STAR-BULLETIN Palolo Elementary School is among the 24 public schools on the list for restructuring. Here, fifth-grader Brazen Malong and classmates do some reading with Nancy Hansen-Krening.

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24 failing schools
to revamp

Schools Superintendent Hamamoto
warns that a state takeover
will further strain resources

The state Department of Education identified 24 underperforming public schools yesterday that must submit to "restructuring" under direct state control.

Affected schools Here are the 24 Hawaii public schools targeted for restructuring: Oahu » Central Middle » Dole Middle » Jarrett Middle » Palolo Elementary » Aiea Elementary » Wahiawa Middle » Nanaikapono Elementary » Nanakuli High and Intermediate » Waipahu Intermediate » Waianae Intermediate » Hauula Elementary » Kahaluu Elementary » Waiahole Elementary Big Island » Hilo Intermediate » Keaau Middle » Naalehu Elementary and Intermediate » Pahoa High and Intermediate » Kealakehe Elementary Maui » Hana High and Elementary » Maunaloa Elementary » Molokai High » Molokai Intermediate » Kahului Elementary » Paia Elementary

The move, the state schools superintendent warned, will further stretch education resources.

And more schools could make the list this year if they perform poorly on the annual round of standardized testing in the next few months.

The state takeovers are required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which mandates stiff penalties for schools that persistently fail to achieve federal testing criteria.

All the schools are in high-poverty districts, and many have made major efforts to raise student performance in past months to stave off restructuring. Principals took the news with a mix of disappointment and optimism.

"Maybe it wasn't enough, but we're proud of the gains we've made and the hard work we've been doing," said Palolo Elementary School Principal Ruth Silberstein.

Control over each school's budget, personnel decisions and class instruction will be directed by a regional superintendent -- there are 15 in the state. The superintendents are expected to hire private education service providers for most schools to help devise and execute corrective plans.

In announcing the news to the Board of Education, state Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto said the step will affect already "woefully short" department resources.

Restructuring comes with no additional funds, though the state's roughly 180 high-poverty schools already share about $40 million in additional federal poverty aid.

Board members raised concerns that the additional burden on the superintendents also could hurt nonrestructuring schools as attention is shifted away from them.

Hamamoto said the area superintendents will indeed have to refocus their staffing and resources to address the restructuring efforts, and the state has little extra funding to provide.

"The support we can provide may not be to the extent or degree we would like," she told the board.

School restructuring is the harshest penalty under the federal law, which requires that students achieve steadily rising annual test score requirements in math and reading, known as Adequate Yearly Progress. School administrators are held accountable if those standards are not met.

Any of the 24 schools can have the restructuring called off if they achieve Adequate Yearly Progress in the annual round of state testing this spring. However, that will be difficult for many of the schools because the benchmarks rise this year.

Last year, 30 percent of children had to show proficiency in reading and 10 percent in math to be in compliance with the law. This year, it is 44 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

Several other schools will be safe only if they achieve Adequate Yearly Progress this year. Results will be known in late summer.

Regional superintendents will begin finalizing contracts next week with private education service providers from the mainland because no local providers had a school management program that was comprehensive enough, said Katherine Kawaguchi, deputy schools superintendent.

But Hamamoto told the board that no school would be forced to accept an "off the shelf" plan that is not sensitive to each local community's needs.

The state had been monitoring 56 schools facing possible restructuring after testing poorly in last year's test. The test results were known last fall, but schools were given until recently to show they could reduce the number of nonproficient students by 10 percent.

Many of the 56 schools achieved that goal, and their restructuring was put on hold for this year.

Palolo's Silberstein said the school's efforts in the past few months had raised test scores above the 2004 Adequate Yearly Progress mark, and could have been in compliance on its own with one more year of school.

However, she is optimistic the state's intense new focus on her school will help.

"Any help we can get will keep pushing us forward," she said.

However, it could also trip up momentum at some schools, said Tim Bollinger, vice principal of Wahiawa Middle School, which also will be taken over.

He said the federal act has heightened "awareness" of the need to improve test scores. But it also sets many schools up for failure by requiring that each student subgroup -- ranging from special-education students to non-native English speakers to various ethnic groups -- meets the performance benchmarks.

"It gives you a feeling of failure even though we've improved as a whole and we were motivated to keep improving. In a way (restructuring) can be construed as de-motivating for school staffs," he said.