Posted on: Friday, September 27, 2002

P-16 education system has potential to succeed

Stephen Portch, the former chancellor of the University System of Georgia and a veritable tornado in the area of standards-based education reform, has just visited Honolulu to educate us about the "P-16" Integrated Learning System.

He's talking about creating a seamless public education system from pre-kindergarten through college (hence the name P-16) with student achievement as its top priority.

At least 25 states have implemented some form of a P-16 approach. And Hawai'i is poised to follow suit. Talks between UH officials and the Department of Education are already under way, and there are various community groups working on integration of education from the earliest years to higher education.

From what we've heard, P-16 seeks to improve student achievement by getting kids off to a good start, raising academic standards, conducting appropriate assessments, improving teacher quality and generally smoothing student transitions from one level of learning to the next.

Georgia's P-16 system, launched in 1995, is the nation's oldest. Portch and others who have led the effort have learned what works and what doesn't. Though Portch says mistakes were made, overall the P-16 initiative has been successful in Georgia.

As in Hawai'i, Georgia's public schools ranked low in academic achievement. That ultimately left many businesses with no choice but to recruit employees from out of state. The university system also had a huge number of out-of-state students. But that's turned around.

The average SAT scores have risen from 981 to 1021 and the percentage of incoming students needing remedial courses has nearly halved. Plus, more Georgia kids are going to a university.

We suggest Hawai'i education officials, policy-makers and gubernatorial candidates listen carefully to Portch. Clearly, we must adopt a system that meets Island needs and local capabilities.

But adopting a program such as this would certainly help Hawai'i as it strives to produce a better-educated labor force and get its public education system in line with the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law.