Change urged in judging
school progressThe No Child Left Behind Act requires
"adequate yearly progress" by schools
Most states, including Hawaii, are making good progress toward meeting the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, but the federal law might need fine-tuning to ensure that schools are fairly judged, according to a report released yesterday.
The nonpartisan Education Commission of the States issued a comprehensive report on how the law is working at its National Forum on Education Policy in Orlando, Fla., attended by more than 600 state and national policy-makers from around the country.
The report said that the goals of the 2-year-old law offer "an unprecedented opportunity to raise expectations and significantly narrow achievement gaps." But it called for reassessment of a chief provision of the law: how it judges whether schools are making "adequate yearly progress."
The study found that all but two states and the District of Columbia had met or were on track to meet 75 percent of the law's key requirements for standards, testing and accountability. That is twice as many as last year. Hawaii had met or was on track to meet 90 percent of the requirements.
But that does not mean that most schools in Hawaii -- or elsewhere -- are making "adequate yearly progress" under the federal law. Last year, 60 percent of Hawaii's schools fell short of that goal.
"We're recommending there be an independent analysis of whether the requirements established in the law will get us to where we want to go or whether there is something in the process that's causing more schools to be identified" as low performers, said Kathy Christie, vice president for the ECS Clearing House.
The law calls for every public school student to be proficient in English and math by 2014, and states have set annual targets for progress toward that goal. Subgroups of students, such as the disabled and those not proficient in English, must meet the same benchmarks for the school to be judged as making progress.
The report recommended that the performance of groups of specific students be followed over time, rather than comparing, for example, the test scores of this year's third-graders to those of last year's third-graders.
"In this high-stakes world of testing, when success or failure depends in some cases on one student, it's important to be able to compare apples to apples," said Hawaii Rep. K. Mark Takai (D, Newtown-Pearl City).
Hawaii Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto, who is also attending the conference, said she agrees that the process of judging schools should be re-examined.
Schools that make steady progress toward goals should be recognized for their diligence rather than labeled as failing to meet targets, she said.
"ECS Report to the Nation: State Implementation of the No Child Let Behind Act" draws on a database developed with a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
The Denver-based nonprofit provides policy research and analysis for governors, legislators, state education officials and others.
Isle business leader wins award
Carl Takamura, executive director of the Hawaii Business Roundtable, will receive the 2004 Chairman's Award from the Education Commission of the States tomorrow at its meeting in Orlando, Fla.
"Carl Takamura consistently has devoted much time and energy to helping ECS improve the work it does for state policy-makers," said Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, 2003-2004 chairman of the national group. "I am pleased to recognize his significant contributions."
Takamura has been an ECS commissioner representing Hawaii since 1996 and has served on numerous key committees for the nonprofit group. The nonpartisan, Denver-based organization helps governors, legislators, state education officials and others develop and implement education policy.
Star-Bulletin staff