REVISED 3/1/06
2005-2006 No Child Left Behind - Blue Ribbon Schools Program
U.S. Department of Education
Cover Sheet Type of School: (Check all that apply) X Elementary __ Middle __ High __ K-12 __Charter
Name of Principal Mr. Clayton K. Kaninau
(Specify: Ms., Miss, Mrs., Dr., Mr., Other) (As it should appear in the official records)
Official School Name Nu’uanu Elementary School
(As it should appear in the official records)
School Mailing Address 3055 Puiwa Lane
(If address is P.O. Box, also include street address)
Honolulu HI 96817-1198
City State Zip Code+4 (9 digits total)
County Honolulu State School Code Number* 141
Telephone (808)595-5422 Fax (808)595-5425
Website/URL http://www.nuuanu.k12.hi.us/ E-mail:
I have reviewed the information in this application, including the eligibility requirements on page 2, and certify that to the best of my knowledge all information is accurate.
Date______
(Principal’s Signature)
Name of Superintendent* Ms. Patricia Hamamoto
(Specify: Ms., Miss, Mrs., Dr., Mr., Other)
District Name Hawaii State DOE Tel.(808)586-3310
I have reviewed the information in this application, including the eligibility requirements on page 2, and certify that to the best of my knowledge it is accurate.
Date______(Superintendent’s Signature)
Name of School Board
President/Chairperson Mr. Randall Yee
(Specify: Ms., Miss, Mrs., Dr., Mr., Other)
I have reviewed the information in this package, including the eligibility requirements on page 2, and certify that to the best of my knowledge it is accurate.
Date______
PART I ELIGIBILITY CERTIFICATION
[Include this page in the school’s application as page 2.]
The signatures on the first page of this application certify that each of the statements below concerning the school's eligibility and compliance with U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) requirements is true and correct.
1. The school has some configuration that includes grades K-12. (Schools with one principal, even K-12 schools, must apply as an entire school.)
2. The school has not been in school improvement status or been identified by the state as "persistently dangerous" within the last two years. To meet final eligibility, the school must meet the state’s adequate yearly progress requirement in the 2005-2006 school year.
3. If the school includes grades 7 or higher, it has foreign language as a part of its core curriculum.
4. The school has been in existence for five full years, that is, from at least September 2000 and has not received the 2003, 2004, or 2005 No Child Left Behind – Blue Ribbon Schools Award.
5. The nominated school or district is not refusing the OCR access to information necessary to investigate a civil rights complaint or to conduct a districtwide compliance review.
6. The OCR has not issued a violation letter of findings to the school district concluding that the nominated school or the district as a whole has violated one or more of the civil rights statutes. A violation letter of findings will not be considered outstanding if the OCR has accepted a corrective action plan from the district to remedy the violation.
7. The U.S. Department of Justice does not have a pending suit alleging that the nominated school, or the school district as a whole, has violated one or more of the civil rights statutes or the Constitution's equal protection clause.
8. There are no findings of violations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in a U.S. Department of Education monitoring report that apply to the school or school district in question; or if there are such findings, the state or district has corrected, or agreed to correct, the findings.
PART II DEMOGRAPHIC DATA
All data are the most recent year available.
DISTRICT (Questions 12 not applicable to private schools)
1. Number of schools in the district: 176 Elementary schools
37 Middle schools
N/A Junior high schools
34 High schools
38 Other (Multi-level Schools)
285 TOTAL
2. District Per Pupil Expenditure: $9,337.87
Average State Per Pupil Expenditure: $9,337.87
SCHOOL (To be completed by all schools)
3. Category that best describes the area where the school is located:
[ X ] Urban or large central city
[ ] Suburban school with characteristics typical of an urban area
[ ] Suburban
[ ] Small city or town in a rural area
[ ] Rural
4. 2 Number of years the principal has been in her/his position at this school.
