Teachers’ union focuses
on educational successesHSTA's leader says graduation
rates and test scores are positive
Fed up with negative publicity, Hawaii State Teachers Association President Roger Takabayashi rallied his members yesterday, declaring it is time "to put to rest the myth that Hawaii's public schools don't work."
"I know Hawaii's children are in good hands," the teachers' union leader told more than 3,500 teachers gathered at Neal Blaisdell Center for Teacher Institute 2003, and then reeled off a list of positive data.
"Hawaii has the fifth-best high school completion rate in the nation," he said. "We have the second-highest percentage of students who continue on to college. The truth is that test scores are improving."
He said SAT verbal scores for Hawaii's college-bound seniors have risen more than twice as fast as the national average over the past decade. Math scores for Hawaii have improved faster than the national average over that period, he said, and are fourth-highest among states with high SAT participation rates.
Those College Board test scores include both public and private school students, but union spokeswoman Danielle Lum said that since the majority of those taking the test in Hawaii are in public schools, the data should reflect a positive trend in the public schools.
It was Takabayashi's first chance to address teachers en masse since he took office in July, and they welcomed his remarks, interrupting him with cheers and applause.
"I get really irritated with this whole thing about putting down public education," said Judy Soares, a sixth-grade teacher at Honowai Elementary School in Waipahu. She added that she was pleasantly surprised to hear the statistics on graduation rates.
Takabayashi was referring to data from the National Center for Education Statistics indicating that Hawaii ranks seventh out of 50 states in its rate of high school completion, and has one of the highest rates of students going on to college.
"The truth is that even though we have some of the largest class sizes in the nation, Hawaii's public schools are where cutting edge, innovative teaching is taking place," he said. "The truth is that even though Hawaii is near the bottom of all states in total tax dollars spent on public education, our schools produce success stories every single day."
Among teachers he singled out for praise was Vaughn Tokashiki of Benjamin Parker Elementary in Kaneohe, one of five finalists chosen from across the country to receive the National Education Association's Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence. The winner will be announced in December.
"I love my kids, I love my job," Tokashiki said during a break, as well-wishers surrounded him. "Within our school, parents are very supportive of teachers. The people who are saying the system's broken are legislators, people who are not in education."
