Third-grade math teacher Mandy Johnson at RCMA Academy, a Hillsborough County charter school on the grounds of the Beth-El Farmworker Ministry, teaches her students by association of words in songs and motions they do together. This particular song is about “angles,” which is why the students have their hands in various positions. But the most effective song of the year was one Johnson made up called “Not Afraid of the FCAT,” which her students used daily to prepare for their first important state-regulated test. Despite English not being most of these students’ first language, they scored higher than any other Hillsborough County elementary school’s third grade in math. Penny Fletcher photo
Only one school on the West Coast of Florida got better FCAT scores in third-grade math than RCMA Academy in Wimauma, and that was Pine View Academy for Gifted Students in Osprey, which is in southern Sarasota County.
RCMA, or Redlands Christian Migrant Association, took Number 1 in Hillsborough County — with a 97 percent pass rate and many high scores.
Two perfect scores were also earned.
So how could a school on the grounds of a migrant mission, where most of the children speak Spanish as their first language, get better grades than all the other elementary schools in the county?
“They want to learn. They want to be here,” said their math teacher, Mandy Johnson. “I can’t wait to get here in the morning because they literally run into my classroom. They can’t learn fast enough. It’s like watching college students. Students who want to be here because of the love of learning, not because they have to be.”
Because it is a charter school, it can be a lot more flexible, said Principal Mark Haggett. “We can eliminate some of the hoops most of the others have to leap through and get on with it.”
Although the school is flexible in its curriculum and most students are taking part in the English as a Second Language program, the math is the same as in every other Florida public school.
How, then, can students who are having trouble understanding English learn more quickly than those who speak English fluently when the classes are given in English?
Hard work, and dedication of staff and volunteers.
The school operates on the grounds of the Beth-El Farmworker Ministry, with some private support and volunteers, but most of the credit goes to school staff.
While not all the students come from migrant families, most do, said Heather Hanson, the school’s director of professional development and data analysis.
“Most of the families try and arrive before school starts and stay until it is over, but many times that’s not possible because of the crops,” Hanson said. “So students sometimes spend part of the beginning of the year in one school and then come here.”
Once a certain date — usually in mid-October — is passed, students who enter will not have their scores recorded toward the school’s ranking in the FCAT, or Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.
But in RCMA’s case, had one student who came later been allowed to be counted, their school would have ranked 100 percent instead of 97 percent because she did so well, Johnson said.
Two individuals had perfect scores: Monica Reyes-Marcia and Yasmin Hernandez.
“This is a real success story,” said Johnson, who, as the child of a military father, spent nine years of her childhood in Spain and had a tutor in the Spanish language. “Monica gets it easily,” Johnson said. “But Yasmin proved you can work hard even if things are hard for you. She struggled, but attended every Saturday School day (for extra learning and help) because she wanted to do better.”
Getting 100 on the FCAT shows her hard work paid off.
But how could these students even compare to those in a charter school for the gifted in Sarasota County, and excel over all the other elementary schools in Hillsborough County?
There had to be a secret. And there is.
It’s the tremendous enthusiasm of teachers and staff.
For example, office manager Dalia Meza greets visitors at the front desk in a T-shirt she worked with students to design before the test. It says “Our kids are champions and will ROAR through this FCAT.” A roaring lion demonstrates this next to the words.
Success was expected, and they received success in return.
“These kids don’t have computers and Nintendos at home,” said Johnson, their teacher. “Most of them come from families whose parents work hard labor, many in the fields. They love it here. Here they can get on the Internet and the world opens up to them.”
But not without the help of teachers like Johnson.
“Miss Johnson was a second-grade teacher last year,” said Principal Haggett. “I convinced her to move up. She didn’t want to, because of the tremendous pressure the first FCAT puts on students. But she finally accepted the challenge.”
Johnson acknowledges she was uneasy at first. Then she realized all she had to do was make sure her students were meeting the benchmarks. So she checked them every week. “I study my Scriptures every day,” she said, “and I study my benchmarks every week. I have made it a habit.” This way, if she noticed anything lagging, she could catch it immediately.
By continuously checking the benchmarks, she realized her students weren’t only meeting them, they were ahead. So her class finished the third-grade book early and started on the fourth.
Johnson knew that children whose parents often don’t even speak the English language, and can’t help them with their math at home would require unusual kinds of learning experiences.
After all, migrants move around with the crops and their children often spend their off-school hours helping parents — if not in the fields, then watching smaller children, taking care of the house, cooking and doing other chores.
So Johnson began to write what she refers to as limericks. They’re more like songs.
“Every movement is associated with a word, like ‘obtuse’ ’45-degree’ or ‘perpendicular’ when we’re studying angles,” she said, demonstrating by having the class sing and form the angles with their arms and hands.
The class learned the song and hand movements to show the different angles. But there were other songs for other math components.
“I attribute the scores on this FCAT to two things,” said Principal Haggett. “The STAND OUT Math program and the spiral notebooks that keep track of all the terms used in class all year.”
STANDOUT is an acronym that, yes, stands for Students Taking a New Direction Overcoming and Understanding Tests in math. The program taught teachers about the association of principles with songs and hand motions, but Johnson went a step farther by taking it upon herself to write verses, songs and to include motions.
The notebooks are marked from A to Z and every time a word is used in math class, like “perpendicular,” it is recorded under its letter (P) and students can use the glossary to refer to terms all year so they don’t forget.
The school has 210 elementary students and 60 middle-school students. It recruits from Wimauma, Balm, Ruskin, Riverview and Gibsonton.
“We have buses in Wimauma, Ruskin and Balm, but the Riverview and Gibsonton parents must get their children to [school] bus stops because we don’t have bus stops there,” Haggett said.
The first-ever graduation of RCMA’s middle-school students took place June 5 at the Ruskin Elks Club.
The school was chartered in 2010, and has many parent volunteers such as Daisy Kniffin, who has worked in the office and in the classrooms.
“I love to volunteer here. Everyone is so helpful,” she said while putting away books in the third-grade classroom.
Allen Witt, president of South County’s campus of Hillsborough Community College, said he can’t wait to get some of these students in his classes at the college. “These are really bright students who are going somewhere,” Witt said. “Most come from families that are economically disadvantaged, have little history of education, and migrate with the seasons. For them to have scored like this is absolutely astounding. It’s a tremendous accomplishment for all involved.”
