95 state schools may not meet federal standard
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Staff Writer
More than 95 Hawai'i high-poverty schools may be labeled as failing when this spring's standardized test results arrive at the Department of Education in August.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
School officials said yesterday that they anticipate the number of students eligible to transfer out of failing schools and into better ones under a federally mandated program may increase.
Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto and Assistant Superintendent Katherine Kawaguchi discussed options for student transfers at a press conference yesterday.
Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, schools in high poverty areas must maintain adequate academic performance levels or foot the transportation bill for qualified students who choose to go to higher-rated public schools.
The state and federal government already have identified 85 Hawai'i schools that have failed to meet yearly-progress goals in math, reading and attendance for two years. The poorest, lowest-achieving students will be allowed to transfer out of low-achieving schools and into better ones Oct. 28, under the Department of Education's plan.
But when results from the Hawai'i Content and Performance Standards II Statewide Assessment come back to the state in August, the DOE anticipates that more schools may be added to the list of those that have failed to meet academic goals for two years in a row. Alternately, some schools may come off the list of failing schools.
"The number of schools will change," Superintendent Pat Hamamoto said. The DOE will release a new list of so-called failing schools Sept. 20.
Hamamoto also released a new timeline for implementing the No Child Left Behind Act, said the district is setting up a tutoring program for struggling students, and for the first time announced that students in first through 12th grade will be eligible to transfer.
Previously, the DOE had said that only children in fourth, sixth, ninth and 11th grades would be allowed to move this fall. Because students take standardized tests only in grades 3, 5, 8 and 10, the DOE thought those were the only students who could be assessed to determine whether they scored low enough to qualify. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, low-income students with the worst scores on standardized tests qualify to transfer first.
But the federal government said that in the absence of standardized test scores, it will allow Hawai'i to look at student report cards to determine who is performing poorly enough to quality to transfer.
"The federal government has been willing to work with us," Hamamoto said.
None of the schools on Moloka'i meet the federal standards. However, Hawai'i is not required to pay commuting costs between islands.
Tutoring will be offered to students ono Moloka'i instead, and offered to students for whom transferring is not an option.
Schools that have failed to improve for three years in a row will be required to provide private tutoring to their students. The DOE does not yet know how many schools that will apply to this fall when the latest standardized test results arrive.
The DOE will use $3 million for tutoring this year and another $3 million for transporting students from one campus to another. Options include school bus rides, public buses or reimbursing parents the cost of mileage.
DOE officials are looking closely at the Big Island, which has a high number of failing schools and the longest distance to travel to better schools, and wondering how far that $3 million will go. Driving from one side of the Big Island to the other would cost $9,000 a year per student, Hamamoto said.
Details on how parents can apply for student transfers will be announced at a statewide principals' meeting Aug. 9, available in newspaper ads across the state, placed on a Website and published in brochures to be sent to qualifying families.
But Katherine Kawaguchi, the assistant superintendent who has been overseeing compliance with No Child Left Behind, said she hopes parents will consider the effects a mid-year transfer could have on their children. Hawai'i schools run on several different calendars, with the school year starting anywhere from late July to late August. Parents may want to think twice about sending their children from a traditional-calendar school to one in which children may be a month ahead in the curriculum.
"They should make sure they don't provide their children with less than 180 days of school," Kawaguchi said. "That is something for parents to consider."
