pavio ¥. 16 KATHRYN S. MATAYOSHI SUPERINTENDENT STATE OF HAWAI' DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION KAUIKEA/AUIPAHOA COMPLEX AREA 16-588 KEAAU-PAHOA ROAD KEAAU, HAWAII 96749 OFFICE OF THE COMPLEX AREA SUPERINTENDENT To Whom it May Concern, | interviewed Maggi Crow five years ago and was immediately impressed with her confidence and poise. She was a young lady out of the state of Washington and I worried she would struggle teaching in such a different culture here in Hawai'i especially in a school like kea’au which serves the states toughest students with a free and reduced lunch rate of 80 plus percent yearly. Maggi married her husband Bric that same year making her name much tougher to pronounce but it didn’t matter as she quickly built relationships with her students that would overcome that | challenged Maggi in her first year with us in our lowest achieving grade level that had undergone two years of transformation under my leadership. At the time grade 5 had made some pretty good gains but remained the lowest, achieving in the school. ‘The next steps for this grade level was to literally throw the baby out with the bath water and try a whole new approach. The transformation required open minded teachers willing to try a new method of teaching with new curriculum, new assessment, while using technology and collaborating in a formative instruction data team process using a PLC (Professional Learning Community) format. Additionally this grade level adopted an inclusion model for our special education population. Maggi along with 6 of her colleagues went at it wholeheartedly accepting the challenge and making it personal. They succeeded in raising the student achievement to the highest scores in the school and went on to become the highest in the state. What is even more impressive is the fact that they were able to do this while piloting so many new initiatives most notably was a digital | to | initiative that garnered Kea'au Elementary statewide and national attention. The success of our programs brought politicians and even the governor to visit and every one of them sat in Maggi’s classroom to see her craft in person. One of Maggi’s greatest strengths is her skill with technology and the ease in which she navigates web 2.0 tools. Maggi took a huge leap this past year moving into a curriculum coaching position. She was chosen because of her skill with technology. My intention in moving her to the position was hoping she could help other teachers overcome their technology hurdle and use collaborative tools like Google Apps For Education GAFE to make their jobs easier but beyond. that so that they could allow student to use technology to be polyphonic in their learning. Maggi has done that without question and in true Maggi fashion she has embraced other aspects of the coaching duties helping to establish pieces of our core instruction that has been missing, This new emphasis on core instruction that is differentiated to learner need and style and a method to track intervention response in a clear and concise way means that students now receive targeted instruction and intervention in the classroom and in a “tier 2” setting. Maggi has been instrumental in both the pedagogical piece but also the data collection even creating specialized Google forms and sheets to ease teacher workload Maggi Wigmosta has been a true asset to Kea’au Elementary School and to the Ka’u-Kea’au-Pahoa Complex Area! Kea’ au will miss her! I will miss her! I wish her the best of luck in her future and welcome her back should she long to return. You will thank yourself for hiring her. | am contactable at 808.982.4719. Aloha and adal hi lem Ur Chad Keone Farias Complex Area Superintendent Ka'u-Kea’au-Pahoa Complex Area AN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER