Spokane, Washington— The singing, chanting, and juggling make Diane Stueckle's early-morning routine seem as much theatrical production as classroom warm-up. But the second-grade teacher's daily ritual is designed with the latest brain research in mind. Her objective: to bridge kids' corpus callosum (the connection between the right and left cerebral hemispheres), thus engaging and readying these second-grade brains for learning. The 20-minute warm-up includes a lively recitation—something like a pep-rally cheer—between teacher and her students:
Stueckle: "Are you smart?"
Students: "Yes."
Stueckle: "How smart are you?"
Students: "Very smart."
Stueckle: "What are you willing to give today?"
Students: "Nothing but the best."
Stueckle: "How do you treat an instructor?"
Students: "With respect."
Stueckle: "If someone tells you that you can't learn, what do you tell them?"
Students: "I determine what I can learn."
Stueckle: "How do you walk through life?"
Students: "With pride and confidence."
Stueckle: "What road are you on?"
Students: "The road to college."
Practiced every morning, these empowering thoughts are intended to take root in students' minds, enabling them to envision and reach for academic success, not just while they're in Stueckle's classroom, but in the years ahead. For these children, this message is especially important because it's one they might not otherwise get.
An urban school in a socioeconomically challenged neighborhood, Grant Elementary has a student population of 570 that is one of the most culturally diverse in the state. Kids represent a huge sampling of ethnic groups, including Afghani, African American, American Indian, Asian, Chinese, Hispanic, Hmong, Russian, and Ukrainian. More than 80 percent of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunches. Sixteen percent are ESL students, many of them recent immigrants. The mobility rate currently stands at 30 percent.
Many of these students have difficult home lives. There are those being raised by single parents struggling to provide even the basic necessities. There are those being raised by grandparents while parents are serving time in prison or living in unknown locations. Some of Grant's children live in crowded apartments with extended families and multiple siblings. Some are forced into the role of caregiver themselves, left to tend younger brothers and sisters while their own guardians are at work.
It would be easy to explain and accept low scores by pointing out these harsh realities and citing the well-known link between poverty and poor academic performance. But teachers at Grant Elementary refuse to buy into that oft-bandied argument. "We're not going to make excuses for these children," says first-grade teacher Monica Lively. "We must be a driving force to getting these kids to succeed, no matter the environment they come from."
Adds Principal Steve Indgjerd: "Our staff has the belief that poverty does not determine intelligence. We need to do everything we can to help these kids succeed."
And, despite the formidable obstacles piled in their way, they are succeeding. In the past few years, student performance has risen steadily at Grant. Back in 1997, only 26 percent of Grant students passed the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) in reading. By 1999, reading proficiency had risen to 46 percent. It jumped again in 2000 to 55 percent. The numbers in math, too, are impressive. Grant fourth-graders topped the district in the math portion of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS) in 1999. It was the first time in eight years that a high-poverty school outperformed other schools in Spokane on the math test. In 2000, 52 percent of Grant students passed the math portion of the WASL, doubling their 1997 scores and beating both the state and district averages. As a testament to these steady gains, the U.S. Department of Education honored the school nationally as a Title I Distinguished School in 2001.
Grant's remarkable improvement has come about through a collaborative effort among school staff, parents, and community. It began in 1994-95 when an intensive needs assessment was conducted and, based on that data, a comprehensive schoolwide program developed to promote the success of every Grant student. Key elements of the program include setting high expectations for behavior and academic performance, providing early intervention services, and offering extended learning opportunities. "We use a variety of strategies to reach students," Indgjerd notes.
"A lot of these kids come in feeling they can't succeed," says Lively. "If you think a kid can't do it, they won't." The whole staff, she reports, "buys into the idea of high expectations and the belief that every one of these kids can succeed."
But to set the stage for success, teachers must take into account the special needs of these students. Safety is a big concern. Beyond the conflict, insecurity, and even violence that many of these kids encounter at home, the increasing danger in the wider world affects them emotionally, too. "These kids watch a lot of TV," Stueckle observes, "and they saw what happened on 9/11. These children are dealing with a lot."
As Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory points out, children will not be able to attain higher brain function until their basic life needs are met. "Unless they're fed, clothed, and safe," Stueckle says, "they can't learn. So my main concern is helping them to feel safe when they get here. They may not be safe at home or on the bus, but they know that when they get to school, they will be safe and they can learn."
Inevitably, a number of Grant students arrive with behavior problems rooted in anger, fear, and frustration. "These kids are coming from poverty and sometimes scary backgrounds," says Indgjerd. "They haven't had good models" to learn to deal with behavioral issues, "so we developed a schoolwide behavior plan where we teach them the necessary skills."
