Editorial
State school system confronts new reality

There are any number of reasons why those nationwide state-by-state reports that compare Hawai'i with other jurisdictions must be taken with a grain of salt.

For starters, the reports are almost always based on at least somewhat outdated information. And because Hawai'i's government is so centralized, apple-to-apple comparisons are difficult.

For those reasons and others, the most recent "Quality Counts" report out of the respected national magazine Education Week must be taken in careful context. But to dismiss the report entirely would be a serious mistake.

Hawai'i's worst mark, a D-, came for its progress on standards and accountability.

Effectively, what standards and accountability means is that the education system has a clear, reasonable and focused set of standards for its schools. In the past, Hawai'i's standards have been so generic that they were at once both pointless to follow and impossible to measure.

The system has gone through the throes of revising the standards so they mean something. But by many accounts, they still lack clarity and focus.

It's clearly possible to chase the "standards" rainbow over the cliff. Teachers neither need nor want detailed laundry lists of the specific facts and figures they are supposed to be teaching at any given moment. But unless the standards actually drive classroom teaching, they are worth little.

Accountability is the other half of the standards game, and it is likely that this is where Hawai'i took some heavy licks. Obstacles to true accountability are legion, from union protections for teachers and principals through a management system in which everyone, and thus no one, is in charge.

Local school officials say they are moving steadily to improve standards and step up our system of accountability. They really have no choice.

President Bush yesterday signed his education bill that sets up a nationwide program of standards and accountability. Some doubt there is enough money or muscle in the new law to make a difference, but there is no doubt that it pushes the nation — and Hawai'i — down a specific path.

Local policy-makers have adopted the rhetoric of standards and accountability. It is now obvious they have no choice but to convert that rhetoric to reality.