American Samoa – Recent results have shown that American Samoan school students achieve more when taught in their own language.

Results of before and after test scores for students attending A’oga Samoa i Afioaga, or ASIA, in which subjects are taught in the Samoan language, show improvements for all grades, according to data released by education director Vaitinasa Dr Salu Hunkin-Finau.

The A’oga Samoa school model was instigated by the Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa (CCCAS) and was created “to develop and to teach language and language skills”.

The three main subjects are reading, writing and mathematics, all taught in the Samoan language.

Vaitinasa explained that the ASIA programme started in 2014 as a test programme with five centres and total enrolment of 618.

The pre and post tests were not implemented until last year with nine centres, including the Juvenile Detention Centre, and a total enrollment of 1223 students from kindergarten to 12th grade.

For 1st grade, the pre test average scores were at 34 per cent and post test scores were 51 per cent – an increase of about 17 per cent with the use of Samoan language to teach subjects such as writing and reading.

According to the ASIA data, there has been an increase in post tests for all grades. Grades 9-12 had the largest increase of 20 per cent – with 53 per cent for pre test and 73 per cent post test.

Additionally the average score for the pre mathematics test for all levels was 52.49 per cent while the post test scores were 65.1 per cent.

“It’s very promising for students attending ASIA last year,” Vaitinasa said, adding that for 2016, there are now 13 confirmed centres, including the Juvenile Detention Centre and the Boys and Girls Club of American Samoa.

Vaitinasa said that it is the Department of Education’s hope, with the support of the governor and the assembly, that current law will be amended, which currently states that English shall be used as the language of instruction, and Samoan is to be used as clarification.

Instead, the hope is to have the law changed to read, “language of instruction in public school shall be English and Samoan” – or Dual Language.

She said it’s been 30 years since American Samoa has been using English as the language of instruction, and local students taking tests such as the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) regularly score below proficiency.

“This is one of the reasons we reached out to church ministers to improve students scores using Samoan language,” she said.

“Are we doing justice to the kids, especially elementary kids, who need support using the language they understand?” she asked.

She said the ASIA programme is federally funded and students are provided lunch by the department. Additionally, it has been emphasised to church ministers that they cannot teach the church doctrine or their church’s belief, because the students are all from different religious faiths.

“Parents have accepted the programme and students attend it for four hours a day,” she said.

“So it’s been very positive,” she said of the programme, adding that it’s very important that the department partners with parents, church and the community in educating students of American Samoa. She declared, “I am very happy with this partnership.”

She also said that ASIA has a new partner in the form of Toe Afua Mai Matua (TAMM), which is a group made up of senior citizens who will teach Samoan culture, including manners and respect, on Fridays while school subjects are taught Monday through Thursday.

She said members of TAMM “are walking dictionaries, they are walking stories of Samoa, stories from way back when, stories which are not written down.”

She said TAMM can also help students with Samoan songs and dances, and teach students Samoan weaving.

Research shows both in the US and internationally that students achieve higher levels of success in reading and mathematics when they are taught in their first language (in American Samoa’s case the Samoan language) and simultaneously receive instruction about the second language, in this case, English. - The Samoa News