14 If fewer than three years, how long was the previous principal at this school?
5. Number of students as of October 1 enrolled at each grade level or its equivalent in applying school only:
Grade / # of Males / # of Females / Grade Total / Grade / # of Males / # of Females / Grade TotalPreK / N/A / 7 / N/A
K / 26 / 18 / 44 / 8 / N/A
1 / 29 / 25 / 54 / 9 / N/A
2 / 31 / 26 / 57 / 10 / N/A
3 / 24 / 35 / 59 / 11 / N/A
4 / 33 / 29 / 62 / 12 / N/A
5 / 34 / 24 / 58 / Other / N/A
6 / 25 / 16 / 41
TOTAL STUDENTS IN THE APPLYING SCHOOL ® / 375
[Throughout the document, round numbers to avoid decimals.]
6. Racial/ethnic composition of 10 % White
the students in the school: 0 % Black or African American
1 % Hispanic or Latino
89 % Asian/Pacific Islander
0 % American Indian/Alaskan Native
100% Total
Use only the five standard categories in reporting the racial/ethnic composition of the school.
7. Student turnover, or mobility rate, during the past year: 1 %
[This rate should be calculated using the grid below. The answer to (6) is the mobility rate.]
(1) / Number of students who transferred to the school after October 1 until the end of the year. / 3(2) / Number of students who transferred from the school after October 1 until the end of the year. / 1
(3) / Total of all transferred students [sum of rows (1) and (2)] / 4
(4) / Total number of students in the school as of October 1 / 389
(5) / Total transferred students in row (3) divided by total students in row (4) / 0.01
(6) / Amount in row (5) multiplied by 100 / 1
8. Limited English Proficient students in the school: 3 %
13 Total Number Limited English Proficient
Number of languages represented: 3
Specify languages: Chinese, Japanese, Filipino
9. Students eligible for free/reduced-priced meals: 8 %
Total number students who qualify: 31
If this method does not produce an accurate estimate of the percentage of students from lowincome families or the school does not participate in the federallysupported lunch program, specify a more accurate estimate, tell why the school chose it, and explain how it arrived at this estimate.
10. Students receiving special education services: 5 %
17 *Total Number of Students Served
*Includes two students identified as Developmental Delay, a category not listed below.
Indicate below the number of students with disabilities according to conditions designated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Do not add additional categories.
4 Autism ____Orthopedic Impairment
____Deafness 3 Other Health Impaired
____Deaf-Blindness 7 Specific Learning Disability
1 Emotional Disturbance ____Speech or Language Impairment
____Hearing Impairment ____Traumatic Brain Injury
____Mental Retardation ____Visual Impairment Including Blindness
____Multiple Disabilities
11. Indicate number of fulltime and parttime staff members in each of the categories below:
Number of Staff
Full-time Part-Time
Administrator(s) 1 0
Classroom teachers 16 0
Special resource teachers/specialists 7 5
Paraprofessionals 2 2
Support staff 8 2
Total number 34 9
12. Average school student-“classroom teacher” ratio, that is, the number of
students in the school divided by the FTE of classroom teachers: 23:1
13. Show the attendance patterns of teachers and students as a percentage. The student dropout rate is defined by the state. The student drop-off rate is the difference between the number of entering students and the number of exiting students from the same cohort. (From the same cohort, subtract the number of exiting students from the number of entering students; divide that number by the number of entering students; multiply by 100 to get the percentage drop-off rate.) Briefly explain in 100 words or fewer any major discrepancy between the dropout rate and the drop-off rate. Only middle and high schools need to supply dropout rates and only high schools need to supply drop-off rates.
2004-2005 / 2003-2004 / 2002-2003 / 2001-2002 / 2000-2001Daily student attendance / 97% / 97% / 96% / 97% / 97%
Daily teacher attendance / *94% / 97% / 97% / NA / NA
Teacher turnover rate / 16% / 0% / 14% / 10% / 15%
Student dropout rate (middle/high) / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A
Student drop-off rate (high school) / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A
*Reflects attendance of two teachers on maternity leave
PART III SUMMARY
Ua nani ‘o Nu’uanu i ka lau o ke kawelu
Ua Halawai aku la me ka makani nui
/ Beautiful is Nu’uanu with the kawelu grassThere one always meets with the strong wind.
