LAHAINA – Happy New Year! First, as we begin 2013, I would like to send a belated congratulations to Jun Wu, seventh grade math teacher, for earning his National Board Teacher Certificate. He was notified in November 2012 that he passed. Mr. Wu is LIS’ first National Board Certified Teacher. You make us proud!

The nomination period for LIS’ Honors Program will open Jan. 28 through Feb. 11. If you want to nominate a student to the Honors Program, please contact your child’s school counselor. In sixth grade, we have Math Honors only. In grades seven and eight, there are honors sections for English-Language Arts, Math, Social Studies and Science. Once a student is nominated, the teachers will complete a matrix. For English-Language Arts and Social Studies, the matrix includes five indicators: HSA Reading, a writing sample, STAR-Reading, the Renzulli (which measures student motivation and self-direction) and the student’s first semester grades. For the Math and Science Matrix, the indicators include a teacher evaluation, HSA-Math, STAR-Math and the student’s first semester math grade. This year, we are adding HSA-Reading to the matrix. When common core standards are implemented in school year 2014-15, reading will increase substantially. Numerical operations will not dominate the curriculum. In future newsletters, I will share examples of test items we are expecting in the new Smarter Balance assessment instrument that will replace the current HSA.

Who can nominate students to be considered for the Honors Program? Parents, peers, community members, educators and the student him/herself. Once all the nominations are received, matrices will be rated. A selection committee will rank students by total accumulated scores on the matrices, and a list will be generated. Parents and students will be notified by letter whether or not they will be included in the Honors Program. A waiting list will be generated for students who don’t make the cut (class size). Students in the Honors Program must maintain a quarterly grade of “C” or better and a year grade of “B” in order to remain in the program.

King Kamehameha III Elementary School and Princess Nahi’ena’ena Elementary School will receive nomination forms prior to the open nomination period. Please contact your child’s teachers or counselors for the forms.

This is an exciting time of the year as we prepare for next school year’s master schedule. We hope to receive an enthusiastic response during the nomination period and look forward to completing this process. If there are questions regarding the process of nomination and/or selection, please feel free to contact our school counselors at 662-3965. IMUA!