NK's Wolfle Elementary is trying a more structured Class system

A teacher's strong direction, a quiet classroom and parental involvement

are all intentional features of a new "back-to-basics" educational program in North Kitsap.


by Elena Castaeda


by Bruce Moyer

Sun Staff

Linda Middlebrook teaches with the firmness of a drill sergeant and the kindness of Mary Poppins.

The teacher at David H. Wolfle Elementary in North Kitsap commands her split class of 23 secondand third-graders through a breathless series of activities each day.

"Change one letter of 'has' to make 'was', " she tells the group. "Do it."

They study spelling one minute and writing the next. There's no time for chatting as they head out the door for recess, back in for physical education, followed by a math lesson and, finally, lunch in the cafeteria.

Middlebrook sugars the day with encouraging words, calling the kids "honey," or "sweetie." "Your listening skills were really good today," she commends the class after one lesson.

But there's no mistaking who's boss. When Middlebrook gives her second-graders a math lesson, the third-graders attend to their own studies in relative quiet. They know exactly what's expected of them and they do it with few disruptions.

Middlebrook's strong direction, the structured day and the quiet classroom are all intentional. They're characteristics of North Kitsap's new "structured academics" program, which seeks to give students an old-fashioned, orderly education.

The district started the program this fall fulfilling a request parents made five years ago. Educators at that time were promoting "options" classes, which takes a more freestyle approach to learning.

The philosophy in options, which now boasts six classes, teaches learning as a lifelong process.

Students apply learning to the world around them. They may study Spanish or navigation as a way of learning about language or math. Structured program students, in contrast, would study phonetics before tackling a foreign language.

Enough children signed up to start two structured classes this year ÐMiddlebrook's combined secondand third-grade class and Steven Seffinger's class of fourthand fifth-graders. Both teach at Wolfle Elementary and students are bused in from around the district.

There weren't enough firstand sixth-graders interested to include them in the program, but North Kitsap administrators say they'll expand the program as needed.

Whether the structured classes are better for students than options classes remains to be seen. Two similar programs in Palo Alto, Calif., show the students in the stricter classes do better on standardized tests, while students who graduate from the alternative program develop a love for school.

Any debate that comes out of the two programs may be irrelevant, according to Pat Bennett-Forman, North Kitsap's instructional services director.

"Our feeling is that we should be providing that choice," because kids have different styles of learning, Bennett-Forman said. "Parents are saying they want some say in what happens in school. We're trying to be conscious of our constituents and what they need."

order in the classroom: Fourth-grader Clark Knowles listens as his teacher, Steven Seffinger, helps with a lesson last week in a structured academics classroom at David H. Wolfle Elementary in North Kitsap. The program's goal is to give students an old-fashioned, orderly education.

AT RIGHT: Seffinger helps fifth-grader Brandon Hallum with a math


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