challenges include a pocket of low-income students and the district's highest rate of student transfers.

At Zane, the strategy helped boost more students into the advanced-proficient level. Zane's fourth-grade language-arts scores increased 18 percentage points in 2006, with 95 percent of the students achieving proficiency. About a third were advanced proficient, up from 6 percent the year before.

The school has about 200 students from prekindergarten through sixth grade.

Jakimiak and Roehrig work on lesson plans and instruction. A sign above the blackboard reads: "Things turn out better when we work together."

During a lesson last week, Jakimiak led a haiku-writing activity with about eight students. Students wrote three-line poems using no more than five syllables in the first and last lines, and seven syllables in the second line.

Jakimiak, wearing low-heeled shoes, moved quickly through the aisles, checking the students' work.

"I like your expression. Good job," Jakimiak told 10-year-old Dayna Howitz.

Sitting at a long table in the back of the room, Roehrig taught fractions. She easily glanced around the table to make sure everyone had the correct answer.

"Teaching is a different game," said Roehrig. "It's a team effort."

Roehrig, 23, who is completing her first full-year teaching assignment, divides her time between two classes - mornings with third grade and afternoons with fourth grade.

As the noise level escalated, Jakimiak kept a watchful eye on the third group huddled together on the floor near the door working on math games.

When the timer went off about 25 minutes later, the students rotated, and the teachers repeated their lessons with a new group.

"The timer keeps us on track," said Jakimiak, 47. It also helps prepare students for timed state tests, said Zane principal Thomas J. Santo.

Santo also credits the school's character education program for changing the school culture. The school has few discipline problems, and students stay focused on learning, he said.

When a fourth grader acted out in one of the group sessions, a classmate quietly told him, "I don't think Mrs. Jakimiak would like that." The student resumed his studies.

As a community in transition from blue collar to upper middle class, Collingswood, with about 14,300 residents, has its challenges, including a transient student population.

About 27 percent of Collingswood's 1,912 students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

The mobility rate, or number of students entering or leaving, reaches 20 percent at some schools, said Superintendent James Bathurst.

To help students who need extra instruction, the district last year held a three-week remedial summer program for about 80 students, Bathurst said.

Four years ago, the district began offering all-day kindergarten. It also began a first-grade remedial-reading program.

"The sooner you get the kids, the better they are," Bathurst said.