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Yokomi Elementary School Educates Fresno ’s Littlest Scientists

Six-year-olds Kellyn and Julissa hunch over a bottle containing a mysterious liquid, examining it with a flashlight. These students at Akira Yokomi Elementary School in Fresno, California, may only be in first grade, but they already understand how to use words like “transparent” and “opaque” to discuss the properties of liquid. Down the hall, sixth grade students dressed in white laboratory coats peer through their goggles into microscopes, type their observations into laptop computers, and project their findings onto interactive whiteboards. With its high-tech classrooms, hands-on curriculum, and intense focus on science and preparing students for success in the 21st century, Yokomi is not an average elementary school.

Yokomi was born out of a clarion call issued in a report on economic development, education, and workforce issues in 2005 by the Fresno County Grand Jury. The report cited the need for Fresno students to receive additional educational opportunities to build technological literacy and practice skills in applied science and technology fields. In August 2005, Yokomi opened in downtown Fresno as a way of answering this call.

Breaking the Cycle of Underachievement

The new, two-story technology-infused building stands out against the backdrop of a community that was identified in 2005 as having the highest concentration of poverty in the United States by the Washington, DC-based nonprofit Brookings Institution. The school currently serves a population of 660 students in kindergarten through sixth grade who are 67 percent Hispanic, 12 percent African American, 12 percent Asian, eight percent white, and less than one percent Filipino, Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Alaska Native. More than 70 percent of Yokomi students are from families who do not speak English as their primary language, and 42 percent are designated as English language learners (ELLs). As a magnet school, Yokomi pulls students from across local districts, but over half live in the low-income neighborhood surrounding the school.

Studies show that certain family risk factors, such as poverty or the language spoken in the home, present challenges to students’ educational achievement and progress. For example, The Condition of Education 2006 from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) revealed that in 2005, fourth grade students in the highest poverty public schools scored lower on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Mathematics Assessment than their peers in the lowest poverty public schools. The same report also showed that the number of school-age children who spoke a language other than English at home and who spoke English with difficulty increased between 1979 and 2004.

With the challenges that face low-income and ELL students in mind, Yokomi works to provide enriching educational opportunities and extra support to students so that regardless of their socio-economic status or native language, all may experience academic success. This approach appears to be paying off since, in its first year of operation, Yokomi met all targets for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), and results from the 2006 California Standard Tests (CSTs) show that fourth grade students are reaching district performance goals in English language arts and surpassing those goals in mathematics.

A Technology-Infused Environment

Yokomi administrators and teachers believe that, with the support of appropriate technology and engaging instruction, all students – from those who may be at risk for academic failure to those who are performing above grade level – can master key concepts in core subjects and perform to high levels. At Yokomi, technology does not mean a row of dusty computers in the back of a classroom with outdated software and slow dial-up modems. Rather, technology means digital projectors, scanners, and wireless slates that are used to enhance the curriculum, provide assistance to students who may need extra help, and get teachers excited about teaching and students passionate about learning.

During a recent visit to Fresno, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement Morgan Brown took a tour of Yokomi and noted, “This is an amazing school to walk into. The concept of integrating technology and science into a school curriculum is not unusual, but it usually does not happen for students until they are in middle or high school.”

Yokomi’s classrooms are equipped with at least one laptop computer, a digital projector, and document cameras. Students in kindergarten through second grade learn basic keyboarding skills on special word-processing laptops, while older students use traditional laptops as learning tools. Additionally, teachers wear wireless microphones that amplify their voices through surround-sound systems so students are able to clearly hear lesson instructions. Possibly the most frequently used piece of classroom equipment is the Smart Board. This interactive whiteboard looks much like a traditional mounted writing surface, but the touch-sensitive display enables teachers and students to access and control computer and multimedia applications, the Internet, CD-ROMs, and DVDs with their fingertips. The Smart Board may be connected to a computer and projector so that it functions as a giant computer screen. Teachers and students can write on the whiteboard with digital “ink” and save their work for future study or review.

