HILLIS: AmeriCorps Support Helps Teachers and Students Succeed
The Hillis Elementary Press Corps capture the events of the day.
Hillis Elementary School was the site Friday morning of an ad hoc summit conference on AmeriCorps and the profound impact it’s making in the district. Wendy Spencer, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), Iowa Congressman Tom Latham, and Governor Terry Branstad were the big names on campus but they were all there to see the real VIPs in action: the Hillis students and the Americorps troops that serve them.
AmeriCorps is commonly referred to as the domestic Peace Corps. Those who sign up perform a wide range of community service all across the United States in exchange for a modest stipend. CNCS is the federal entity that distributes AmeriCorps funding and provides oversight to all of the state commissions in the country, including the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service. In DMPS, Eric Whitney is the district’s Volunteer Liaison and coordinates the AmeriCorps effort here. Picking the right people is critical since there are nearly 600,000 applications nationally for only about 80,000 positions that are currently funded, according to Spencer. The last line of the AmeriCorps pledge reads: “I am an AmeriCorps member and I will get things done.” And they do!
Hillis is one of nine DMPS elementary programs benefitting from AmeriCorps staff assigned to alleviate problems associated with growing ELL populations and large class sizes by serving as adjunct teacher/mentors. The others are Cowles Montessori, Downtown School, Hanawalt, Hubbell, Jefferson, Phillips Traditional, Pleasant Hill and Wright. Each is a non-title school which means they do not receive any of the direct federal funding provided for the most at-risk schools even though they are faced with many of the same obstacles to student achievement.
Whitney and Hillis Principal Beth Sloan say AmeriCorps plays a vital role in support of teachers and that’s why they invited the dignitaries to see for themselves. The occasion also provided a chance for Spencer to buttonhole Gov. Branstad and Rep. Latham about the critical need for continued and additional funding support. At one point the threesome literally put themselves in the students’ places as they huddled in kid-sized chairs in front of a floor-to-ceiling bank of glass in the Hillis library with a gorgeous autumn day outside as a backdrop. Spencer stressed to them the cost-effectiveness of AmeriCorps and the fact that there are so many more people, across the spectrum from recent college grads to senior retirees, trying to enlist than there are spots available.
“Our AmeriCorps program is focused on improving the reading performance of elementary students through tutoring provided by members and the support of volunteers recruited and/or managed by them,” said Whitney. “We know that bolstering literacy in the early grades pays off in so many ways later and reduces the pool of potential dropouts.”
Principal Sloan told the visitors that besides the obvious payoff in terms of student achievement data, the involvement of AmeriCorps mentors like retired teacher Judy Tredway (who is on her third term in the ranks) also “nurtures the spirit” of kids in immeasurable ways, boosting their confidence and smoothing out the bumpy process of socialization for the ELL cohort; no small matter in a school where a video looping in the main hallway includes welcome messages spoken in Spanish, Arabic, Bosnian, Kunama, Vietnamese, Swahili, Chin and Dinka besides English.
After touring classrooms where he was recognized as the man whose picture was on the wall, aka, “the boss of Iowa,” Gov. Branstad and the other distinguished guests were grilled by Esther Ubadigbo and the rest of the 5th grade press corps. Then, with the aroma of chicken nuggets wafting from the cafeteria tugging Esther and her fellow Hillis (chow)Hounds back to their routines, he signed autographs for them, a departure from the usual press conference protocol.
It was an exceptional day at Hillis for all concerned.
This story is part of ”Around the District in 180 Days,” a project by the DMPS Community Relations office to share stories about events, programs and people from each and every school in Des Moines during the 2012-13 school year.
Photos of Hillis Visit by Governor Brandstad and Congressman Latham
