BY CHELSEA JENSEN | WEST HAWAII TODAY
Innovations Public Charter School recently snagged the first-ever 2011 Hawaii Charter School of Excellence Award — a feat school officials say took the entire community to achieve.
School officials hope the recognition will boost morale and open doors to additional funding opportunities via grants and community support, said Jennifer Hiro, the school’s director.
“It’s a great reflection and recognition of all of the hard work of our school as a whole community because it took everyone: parents, students, teachers and staff,” she said. “To have all of these efforts recognized will definitely benefit us in terms of grant writing and continued community support because it’s always good to feel the donations are going to support excellence.”
Innovations, a public charter school founded in 2001 with 185 students in grades one to eight, received the award on Jan. 10 from the nonprofit Hawaii Charter Schools Network. The school also received recognition from the state Senate.
The network, which supports and promotes the state’s 31 public charter schools, also presented a handful of awards to other charter schools during the 10th annual Hawaii Charter Schools Conference held on Oahu, Lynn Finnegan, Hawaii Charter Schools Network executive director said.
“Innovations (Public Charter School) should be recognized for its leadership and innovation and ability to really make things happen for its community,” she said. “When the community is given true control over the school, they can do some amazing things.”
The award is based primarily on a charter school’s performance in three areas: academic excellence, community partnership and commitment to the charter mission of providing choice and innovative teaching to the community, she said.
In terms of academic excellence, Hiro said Innovations public charter school scored 20 percent higher in reading proficiency and 15 percent higher in math proficiency compared with public school students in West Hawaii.
In 2010-11, Hiro said the school had a reading proficiency of 86 percent and a math proficiency of 69 percent. Department of Education 2011 state assessment data showed public school students notched a 66 percent proficiency in reading and 59 percent proficiency in math. She added the school will be focusing on raising math scores in the coming months.
Hiro attributed the school’s success to its method of educating its students by finding an area they are interested in and integrating that into all of the curriculum. “It’s the approach we have to curriculum that is helping,” Hiro said. “We think that’s what is doing it for the students.”
cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com