Hawley Environmental: Low-Income Students Achieve Higher Reading and Math Scores

Hawley Environmental Elementary School in Milwaukie, Wisconsin assessed student developmnet over several years and saw steady progress once it instituted and environment-based education program.

Hawley has a student body that represents varied ethnicities: African American, Asian American, Hispanic, Caucasian, and “other.” Some 71% of its students come from lower-income families who qualify for free or reduced price school lunches. Hawley’s students are drawn from throughout the city, under Milwaukee’s School Choice Program. Their names are entered into a lottery to determine which school s/he will attend.

A study by Hope for Urban Education in 1998 found that student achievement at Hawley exceeded the state average two state tests and on nationally normed assessments. First, On the

Wisconsin Reading Comprehension Test in 1998:

Hawley students who passed -- 100%
Milwaukee Public School population --------- 25%

Wisconsin assessment of profciency level in reading and math 1998:

Reading:
Hawley ----------------------------- 83%
Low Income Wisconsin Schools-- 38%
All Wisconsin schools ------------ 69%

Math:
Hawley ---------------------------- 48%
Low Income Wisconsin schools-- 15%
All Wisconsin schools ------------ 52%

See study summary (page 25)