Hawaii’s public school
standards get D-minus

By Mary Adamski
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii was given a failing grade for its academic standards in English, history and geography and an overall D-minus in five categories evaluated by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.

The islands' public schools were ranked 27th among the states in mathematics standards, an improvement from being judged 43rd in 1998 by the private research foundation based in Washington, D.C. It was downgraded to No. 30 in science standards after ranking No. 2 in 1998.

The report released yesterday put Hawaii among 21 states labeled "irresponsible states" with "inferior standards, weak accountability." Evaluators said, "Their academic standards -- at least in most subjects -- are vague, vapid and misleading. Their education systems rarely punish (or reward) schools that produce bad or good results."

Greg Knudsen, state Department of Education communications director, said the conservative foundation has "a narrow way of looking at what they think standard reform should be. It uses its own set of criteria that doesn't seem to match anywhere else."

Knudsen pointed out that states that are given high marks for their public education systems by other professional assessors also were lumped in the "irresponsible states" category in the Fordham report. "Connecticut is one of the top performing states so you have to question when states like Connecticut and Iowa are grouped as the worst states. We don't feel good about the low rank, but we are in good company.

"They are entitled to their opinion but it is not one we share. We are among the most aggressive states in pursuing a standard-based system. Some have a head start on us," Knudsen said. "We are in early stages ... we are developing a comprehensive assessment program."

State school Superintendent Paul LeMahieu and Board of Education members could not be reached for comment last night. They were attending a board meeting at Keaau Elementary and Intermediate School on the Big Island. Knudsen said an advance of the report was released last year so yesterday's publication did not come as a surprise

The Fordham Foundation looked at the quality of English standards in 1997, and expanded its research to the five categories in 1998. This year's report looks at standards that are new or have been changed since then, and at school accountability systems. The full report is available at the foundation Website, which is www.edexcellence.net

"Only five states boast both solid academic standards and strong accountability," said the executive summary.