Through Innovative Efforts, St. Paul Principal Strives to Help Each Child Succeed
On any given day, Hamilton Bell knows exactly where to find each student at University Academies for Boys and Girls at North End Elementary School. As principal, Bell isn’t tracking 310 kids’ every move at the school on St. Paul’s East Side, but he does know where each of them sits in terms of their achievement level, and where he and his staff are helping them go academically.
Using test data to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses is one of the efforts Bell and his staff have made in the past three years as part of a district program to close the achievement gap and help each child succeed at the multiracial/ethnic school.
Test scores indicate that it’s working. In district-wide testing this fall, North End’s science scores increased 23 percent over last year. Math scores were up 17 percent—12 points above the district average. And reading scores went up 8 percent.
From adopting K-3 separate gender instruction and computerized intervention tutoring to inviting Bethel College students to both study and help teach on site, the changes have transformed the school where 93 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Bell and his staff offer positive reinforcement. Signs and bulletin boards promote leadership skills and values. Outside of each classroom are a college pennant and a sign indicating the year of its students’ college graduation.
Switching to separate-gender classrooms has decreased discipline problems and kept students engaged, he said. Although the district initially wanted North End to be an all-boys school, Bell pushed to keep it co-ed to serve the entire neighborhood. “If you have quality programming and kids can walk to school together and feel good about their neighborhood, test scores are higher,” he noted.
Raised in St. Paul himself, Bell learned to relate with people of different backgrounds while busing from his mostly African-American neighborhood to a predominately white parochial school. A Macalester College graduate, he worked in business before entering the education field.
Bell recognizes the importance of helping kids overcome achievement barriers when they’re young because it’s harder to help them change direction later.
Since some students come to school with only survival skills, North End helps them develop academic skills, he said. And to introduce character building values and ideas, the school brings in a variety of speakers. “What we want to do with our students is give them as much exposure as possible so they can understand what they’re seeing.”
Bell is confident North End will continue to narrow the achievement gap — one student at a time.
“We’re growing in the right direction,” he said. “It’s not going to happen overnight but the point is, as long as you show improvement, are you steadily improving? Are you making gains? We are.”