Yokomi’s principal, Steve Gonzales, notes, “Every one of our teachers, from kindergarten through sixth grade, has embraced this technology wholeheartedly. And parents say that their children come home from school excited about what they’ve just learned, largely due to the technology-infused lessons.”

Although Yokomi has a technology and science theme, all academic subjects are taught with the same level of rigor, based on state standards. Students participate in English language arts, reading, mathematics, science, history, and social studies, as well as art and music classes. As a matter of fact, music has a special place in the Yokomi curriculum based on research that has indicated a powerful connection between the subject and the development of key cognitive skills. Students engage in a specialized music curriculum that combines the use of musical instruments and computers so that students may make music and observe how it relates to other disciplines, such as mathematics.

Science: The Yokomi Way

Science instruction occurs daily and is designed to improve students’ literacy levels while enhancing their inquiry and problem-solving skills. Students in kindergarten through third grade spend about 70 minutes each day studying and exploring science concepts, and students in fourth through sixth grade spend about 120 minutes working with the subject. For half of this time, students learn in specially designed elementary science laboratories that are fitted with child-sized furniture and equipment. In addition to laboratory work, every day for 45 to 60 minutes, students participate in science-based literacy instruction where they learn key vocabulary terms, read scientific journals and articles, and practice writing. For the first time this year, the school also is instituting the Lego Engineering curriculum so that students may apply skills they learn in science and mathematics to build their own robots.

The overall science curriculum at Yokomi is based on Harcourt Science and the Full Option Science System (FOSS), the latter of which was developed by the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkley. FOSS is a research-based science curriculum for students in kindergarten through eighth grade and an ongoing research project. The project began over 20 years ago, and its development continues to be shaped by advances in the understanding of how children think and learn. The Fresno Unified School District (FUSD) has been implementing FOSS in its classrooms since 1993, with teachers receiving ongoing training.

FOSS has three goals: 1.) to promote scientific literacy by providing all students with science experiences that are grade-level appropriate and that serve as a foundation for more advanced ideas; 2.) to be instructionally efficient by providing teachers with a complete, easy-to-use science program; and 3.) to promote systemic reform by providing real experiences for students that reflect National Science Education Standards.

The FOSS kindergarten through sixth grade program used at Yokomi consists of 26 modules in scientific reasoning and technology, and life , physical , and earth sciences. Twice per year, Yokomi students create science fair projects that are based on one of the FOSS modules they have studied. The inaugural science fair last year focused on physical science using modules such as Solar Energy, Magnetism and Electricity, and Solids and Liquids. As a testament to how dedicated the community and parents are to Yokomi, over 500 family and community members attended the fair.

Microscopes and Computers are Great, but Parents are Key

In fact, the school was created with parents in mind. Parents who work near Yokomi in the downtown area are offered priority in the school’s application and lottery processes so that they are closer to their children and freer to visit the school during the day. Parents also are involved with the daily operations at Yokomi. For example, the School Site Council and English Language Learner Committee, which prepare the budget and programming for the school, are open to families. Also, the Student Study Team (SST), which assists students who may be experiencing academic, behavioral, or emotional issues, has parents actively participate in meetings. Parents interact with resource specialist teachers, classroom teachers, the principal, and often the school psychologist and speech therapist to determine how best to support individual students.

With its strong support network for students and innovative curriculum, Akira Yokomi Elementary School is giving Fresno ’s littlest scientists a strong academic foundation that will assist them in their pursuit of higher education and work in the 21 st century. Yokomi graduates are particularly well prepared to enroll in the science/medical middle and high school choices that FUSD offers, such as Fort Miller Medical Careers Academy , Sequoia Middle, Duncan Polytechnical High School , and the Sunnyside High School Doctors’ Academy (see Innovator, July 18, 2005). A Magnet Schools Assistance Program grant from the Office of Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education helped create Yokomi – the only FUSD elementary school with a science focus, and the most technologically advanced school in Central California.

Note: The featured program is innovative; however, it does not yet have evidence of effectiveness from a rigorous evaluation.

Resources

• Akira Yokomi Elementary School
• Magnet Schools Assistance Program