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Public school
SAT scores
again improve

Results of standardized tests
show isle students scoring average
or above in math and reading

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By Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin

HAWAII'S public school students continue to do better on a key standardized test, according to Department of Education officials.

The 2000 Stanford Achievement Test scores, scheduled to be released today, show "some fairly positive results," said Greg Knudsen, department spokesman.

Education officials declined to release further details of this year's test results until today's Board of Education meeting at Konawaena High School. But they did say that about two-thirds of the results showed that students scored average or above on math and reading tests.

This year's test scores are seen as one of several indicators that show a steady improvement in overall student achievement, officials said.

Those indicators include the most recent results from two college entrance examinations, a national writing test as well as better-than-expected student performance on the open-ended reading test in last year's results, said Selvin Chin-Chance, who heads the test development section.

"We're getting the sense with more and more data that something is happening in the system," Chin-Chance said. "It's been fairly consistent, but I'm hoping it's not a quirk."

This year, students in grades 3, 5, 8 and 10 were given a shortened version of the test's ninth edition. As a result, officials cautioned that test results cannot be directly compared to last year's test.

Another reason scores are not directly comparable to last year's test is because different secondary grades -- grades 7 and 9 -- took the test last year, officials said.

Officials gave an abbreviated version this year for a couple of reasons.

WITH state schools Superintendent Paul LeMahieu's focus on standards, the tests that were selected tended to match the standards in the Hawaii Content and Performance Standards, officials said.

Also, schools were requesting less time for testing, Chin-Chance said. "It's less burdensome on schools and students."

While the test is shorter, it does cover the same scope of information as the full-length test, Chin-Chance said. The trade-off, however, is that some details in the longer test are not in the abbreviated one. But Chin-Chance said the importance of any test such as this is that it shows how students here measure up with those in other parts of the country.

"There is a desire to know how well Hawaii students are doing in comparing them to a theoretical norm group," Chin-Chance said. "They have to compete with these other kids for jobs on a national and international scale."

The abbreviated test will be part of the new assessment the state is devising to measure how well standards are being met. That new assessment will be given next year.

This year's results are also being released earlier than usual. The results are usually released in November or December to give education officials time to make sure results are accurate. Because of the earlier release date, statewide results will be given, but school-by-school scores will not be available for two to three weeks.

It is not clear why the results are being released earlier, but Knudsen said it may be a matter of releasing "good news" when it becomes available.