State still ranks low in testing students

Advertiser Staff and News Services

WASHINGTON — A study of public school tests nationally has found that Hawai'i is still among the worst in the nation when it comes to giving standardized tests, but has shown some improvement over last year's next-to-last showing.

The survey released yesterday by the Princeton Review, a test-preparation company, found that larger or more-populated states have created better education monitoring standards than smaller states that operate with limited budgets.

It suggested that smaller states such as Hawai'i raise their standards by pooling their resources.

The survey ranked New York as the best test-giver in the nation, followed by Massachusetts and Texas.

The bottom of the list is dominated by smaller or less-populated states that buy tests from companies rather than create their own systems. Montana was ranked 50th, below Rhode Island and South Dakota. Hawai'i ranked 43rd.

Greg Knudsen, spokesman for the state Department of Education, said officials had not seen the study yet. He noted that the department disagreed with last year's listing of Hawai'i near the bottom because the poor grade was given despite Princeton Review listing a lack of information available from Hawai'i for many of the categories.

"You have to take these things with a grain of salt because they are in the business of selling tests and we have not been their favorite customer in the past," Knudsen said.

Hawai'i has been working for several years to create its own testing program as a key part of the standards and accountability movement — essentially testing students on statewide academic goals. The rigorous tests were given for the first time last year.

Princeton Review vice president Steven Hodas said the annual study called "Testing the Testers 2003" generally gave high marks to states that consider test results as part of a wide list of criteria, and those that conduct open processes that allow parents to review the tests afterward.

The study also found, however, that many still lag in reporting results quickly back to students, parents and teachers, and some do not allow public scrutiny of the process in the interest of year-to-year improvement.

He acknowledged that many small states start with a competitive disadvantage under The Princeton Review's ranking system because, lacking the money to create their own testing programs, they buy tests from private contractors.

Nationally, Hodas said, statewide testing "is still in the primitive ... knives and bear-skins stage" but said mandatory testing is important to raising standards.

"You can't improve what you can't measure," Hodas said.