A few basic rules guide student behavior at Grant. Along with following directions and being where one is supposed to be, students are asked to become "self-managers"—that is, partners in their own learning, accountable for behaving in school and striving to be good students. When students demonstrate that they are effective self-managers (as more than 90 percent do), they earn the coveted self-manager badge and the privilege of qualifying for involvement in special activities. One such activity is Drummers and Dancers, a musical ensemble of third- through sixth-graders who sing, dance, and the play African drums. A longstanding symbol of cultural pride for the community, the group is frequently invited to perform at local, state, and even national events. Activities like this give kids a powerful incentive to stick to the straight and narrow where behavior is concerned.
The thrust of the behavior plan is "more positive than negative," says Indgjerd. "That's especially important for these kids." The idea is to build a system in which students are rewarded for learning new skills and practicing good behavior.
For those students who need extra help dealing with behavioral issues such as anger management, the Solutions Room offers them a place to get advice and counseling, as well as the opportunity to sit down at a "peace table" and work out conflicts with a mediator.
The fact that "all teachers have bought into the consequence procedure" is a good thing, says Stueckle. "This gives children an added sense of security in knowing that one teacher doesn't have a different standard than another."
To better understand their students' needs, a contingent of Grant staff members attended a seminar sponsored by the state education department focused on the ideas presented in the 1998 book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty by the nationally known educator and author Ruby Payne. Back at Grant, the 11 teachers and administrators guided the staff in a study of the book. Payne's book points out the "hidden rules" that govern how different social classes think and interact in society, as well as how this affects behavior in school. She goes on to suggest strategies to bridge the divides.
"It is helpful to understand their frame of reference," Stueckle says of her students and their families. "It makes us more cognizant and more sympathetic." For instance, Stueckle observes that parents don't always show up for conferences. Although the parents may want to be there, they may not show up because of transportation or child-care problems.
Indgjerd shares the anecdote of a student who stopped him in the hallway to tell him about something that had happened at home. Indgjerd listened attentively, but couldn't make much sense of the boy's tale. "The story had no beginning, middle, or end," the principal says.
"Instead, it went in circles." Payne's book caused Indgjerd to suspect there was a cultural reason the boy didn't tell the story in sequence. In many families of poverty, according to Payne, several people typically talk at one time, interrupting each other and adding pieces to a story. The result is a story that progresses in a circular, rather than linear, fashion.
"Anything we can do to understand the families and their situation is critical," says fifth-grade teacher Paul Eide. For example, he says, "some students come in and are very loud and seem to want negative attention. That's characteristic of the poverty class. They learn to be loud because there is so much happening at home that they need to be loud to be heard. Or if a kid comes to school without paper and pencil," he adds, don't make a big deal out of it. Some kids have a really rough home life so they need support in school. They need to feel like everything is going to be OK and that they have a shoulder to lean on."
Teachers at Grant offer their students a great deal of support and positive encouragement. They know that these students need to believe that their teachers care about them and that what they're doing in school has relevance in the world. These messages are especially important to these at-risk children because they may not be getting academic support or encouragement at home.
"The relationship is key," says Lively. She remembers a veteran teacher once advising her, "The first thing is to get them to love you because, if they love you, they'll do anything for you." Sometimes, she says, when a child arrives below grade level at the beginning of the year, "that child has to do more than a year's work during the year. They're not going to do it if they think the teacher doesn't care."
Stueckle says she asks herself, "How do I make them love to be here every day?" The answer, she insists, is to make learning fun and to offer them lots of positive reinforcement. She tells her students, "We're going to work hard, but we're going to have fun." Additionally, she says, "I make sure they feel success." Stueckle makes her way around the room, giving kudos to individual kids who have found the right answer or used the right approach. She also praises them for taking initiative in their learning—for example, consulting the dictionary for spelling or clarification during research on a project.
To ensure that every child learns, Indgjerd says, "we need to look at every child individually and assess each one's needs." As a result, Grant teachers monitor students throughout the school year to gauge where they are on the learning continuum and where they need to go. Assessments, tied to state and district learning goals, are conducted at the beginning and end of the school year from kindergarten through sixth grade. Additionally, teachers conduct classroom-based assessments throughout the year to identify areas of need for both individuals and the class as a whole. These frequent assessments assist the staff in monitoring student progress, measuring instructional effectiveness, and setting goals for improving instruction.
"Even at first grade," Lively says, "kids are at such different levels. It makes my job trickier." To keep track of student progress, Lively tries to meet frequently with each student. Additionally, each child keeps a spiral notebook to record daily notes about his or her reading experience. Lively then reviews the notebooks to see where her students need assistance. "It's difficult to keep track of 22 students," she says, "but that's part of being a good teacher. And these students need and deserve good teachers."
At Grant, staff members employ multiple ways of teaching to be sure they're reaching all students. Teachers like Stueckle make use of recent brain research to differentiate instruction and create learning opportunities for students of varied learning styles. Additionally, all teachers report using a variety of independent and cooperative learning approaches in the classroom.
