Erin Sugiyama

EDEE 492 & EDEE 490

Dr. Kamai & Katie Nakahara

09 January 2023

Assignment 1: How Well Do You Know Your School Community &

Culture?

1. School and District Factors, Classroom Demographics and Knowledge of Students

Factors, Instructional and Support Resources

When reading through Nanaikapono Elementary’s 2021-22 Strive HI School

Performance data, many significant factors stood out to me which informed me about the

students I have in my classroom and the students in the school as a whole. However, there were

specific pieces of information that stood out to me, such as the school’s socioeconomic

information and school performance data. First off, the Strive HI report states that 100% of the

students receive free lunch due to the low socioeconomic status of the community. This is

important information because this tells me, as their teacher, that many of these students may be

coming to school feeling sleep- or nutrient-deprived, thus affecting their performance and

participation in my class. These students may also lack the materials and appropriate learning

environment at home which negatively impacts their ability to complete homework and carry

on their academic learning outside of the classroom. Therefore, these students may also need

modifications to homework assignments.

The second school factor that stood out to me is how students are performing in each

subject area. The student’s academic progress is measured through the school’s Smarter

Balanced Assessment (SBA). The SBA is administered twice a year, once in the middle of the

school year as the practice SBA Interim and then the final SBA at the end of the school year.

The SBA assesses how well students are on track in terms of readiness for their grade level and

prepared for college/a career and is aligned with the Hawai’i Common Core State Standards.

When looking at the data, students at Nanaikapono Elementary School scored lower in all
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subject areas - Language Arts, Math, and Science - when compared to the complex area and

state scores. In comparison to the state average of students who scored proficient in Language

Arts, 52%, Nanaikapono’s students scored at 17%. In math, the state’s average in Math and

science was 46% and 45%, respectively, whereas Nanaikpono had 11% of students score

proficient in Math and 13% of students proficient in Science. This tells me that the students

who attend this school may struggle greatly, academically, than other students in the state.

However, the data also shows that more than 72% of students had been absent for more than 15

days this school year. The complex area has 67% of students missing 15 days or more of school

this year compared to the state average of 42%. This could also contribute to why test scores are

lower than the state average as students are missing out on instruction and crucial academic

information.

Given these factors of the students in this school, one goal that my mentor and I feel is

important, as well as something the Principal believes the whole school needs to improve on, is

to increase the students reading and writing abilities. To meet this goal, I need to introduce

students to more reading material as many of them lack access to books at home and have not

been familiar with reading or writing as much since the start of the pandemic. When talking to

my student’s past teachers, many of the students may not have logged onto the computer to

attend virtual classes during the pandemic and for students that did attend, they were not fully

engaged or participating due to their home environment. Another way I am planning to improve

students’ writing abilities is by implementing the Smekens’ 6+1 Traits of Writing into my

curriculum. To successfully begin implementing it, I attend training and watch videos provided

by Smekens to better understand how to implement the strategies, and use their

resources/progress monitoring tools to assess student growth.

When narrowing the school’s demographics and looking into my classroom, four

students receive EL services and get pulled out every day for at least thirty minutes to receive

EL services and I also have one student who is currently in the process of receiving SPED
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services. Many of the students are also below grade level for reading fluency and

comprehension. Therefore, one area that I feel the SBA assessment could be altered to better fit

the needs of struggling readers is to provide every student with the ability for text to be read out

loud to them. That way, the students are assessed on how well they know specific content

versus how well they can read.

2. 5 Key People in Your School Community

The process I used to identify the 5 people was based on who I felt I have the

most communication with and the people who have the most impact on the students in

my classroom. I then communicated and discussed the list with my mentor and together

we added people onto the list based on who we thought was important for the whole

school community. I then chose the top 5 people who I felt have made the most positive

impact on my students and their families this school year. I plan on continuing to use

these list of resources and building upon this list to reach out to them to further support

me, my students, and their families both in and outside of the classroom.

Name Title Role and/or function Explain why this

person is crucial to
the school culture.

Kristi Reyes Instructional Coach My mentor and upper Academic coaches are
grade level (4-6) grade essential for
level instructional supporting all teachers
coach and students by
helping the teachers
build their instruction
and curriculum
planning based on the
data shared by
teachers. Kristi is also
very helpful as she is
my mentor and helps
me transition from a
student teacher to the
role of a teacher. For
example, she helps me
look at my student’s

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 completed work and
assessment data to
plan instruction that
meets their specific
needs (such as
spending more time on
the drafting process in
writing).

Ashley Ono SSC - Student The school’s SSC and Ashley works closely
Services Coordinator a support coach for with the instructional
building inclusivity in coaches to help
the classroom teachers build an
inclusive classroom
with general education
and students receiving
special education
services. Ashely
supports teachers and
students as SSC by
observing, assessing,
and guiding teachers
towards obtaining
special education
services for students
with special needs
(cognitively, socially,
or physically). For
example, when I
expressed my
concerns about a
student in my class,
she observed his
behavior in class
which then led to a
cognitive assessment
and the IEP process.

Chastity Saldebar Counselor Assigned counselor Chas is someone that I

for grades 2-4 and the students rely
on for support. I
frequently reach out to
her to further support
my students who are
struggling emotionally
and mentally. For
example, many of my
students have
problems occurring in
their home lives (e.g.
domestic violence
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 cases, bullying, anger
management, etc.). I
send these students to
Chas when it is
evident that their
emotions are
negatively affecting
their ability to
concentrate,
participate, or learn in
class.

Sonia Peralta PCNC - Parent Parent & Community Sonia is an essential

Community Outreach Coordinator, part of forming and
Networking Center Keiki Pantry running our school
Coordinator culture by getting
parents and the
community involved
with our student’s
learning and school
community. Sonia is
in charge of planning
events at the school
and staying up to date
on events happening
near our school’s
community and
sending out the
information to get
parents involved. For
example, she will
create sleepovers or
send us letters to give
the students to take
home about events
happening at the
public library near our
school for our students
and parents to attend
and further their
learning. This is an
essential part of
building our school
culture and getting the
community involved
in our student’s
learning. She is also in
charge of Keiki Pantry
which is a program
that allows eligible
students in our
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 classrooms (a majority
of my students) to
receive 4lbs of
food/snacks once a
week.

Chari Rarallo ILT (Instructional 4th grade teacher, ILT Chari is the ILT
Leadership Team) Representative representative for the
Representative 4th grade this school
year. She attends
meetings with school
leaders to voice the
opinions and struggles
the 4th-grade team
shares during our
collab meeting. She
also runs and
facilitates the 4th-
grade meetings to
ensure all important
information is
discussed and ensures
all the new teachers in
4th grade are up to
date. I receive the
most assistance and
support from her as
she helps me with
planning
curriculum/instruction
when needed.

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3. Letter of Introduction

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 4. Student Interest Survey Student Sample

As I read through the completed survey with my student, one of the main things that stood

out from his answers and drawings is how often judo is mentioned. At the beginning of the year,

when I had given the students their first Student Interest Survey, judo wasn’t mentioned at all. It’s

helpful for me as a teacher to see how much his interests have changed. I also did not know that his

dad does judo as well. Through reading the student interest survey, and through talking to this

student about his answers, I know that one of his main goals this year is to write more stories. He

enjoys writing and being an author. I can use his responses by helping him to reach his goal of

writing more stories this year by guiding his writing process by encouraging him to write about his

favorite hobby, judo. This can also be an assignment to get his parents involved in his school work at

home as he can interview his dad, who also does judo, to get more information for his writing piece

and create a positive bonding experience.

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