DoDDS-Pacific/DDESS-Guam Finalist U.S. Senate Youth Program. The Pacific Area is proud to announce that a student from Pusan High School was selected to participate in the U.S. Senate Youth Program. She will receive a $5,000 scholarship and will travel to Washington D.C. Other finalists include students from Kadena High School, Okinawa District; Guam High School representing the Guam District; and Zama High School, in the Japan District. The United States Senate Youth Program is sponsored by the William Hearst Foundation and is open to any high school junior or senior serving in an elected student government or class officer/representative position.

Information Technology Continues to Enhance Education at Every Level. The DoDDS-Pacific/DDESS-Guam Information Technology (IT) Division provides comprehensive technology services and management in support of 26,700 students and 2,500 staff and faculty at 45 schools, four district offices, and the Pacific Area Headquarters. IT personnel manage a technology budget of $4.8 million to ensure all of our schools have industry standard, fully interconnected, campus-wide networks; high-speed dedicated Internet access to all computers on campus; and student, staff, and faculty email, file storage, and application services. Desktop computer systems in our schools incorporate the latest technology and provide students, staff, and faculty with a powerful, multimedia platform in support of the educational process. Through the incorporation of our Standard Software Resource kit for all hardware purchases, we are able to provide a consistent suite of software applications for all systems in our schools.

The Pacific Literacy Project (PLP) meets reading goals establish ed in the CSP.   The primary outcome of the PLP is two-fold:  first, to enhance reading instruction and change current teaching practices across all elementary school classrooms in order to assure best practices that are consistent with the National Reading Panel recommendations; and second, to incorporate an assessment-driven cascade of scientifically validated, developmentally appropriate intervention services for struggling readers based on individually diagnosed needs. At our elementary schools, the PLP will provide classroom teachers and literacy support specialists with in-depth training in instruction, assessment, and techniques for remediation of reading difficulties, delivered by both on-site Literacy Facilitators and professional development specialists from the Pacific Education Division. Through training, resources, and on-site program review, we are also ensuring that our secondary students have access to a strong literature program and are provided the support needed to be proficient readers and writers across all content areas. We anticipate that the training, materials, and resources provided to classroom teachers will positively impact student achievement.

Teacher Training for SAT Readiness Course. DoDDS-Pacific/DDESS-Guam is committed to helping students with post-secondary planning and the college admission process. The "New SAT" will be coming out in early 2005, and our students will be taking it this May for the first time. To ensure that they are ready, we are contracting with College Board to train three educators from every high school - an algebra teacher, a language arts teacher, and a guidance counselor - to conduct a school-based SAT Readiness Program for all interested students. The class will focus on the mathematics and language arts requirements of the SAT, along with an emphasis on the skills needed to do well on the new reasoning test sections. Each school will develop a plan to ensure that students have access to the SAT Readiness class they will offer.