Hawaii’s fourth-graders
gain in U.S. reading test
Fourth-graders in Hawaii's public schools gained ground in a national reading test released yesterday, moving up slightly from their last-place ranking among participating states four years earlier.
However, the test of fourth- and eighth-graders showed Hawaii still lagging the national average in the 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as "The Nation's Report Card."
Fourth-graders in Hawaii had an average score of 208, tying New Mexico to rank 37th out of 43 participating states. In 1998 they scored 200, tied for last place with Louisiana.
Students across the country also improved their performance on last year's test, to 217 from 213, but their four-point gain was just half of Hawaii's.
"This encouraging improvement in reading scores, especially by our fourth-graders, affirms that standards-based learning and our ongoing emphasis on literacy are beginning to produce positive results," said Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto. "I am confident that we are moving in the right direction."
In addition to the average scores, the report card measures how many students are considered to be basic, proficient or advanced readers. A proficient reader is defined as a student who can understand, apply and analyze challenging subject matter.
Under that measure, 21 percent of Hawaii's fourth-graders and 20 percent of its eighth-graders scored at or above proficient, placing it 39th among 43 participating states. Nationally, the figures are 30 percent for fourth-graders and 31 percent for eighth-graders.
Eighth-graders in Hawaii and across the nation showed less progress than the younger students. Hawaii's eighth-grade scores climbed to 252 from 249, while their counterparts nationwide moved up to 263 from 261.
The tests require students to read and respond to various literary and informative texts, using multiple-choice questions and writing their own answers to open-ended questions.
The reading assessments were given to a sample of 270,000 students across the country. Because many states' scores differ only slightly, the ranking of individual states could differ due to margin of error in the samples.
Hawaii had the highest participation rate in the nation in the test, with all selected schools agreeing to participate and test attendance rates high, according to Greg Knudsen, spokesman for the Department of Education.
Both in Hawaii and across the nation, lower-achieving students showed improvement between 1998 and 2002, with fewer scoring below basic levels last year.
Complete test data are available at nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard.
