WASHINGTON — Kapa'a middle and high school students on Kaua'i who are working to learn English are improving in greater numbers than before, a Hawai'i school official told a forum here yesterday.

A new pilot program that focuses on developing reading skills has meant that 47 percent of the middle school students and 83 percent of the high school students in the program made progress in learning English in the past school year.

That's up from about 17 percent for the middle school and 29 percent for the high school from the year before, Daniel Hamada, school superintendent of the Kaua'i Complex Area, told the Alliance for Excellent Education in a forum for educators and policymakers.

The pilot program, in its third year at Kapa'a High School and Kapa'a Middle School, has had about 100 students a year participating out of about 1,800 students, Hamada said.

"For the English language learners, when they see success, the positive effects are that you have less behavior problems, less attendance problems, less teacher referral problems," Hamada told the forum's teachers, administrators and others. "On the teacher end, when you see kids making progress, that reinforces what you are doing."

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, a former teacher and principal, said the country should be concerned about low-income and minority students, and those who are learning English, because they lag in achievement and graduation rates.

"Literacy improves achievement in all subjects, including math, science and social studies, because it helps students understand and remember information," Akaka told the forum. "I strongly believe that good instruction for English language learners improves the achievement of all students, not just students who speak English as their second language."

"Working to increase literacy skills is a solution to the problem," said Margarita Calderon, a research scientist and professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She has spent five years so far developing the program, which also is moving into Alaska and New York City for more testing and development.

The program is part of an effort to help the 8 million students in the United States, many newly arrived, in grades 4 through 12 who read well below grade level, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education, a Washington-based education group focused on low-performing secondary school students.

"A lot has been done in reading for the elementary level but no attention has been paid to middle and high school levels," Calderon said.

The program helps teachers of all subjects — from math to social science to biology — develop students' vocabulary, reading skills and comprehension of classroom texts. It focuses on discussion skills, grammar and writing.

Teachers begin by undergoing a 10-day seminar that lays out lesson components, strategies and rationale. They also have ongoing coaching and roundtable discussions to deal with problems.

Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, said students from other countries enrich the educational experience of all students and it's important they do well, not only to pass standardized tests but for their work in later life as researchers, problem solvers, writers and thinkers.

Inouye said his grandparents arrived in Kaua'i 110 years ago from Japan. His grandmother went to work for $7.50 a month and his grandfather earned $12.50 a month as a plantation worker.

"Today, I'm a U.S. senator and it's all because of education," he said.

Reach Dennis Camire at dcamire@gns.gannett.com.