DOE violating state law
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer
This month as about 55,000 public-school students finish taking their yearly standardized tests, the state Department of Education will officially fall out of line with state law.
Act 197, passed last year by the Legislature, requires standardized testing in grades 3 to 8 and one time in high school.
But the DOE now is giving the tests in only grades 3, 5, 8 and 10.
Although violating Act 197 doesn't carry any consequences or penalties, the violation has become an issue with some business leaders who pushed for the testing law.
Dave Rolf, executive director of the Hawai'i Automobile Dealers Association, said he was disturbed to learn that the public schools haven't started annual testing in all of the required grade levels. "The losers on that thing are the children," he said.
State schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto said the DOE did not receive any money to pay for the additional tests and is concentrating on trying to comply with the federal education law known as the No Child Left Behind Act, which requires districts to test and track student data extensively and to improve student performance.
"We don't disagree with the law," Hamamoto said. "The department was unable to implement that due to the demands of No Child Left Behind. Under No Child Left Behind we have to do annual testing and as we develop the tests, we will give them."
By testing in grades 3, 5, 8 and 10 Hawai'i meets the federal testing requirements, if not the state law.
By the 2005-06 school year, states will be required to test all students on math and reading skills in the third through eighth grades, and at least once in high school.
By 2007-08, schools must add a science test at least once in grades 3-5, grades 6-9 and grades 10-12.
Rep. Roy Takumi, D-36th (Pearl City, Palisades), chairman of the House Education Committee, said when departments receive unfunded mandates from the Legislature they usually look at their budget and decide what to implement.
"I'd be more than willing to look at annual testing and providing the adequate funding for it," Takumi said. "I think it's a good thing, but since we didn't fund it, it's not surprising that they're not doing it."
Michael Heim, director of the DOE's planning and evaluation branch, said the DOE is developing its own standardized tests for each grade level. It does not want to simply purchase so-called "off-the-shelf" tests such as the Stanford Achievement Test for use in grades 4, 6 or 7, he said. Although portions of the Stanford are used in the Hawai'i standardized test to give the state a reference for its student performance against the rest of the nation, the test also includes questions created by Hawai'i educators.
"No Child Left Behind says to test your state standards. We can't do that with only the Stanford," Heim said. "That's why we do the blend."
Heim also said it would cost several hundred thousand dollars to purchase the off-the-shelf tests. "It's an unfunded mandate. If the Legislature had funded that directive, fine. But they didn't," Heim said. "As a consequence, we'll comply, but it will be on our schedule."
Rolf said the department should have been able to find the money for the additional testing, though. "They have $1.62 billion," he said. "What are they doing with that?"
Children in grades 3, 5, 8 and 10 in March started taking a test to judge how well Hawai'i students and campuses are performing in reading, writing and math.
Two of the seven sections come from the Stanford Achievement Test, a nationwide barometer of academic performance, to measure Hawai'i students against the rest of the country.
The Hawai'i test contains mostly open-ended questions instead of multiple-choice answers, and is meant to test children's performance on the state's academic standards.
The DOE is also developing Hawaiian-language tests for students in Hawaiian immersion programs.
Rep. Guy Ontai, R-37th (Mililani, Waipi'o), has asked the DOE for documents about who made the decision not to do the testing in each grade this year and why. "The school system should have the ability to track student progress," he said. "It's just kind of shocking to blatantly ignore the law."
Ontai noted that Act 197 passed the Legislature unanimously. "It wasn't a partisan issue," he said.
Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
