Posted on: Thursday, December 27, 2001

Island Voices
State's education standards are a farce

By Thomas E. Stuart
A teacher from Kailua, Kona

The DOE official who coordinates the "Strategic Plan for Standards-based Reform" (Island Voices, "Education standards gaining," Nov. 27) claims former Superintendent Paul LeMahieu "showed us that standards are not the latest bandwagon project or another flavor-of-the-month program. It's a way of thinking, an attitude, a belief system ... and that once we begin to implement standards, naturally, we need to measure or assess how well we're meeting them, and then be accountable for the results."

Further, this official claims, "Since 1998, we've made progress to implement standards."

How seriously should we take this feel-good pap? Well, let's take a look at it from a teacher's perspective down where the rubber meets the road, shall we? Sitting before me on my classroom desk are a number of DOE publications, all purporting to deal with "standards."

June 1994: Hawai'i State Commission on Performance Standards, sometimes referred to as the Blue Book or HCPS (Hawai'i Content & Performance Standards, a.k.a. "hiccups" in teacherspeak). This gem is typical of the genre — a so-called "performance standard" by which to measure the academic achievement of 7th- and 8th-grade students in the discipline of mathematics: "Create intuitive formulas for finding measurements based on observed patterns and spatial explorations."

Care to guess how many math teachers bothered to use this diaphanous umgawa in planning or presenting a lesson or in testing a student?

But wait! That was BL, Before (bow, scrape) LeMahieu.

The expensively produced and distributed "hiccups" went into the trash can to be replaced in August 1999 by (drum roll) 10 separate content standard booklets — one each for mathematics, science, language arts, social studies, fine arts, world languages, physical education, health, career and life skills, and (whew!) educational technology. In teacherspeak, these little (but no doubt expensively produced and distributed) rainbow-colored content booklets are referred to as "hiccups two," and every teacher got a full set.

That period can be thought of as DL — During LeMahieu — during which some troublemakers asked, "Well, what about discrete performance standards by which to make objective measurement of both student and teacher effectiveness in these content areas so we can have some real accountability all around?"

"Hey, shut up. We'll get to that by and by," was the essence of the well-deserved response to these ungrateful malcontents.

By and by never got here.

Meanwhile, how does one measure performance against this little nugget from that part of "hiccups two" devoted to math: "Students use computational tools and strategies fluently and, when appropriate, use estimation"?

"Hey, you, troublemaker, quit grumbling and look at the benchmark by grade cluster, 'kay?"

Ok, let's look at the grade 6-8 cluster benchmark for that particular content area: "Select and use appropriate strategies for computing with rationals, ratios, exponents, square roots."

But, demands the troublemaker: "Quantitatively define 'use' in this context such that it can be identified and measured." And, he adds, "Shouldn't we measure how well the student 'uses' in some objective, unambiguous fashion? And, since we're at it, who decides whether and how a student's choice is or is not 'appropriate'?"

"Hey, troublemaker, we got plenty folks on staff, working hard putting out all kine books, pamphlets, whatevahs on standards."

Well, yes, I have to admit that's true. Besides hiccups one (BL) and two (DL), I also have staring back at me from my desktop the following crown jewels:

• DL — "Moving from the Blue Book to HCPS II, Making Sense of Standards," July 1999.

• DL — "The Standards Implementation Design (SIDS) System," August 2000.

• And now AL (you can guess what that means): "HCPS II — Teacher's Guide for Interpreting the Hawai'i Content and Performance Standards."

The sheer brazen audacity of this farce gives breathless new meaning to the word "humbug." Not only don't we have any curriculum or any measurable performance standards out of this exalted and lavishly funded state-level DOE, but now we are given directives to implement — followed by guidance to interpret — these nonexistent "standards."

Cotton-candy makers the world over should make a pilgrimage to Honolulu to observe at close range those beavering away in the DOE/Lili'uokalani Building to see how world-class confection can be spun out by the cubic mile from so little substance: easy to swallow, sweet to the taste, nothing to chew and never filling. If we could burn this stuff in automobiles and jet engines, we could tell OPEC to keep their miserable crude oil.

As to the official's claim "Since 1998, we've moved the standards from paperweight to pilgrimage," I suggest that statement could be amended to read:

"Since 1998, we've moved the standards from paperweight to profit" — especially on behalf of those who profit from publishing all this humma humma at the expense of public-school children whose resources have been historically misallocated by an omerta-driven DOE that dares not reveal to the public where more than a billion dollars a year budgeted for education is actually spent.

One can only hope that Sen. Colleen Hanabusa and her committee will not be deterred by the wall of flak now being being thrown up, but will persevere in their determination to get to the bottom of this fiscal snakepit known as the DOE. As they say: "Follow the money."

I continue to believe a federal RICO investigation of both the DOE and the BOE is in order, along with other candidates as they are unmasked.

It's time the kids in public schools (and their parents) got a break.