PCF— Education Day, part 2

The next part of our day was comprised by a panel of teachers and administrators from 'Iolani, Kamehameha, and Punahou discussing their respective schools' initiatives related to Private Schools with a Public Purpose. The panelists included:
• Carl Ackerman, Director of Punahou's PUEO program;
• Casey Agena, Director of Punahou Summer School program as well as a director of the PUEO program;
• Tony Lebron, Kamehameha Schools;
• Allison Ishii, Director of the Ka'i program;
• Hope Staab, Director of the Wo International Center;
• Diane Anderson, former Director of Instruction at Punahou, currently working with Academy 21 and Hawaii Association of Independent Schools.

Carl and Casey discussed the PUEO program and how it has 292 students from 50 schools, all on free or reduced lunch and scoring in the 25th-75th percentile on their standardized tests. The goal of this program is to encourage life-long learning and to get all PUEO scholars into college.

Tony spoke of Kamehameha's long-time and long-term commitment to community initiatives based on the Princess' legacy and her school's mission. They currently contribute $88 million for outreach and $104 million on-campus to go along with 36 partners in the community.

The Ka'i Program is modeled after LEAP in Seattle and PUEO in Hawai'i. Right now they have four student mentors working with 13 incoming seventh graders from Jarret Middle School in Palolo Valley, all in the middle range of skills and abilities, living at or below the poverty level. They expect to be working with 73 students when they are at full capacity.

Hope Staab spoke a little bit about the Student Global Leadership Program but since that only features kids from private schools she spoke mostly about the Wo Center's study abroad programs which are open to public school students.

Diane Anderson addressed the need to see the challenges facing schools through different lenses, both strategic and systemic. Schools are constantly changing and we need to keep moving towards inquiry-based, project-based learning to prepare our students for their futures as well as society's.