SAMI meets the mark in first semester

Photo by clare jensen

FRESH SUCCESS. SAMI instructor Ralph Harrison with students on an outdoor lesson at Point Defiance Park’s Native Plant Garden in September 2009. A recent update on the new school’s progress to the Tacoma School Board shows high marks for SAMI’s freshman achievement.

Tacoma’s Science and Math Institute (SAMI) is hitting its high academic expectations halfway through its freshman year.

The school opened in September 2009 on the Point Defiance Park campus to 138 freshmen from throughout the city.

It is based on a hands-on, community-oriented learning model established in 2001 by downtown Tacoma’s School of the Arts (SOTA).

SOTA has consistently churned out upwards of a 90 percent graduation rate over the years, compared to the district’s rate of about 60 percent.

SAMI was promised to do the same.

So far, it looks as though the school’s reality is keeping up with its vision.

At the start of the new school’s second semester, all of the now 132 ninth-grade students are on track to move forward and graduate, which means every student passed every class fall semester.

SAMI administrators stress that this group is not a selective sampling of only already high-achieving students predisposed to academic success.

They say the students who attend SAMI proportionally represent the demographics of the district, meaning 45 percent of students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch – a common indicator of poverty in families – compares to the district’s 58 percent.

Twenty-nine percent of students are black, compared to the district’s 23 percent, and eight percent are Hispanic compared to the district’s 14 percent. Close to 11 percent of SAMI students are special needs and in special education, compared to 13 percent in the district.

The hands-on, real-world learning situations for the students are what hook them, and the secure learning community, which includes monthly parent connection groups, and collaborative teaching and reflection, is what keeps the students moving forward, according to teacher Kristin Tinder, who helped start up the SAMI program.

“The students are actively engaged in learning the science. I am amazed at the questions they are asking their teachers. These are 14-year-old kids asking about physics concepts – physics isn’t usually taught until senior year,” Tinder said.

“We are building a community of learners – mini-scientists and mini-mathematicians.”

The middle school to high school transition can be a tricky time for students. Education officials share a common belief that a student’s first few months in high school could determine the success of the rest of their high-school careers.

One of the draws of the SAMI program was that, like SOTA, students would work side-by-side with field experts and community organizations.

So far, SAMI has been a little slow in forming those partnerships, even with the school’s neighbors, the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.

“We want to build a strong, solid partnership in the very beginning,” said SAMI and SOTA Principal John Ketler at a school board meeting Feb. 11.

“We have had a great partnership with Metro Parks, but we are moving slowly with the zoo.”

The school is also working on collaborative partnerships with Tacoma Public Utilities, where the students could help study and monitor water quality, and also with Foss Waterway Seaport.

“We want to work alongside (these organizations) so we’re not duplicating” the work that is already being done, Ketler said.

“As we’re developing these partnerships, it’s really about creating symbiotic relationships.”

A concern among board members was the long-term plan for the school facility.

“I want to see what the plan is,” Board member Jim Dugan said. “To date, I have not seen it.”

Currently, the school is housed in a portable unit complex adjacent to the main entrance of the park, which is expected to accommodate SAMI’s growth over the next school year.

SAMI plans to add about 130 students a year for the next three years, creating a maximum student body of close to 500 on the park property.

“If it’s going to be successful we need to have a facilities plan in place. We can’t just do it year by year,” Board member Kurt Miller said.

The application process for the 2010-11 school year is now open to current Tacoma Public Schools eighth-grade students. Information nights will be held at the following middle schools and times: Meeker, Feb. 23, 6:30-8 p.m.; Jason Lee, March 1, 6:30-8 p.m.; Baker, March 8, 6:30-8 p.m.; Giaudrone, March 9, 6:30-8 p.m.; Hunt, March 15, 6:30-8 p.m. and Point Defiance Park’s Pagoda March 16, 6:30-8 p.m. For more information, go to http://www.tsami.org or call (253) 571-2300.

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