"Sometimes," Stueckle observes, "students make the biggest strides when they are working together." She shares the story of Khou, an ESL student who spoke Hmong at home and wasn't very comfortable with either English or social interaction in school. "Khou was quiet and withdrawn and shy," Stueckle says. "But working with a partner helped her blossom and become a leader instead of a follower. She's gotten louder, more confident. Now, when she knows the answer, her hand is up high, waving in place. She's feeling good about herself, talking more, laughing." Because many of these kids need help learning social as well as academic skills, group work can offer multiple advantages, Stueckle notes.
Recognizing the importance of literacy skills for their at-risk population, Grant instructors work extremely hard to develop accomplished readers. Indgjerd reports that staff members use "lots of strategies to teach literacy" and are always looking for ways to improve literacy instruction. Particularly helpful, he says, has been a book called Mosaic of Thought by Ellin Keene and Susan Zimmerman, which suggests strategies for teaching reading comprehension. Additionally, the staff is committed to providing early intervention for any student experiencing difficulties.
"A lot of these kids don't come from literate homes," observes Eide. "People aren't sitting down and reading. They don't have that modeling at home." As a result, Eide opens up large blocks of time for reading and writing and tries to help his students "make connections—to themselves, to the world, to other texts. This makes a huge difference," he says, "when it comes to comprehension." In a recent unit, Eide introduced his students to biographies of famous African Americans, pointing out the struggles and achievements of such notables as Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King. He hopes some of his students will feel a connection to these figures, perhaps identifying with their struggles to overcome adversity. Eide attempts to offer his students minority role models other than the professional athletes and musicians that so many children idolize. He hopes to show his students that "reading is the road out" of poverty.
Lively notes that her first-grade students arrive at school with "a lack of oral language. They haven't been given much opportunity to converse," she says, "to talk or be talked to. And in order to understand written language, they have to be masters of oral language." So Lively gives them opportunities to speak in class. Additionally, she says, "many of these kids don't have the life experiences that other kids have. And if you haven't had much experience beyond the four walls of your house or your neighborhood, it's difficult to draw connections to what you're reading." For this reason, Lively plans educational field trips throughout the year—to a children's theater production, for example, or to a fish hatchery, or even to a local pet store. This gives students common experiences to talk and write about. Additionally, it awakens an interest in reading because students return to school anxious to learn more about what they have just seen.
According to Indgjerd and other teachers, much of the credit for Grant's impressive test results in mathematics belongs to one staff member. Karen Yamamoto, a veteran teacher with more than 30 years of experience, was originally enlisted to work with struggling math students on a pull-out basis. When those students' performance rose above other students', people took notice, and she became math specialist for the entire school.
While teachers employ math textbooks aligned with state and district learning goals, they also rely heavily on Yamamoto's approach to teaching math. She moves throughout the building, guiding some teachers in math instruction and team teaching with others. Her traveling show includes a stuffed sidekick, the popular monkey Curious George, and a bag of tricks to help students get a fix on math patterns and find solutions to problems. One such trick, called "Granny Subtract," helps students solve subtraction problems by envisioning a scenario where Curious George needs to travel "x" number of blocks from home to Granny's house. But his mother—a working mom whom the kids can identify with—can only drive him partway. The students have to figure out how many blocks are left to travel to Granny's house—or to the bank two blocks past Granny's or to the grocery store two blocks beyond that. This fun, practical approach "works for students," says Yamamoto. So do her procedures for identifying numeric patterns and solving math problems. Even skeptical teachers have eventually been won over by her approach.
"We start out concrete, often using manipulatives," says Yamamoto, "then go abstract." Additionally, she says, "We try to teach strategies so that students can do problems and self-correct their own work."
Because of Yamamoto's coaching, Stueckle says, "We use the same terminology and concepts throughout the school." This benefits students. "Consistency and collaboration," she says, "have been key to helping students at Grant succeed."
Grant offers a multitude of programs to support students' learning. In fact, the list of extra educational programs and support groups reads something like a Chinese menu with a dizzying array of choices. There is the After-School Homework Center where K-6 students can tackle schoolwork or get tutoring. The Literacy Center provides one-to-one tutoring for second- and third-graders who need help with reading. Lunch Bunch offers students the chance to build their math skills by playing educational computer games in the technology lab at lunchtime. The Technology and
Annual Club allows fifth- and sixth-grade students to receive training in the use of digital cameras, scanners, computers, and software graphics programs. Mentoring programs like Big Brothers Big Sisters offer needy kids additional attention and support. There are ESL, Title I, special education, and Reading Recovery specialists on staff to work with students in need.
"We can't change their home life or their economic status," says Lively, "but we can create an environment to help them succeed." 
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