--traditional Hawaiian mele
Approximately two short miles out of downtown Honolulu, a turn off the busy Pali Highway, tucked in a side pocket of lower Nu’uanu Valley, one will find a small learning community, Nu’uanu Elementary School. Its multi-unit, one-story redwood buildings spread out onto a campus made lushly green by the frequent rainfalls of Nu’uanu. The commanding views of the Pacific Ocean with Honolulu Harbor to the south, of the Ko’olau Mountain Range with the Pali summit to the north, serve as reminders of a historical Hawaiian setting. This near-idyllic setting lends itself to the school’s work to achieve its vision, “At Nu’uanu Elementary School, we are Learners for Life” through its mission: to develop and nurture the knowledge, skills and capabilities of all so that we are able to use information wisely, adapt to change and pursue lifelong learning.
The students at Nu’uanu Elementary School give a sense of Hawai’i’s ethnic diversity. The largest ethnic group is Japanese, making up 43% of the student body, with Hawaiian/part-Hawaiian children at 17%, Filipino at 10%, Chinese at 9%. Other ethnic groups making up more than 20% of the school’s population are: Korean, Portuguese, Samoan, and White.
Nu’uanu’s tradition of excellence and high academic achievement has made it attractive to parents in search of a school for their children. Many of them return proud of their alma mater hoping to have their children educated at Nu’uanu. The sense of community, the convenient location for parents working in the metropolitan Honolulu area, students’ grandparents who live in the district and provide child care before and after school, the proximity of foreign language schools, and YMCA/YWCA programs also add to the appeal of Nu’uanu Elementary School. Approximately half of the students live in this community comprised of single dwelling homes, extended family residences, townhouses, and rental units; the remaining students reside out of district. The yearly requests from parents residing out of the attendance area far exceed the student capacity of the school.
Nu’uanu Elementary School is fortunate to have a strong partnership with parents. An example of this partnership is an organization named Aikane o Nu’uanu. This group was founded in 1975 and is made up of parents and faculty. Its work in fundraising and volunteer services has proved invaluable to the school. Fifteen years before the state provided after school care services, the efforts of Aikane o Nu’uanu brought both before and after school care for the children of Nu’uanu Elementary School. Today it continues its work to ensure before school child care for children whose parents have early work hours and a summer program. The success of this partnership is also evidenced by the participation of families at events that Aikane o Nu’uanu sponsors. Annual events include Campus Beautification at least two times a year, the fall fundraisers that have the family participation rate of over 90%, and Family Fun Nite that allows families to work and play together. An important additional, less formal structure of support comes from the reinforcement of the work in classrooms when children go home to families in which education is highly valued and where academic skills are nurtured out of school. This support assists the teachers as they work with each child to develop their strengths and diminish their needs.
The student population as a whole at Nu’uanu Elementary School is one that is academically successful. Given the high levels of achievement of their students, the faculty and staff have engaged in professional development to not only maintain, but also to improve levels of learning at the school; they model their school vision by being learners for life.
PART IV – INDICATORS OF ACADEMIC SUCCESS
1. Assessment Results
As a part of the Hawai’i State Department of Education, Nu’uanu Elementary School participates in the annual Hawai’i State Assessment (HSA). HSA currently assesses student performance in Reading, Mathematics, and Writing. The Writing portion yields achievement data on student ability with regard to five dimensions of writing. The Reading and Math assessments provide norm-referenced and criterion-referenced results. The criterion-referenced results for Reading and Math indicate standards-referenced proficiency attainment and are part of the state’s determination for Adequate Yearly Progress. Additional details on the Hawaii State Assessment are available at http://arch.k12.hi.us./