On Schools
Something new to test the waters

By Alice Keesing
Advertiser Education Writer

It's one of the quaint facts of Island life that Hawai'i is often several years behind the Mainland when it comes to new trends and ideas.

Hawai'i residents were so primed for Big Macs and fries that by the time the golden arches arrived in 'Aina Haina, there were lines around the block. And local folks thirsted after Coors beer long after it was being gulped down by Mainlanders, placing those who brought back a six-pack of the stuff high on the social totem pole.

Now something else — albeit a little less savory — that has been happening on the Mainland for years is about to debut in the Islands: high-stakes tests for schools.

Notwithstanding the federal government's order for more tests for more kids, the Department of Education is preparing to introduce its own Hawai'i-based test that it says will better gauge what local kids know.

Those test results will be the measuring stick to determine whether students, teachers, parents, principals and administrators are performing. It's a way of guaranteeing accountability — another buzzword that already is a way of life on the Mainland but which Hawai'i is still trying to define.

In the new wave of accountability, states are using high-stakes tests to determine everything from student graduation, to teacher bonuses, to whether schools will be accredited or taken over by the state. The new mantra is that everyone will receive help first, then sanctions if they continue to fall behind.

The groundwork is laid in Hawai'i, but we have one more year before the tests kick in because the first round was derailed by the teachers' strike.

That gives Hawai'i another year to look around and see how the tests have fared on the Mainland. And there's plenty to learn.

As more and more has hinged on the tests, cheating has risen to new levels. And the prime culprits aren't the students — they're the teachers and principals. With their jobs on the line, educators across the nation have been found subtly helping students prepare and take the tests and not-so-subtly changing answers themselves to boost scores.

Many cry that the testing has gone too far. One Florida school pays eighth-graders $50 every time they get a perfect score. Researchers have identified a trend where students are falling ill from test stress. And parents in one New York suburb, who believe the tests are wasting school time, have threatened to keep their children home when the tests are given.

And then there are the scoring errors by the big testing companies, which have proven capable of busting kids' lives apart. More than once, a testing company has made widespread errors on grading that have failed some students who had, in reality, passed the test.

In addition to the emotional turmoil this has sparked in families, many students have had to abandon plans for work or graduate school to go back to summer school to repeat work that they should not have had to do.

Of course there are the success stories to temper all that, and the experts says tests are still a useful tool to guide education improvement. Hawai'i's testing experts have said they are mindful of the Mainland experience. And if we learn from the mistakes, it's one of those times we can be glad of the slow-boat to Hawai'i.

Let Alice Keesing know what's going on at your school. You can reach her by phone, 525-8014, or by e-mail akeesing@honoluluadvertiser.com.