American Samoa government tackles poor student achievement

Transcript

The American Samoa Department of Education is devising a plan to tackle poor student achievement.

The Department's statistics conclude that in the past four academic school years, between 70 and 80 percent of students have failed to reach the basic level in reading and mathematics.

Beverley Tse has more:

The Director of Education, Vaitinasa Dr Salu Hunkin-Finau, says the territory has not seen significant improvements in students' reading and maths abilities for 30 years.

VAITINASA DR SALU HUNKIN-FINAU: And we have spent millions on textbooks and millions in educating our students. And still when we test them on these national tests to compare them with their counterparts, they do not do well.

Dr Hunkin-Finau says underperforming students have had to take remedial courses in reading and mathematics in college. She says part of the problem is the curriculum is not tailored for students whose first language is not English, and she says the instructional language should be Samoan.

VAITINASA DR SALU HUNKIN-FINAU: I believe that the instructional language, the language which we use to teach the children, especially in the early childhood and early elementary school-grade age need to be revisited. And I say this with a passion because I believe we're teaching our children in a language they do not understand.

Dr Hunkin-Finau says she hopes the Fono will amend the local law to allow teachers to use both English and Samoan for instruction. The American Samoa governor, Lolo Matalasi Moliga, a former teacher, says educators have known for a long time there is a big gap in terms of student performance in American Samoa compared with other parts of the United States. But he says this information has never been made public.

LOLO MATALASI MOLIGA: We have never publicised this information for some reasons. I guess we did not want the public to know how our children were performing. But as far as I know the gap is getting to be a bigger and bigger gap in terms of performance.

Lolo Matalasi Moliga says improving student performance requires a collective effort by everyone. The government is now developing a comprehensive strategic plan aimed at raising  student achievement and teacher development. Our correspondent in American Samoa, Monica Miller, says Dr Hunkin-Finau's suggestion of co-mingling Samoan and English may not be widely supported as it's recognised there are other factors affecting the performance levels.

MONICA MILLER: Very interesting comments being made. One of the common comments that have been made is that it's really the teacher quality, that there are teachers who are just not committed to teaching. And because the size of the classrooms in the public school system especially, they're so large that a lot of kids are left behind.

Monica Miller says some critics say students must be taught in English because it will help them keep up with other English speakers in the world. Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga has asked the Department of Education to appoint a task force to look into the best way to use Samoan alongside English.