North Beach Elementary Takes Novel Approach

By Tom Herriman

Marlin DeCamp (left) and Jenny Wooten, in Karen Baer's Spectrum class, write their work on an Alphasmart laptop computer, then transfer it to the PC hard drive.

The program, still in its first month of operation, could make North Beach a magnet school for families attracted by this style of hands-on learning.

As part of the NBC program, students in the third, fourth and fifth grades will write, edit and publish a weekly bulletin for parents, a monthly 4-page newspaper, a school web site and an annual literary magazine.

Principal Nicky Hays says the program permits students to develop and apply skills in every academic area including verbal, writing, reading, math/science, fine arts and technology.

One of the initial goals is to strengthen writing skills. North Beach's writing test scores fell 28 points in the last year, stimulating many parents and teachers to look for new ways to develop writing skills. (Despite the drop, the school is ranked 10th in the city in writing skills.)

Math, science and technology skills will be developed as students sell advertising for their publications, lay out pages, calculate printing costs, scale photos and use computer graphics programs.

Another part of the 3-year plan is for students to produce and sell annual videotape "yearbooks" for each grade.

The school building is unusually well equipped to handle the demands of increased computer use. Parent volunteers wired the entire school last year so that all classrooms are linked on an internal network and also have Internet access.

The North Beach PTA plays a key role in the NBC plan. PTA members logged in 7,000 volunteer hours last year. The organization has 52 committees. The PTA auction last year brought in over $30,000 which is used to support technology and other programs. A PTA technology committee will tutor teachers on computer skills.

Principal Hays is new to North Beach this year. She worked for 15 years as a journalist and returned to an education career in 1981. She has worked or done research in Saipan and Israel. She taught and principled in Spokane Indian Reservation Schools and trained teachers for the Waco, Texas school district. She says she sought her current position because "I wanted to be in a building and be able to work closely with the same teachers and students every day."

Hays said that the school would be looking for resources throughout the community. Before the interview was concluded, The Seattle Press had volunteered to help students develop skills needed in selling advertising.

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