PRIDE: They know what it means

Pride is everywhere at Hudtloff Middle School. It’s stuck to the Lakewood school’s walls – both literally and figuratively.

PRIDE – in all caps – pops up on posters advertising the school motto. It’s evident in the student art and other work that hangs on hallway bulletin boards in every classroom corridor.

And it’s on the lips of Hudtloff students. Ask any of them what PRIDE stands for, and they’ll spout off: Personal Responsibility In Developing Excellence.

Ask them to define it, and you might be pleasantly surprised.

“It means keeping on top of your work, and having respect for others,” says sixth-grader Jayson Fatur.

“Personal responsibility is a big thing,” says eighth-grader Emily Eberlein. “You think of it as getting your work done on time and not procrastinating.”

“It’s the personal part,” says eighth-grader Heather Acord, the school’s student body president. “It’s not just the teachers – you need to grow up now and start taking care of your own actions.”

These days, Hudtloff has another reason for pride. In the fall, it was named one of 104 “Great Schools” in the state, an honor bestowed by Phi Delta Kappa, a professional association for educators, and the Redmond-based Center for Educational Effectiveness, which collects educational data designed to help schools improve.

Hudtloff, at 7702 Phillips Road, was one of a dozen Pierce County schools honored for improvements in state test scores.

Hudtloff’s sixth-grade WASL reading scores, for example, have moved from 66.7 percent of students meeting standard in 2006 to 77.6 percent in 2009. Seventh-grade reading scores moved from 59.9 percent in 2006 to 69.6 percent in 2009.

The improvements are more dramatic if earlier years’ results are viewed. In 2003, for example, only 24.2 percent of the school’s seventh-graders met math standards. In 2009, 55.6 percent did.

PRIDE ACTIVITIES

For most kids at Hudtloff, PRIDE has a deeper meaning, and the meaning is fun.

PRIDE days happen twice a quarter on the Clover Park School District campus. Students who have kept up with their work, and who have a C-minus or higher grade-point average, are rewarded with 90 minutes of games, movies, computer time, sports, arts and crafts, and karaoke. They get to choose which activities they participate in.

“I like PRIDE days because I get to make stuff for my parents,” says sixth-grader Taja Ward. “You get to do fun stuff.”

Students who aren’t passing skip the fun and games on PRIDE day, and instead receive extra help from teachers. In addition, struggling students can be referred by teachers to PRIDE lunch – where they eat and receive help with catching up on assignments – or to an after-school homework club.

Finally, there are PRIDE half-days: At times when teachers conference and most kids get the afternoon off, Hudtloff hires substitute teachers to provide extra help for students who stay back at school.

SUCCESS FOR ALL KIDS

PRIDE is at the top of Principal Moureen David’s agenda. In 2003, her first year at the Hudtloff helm, she attended an education conference that talked about developing a positive school culture.

A former Hudtloff teacher came up with the PRIDE slogan, and soon staff members were developing ideas that tied in to the theme.

David says a belief in success for all kids is “at the center of who I am.”

She knows what low expectations can do to a child. David grew up in poverty in upstate New York, so she understands the circumstances of many of her students. At Hudtloff, 62 percent of the students are poor enough to qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

David, 54, remembers that none of her teachers even expected her to finish high school, much less excel. She said she had no idea she had academic potential until years later when – with the encouragement of her Army officer husband – she enrolled at Tacoma Community College.

“After about a year, I figured out that I could do it,” she says.

And she wants to let students know that they can too.

“A rigorous education is for everyone, not just a few,” she believes.

‘THEY CAN DO THIS’

Bringing her staff on board has sometimes been challenging, she acknowledges. But she credits teachers such as seventh-grade language arts and social studies instructor Kevin Krench with launching what she terms an “epidemic of success.”

By focusing hard on what kids need to know to meet state standards, Krench helped boost his students’ test scores. But the eight-year teaching veteran says he’s not just teaching to the test.

“I’m teaching them to recognize and understand the material, and to strategize about how to conquer the test,” Krench says. For many of his students, he says, just overcoming fear of the test is a big step.

“I get them to realize that they can do this because it’s stuff we do all year long,” he adds.

Even though Hudtloff is improving, David acknowledges that there is much work to be done. But she looks at her school’s accomplishments so far with – yes – pride.

“It was a word to begin with,” she says. “But now it stands for something.”

Debbie Cafazzo: 253-597-8635

debbie.cafazzo@thenewstribune.com