EDITORIAL
School test results no reason for panic

The fact that Hawai'i's public school students failed to show improvement on a state educational assessment test is disappointing, surely. But the results should not be taken as a signal that radical change is now required.

In fact, there are several policy proposals likely to arise out of these results that likely would do little to improve things and, in fact, could actually hurt.

A better choice would be to stay the course and make sure that our teachers in the classroom get the support and tools they need.

The first suggestion that will come up is that the test results prove the need for a radical shakeup of school governance. The push for replacement of a single statewide system with local school boards is already gaining momentum; these tests will further fuel that fire.

Now, it may be that changes in governance may improve the efficiency and focus of our school system. In fact, there are efforts under way today to give individual principals more autonomy and authority.

But governance will not directly impact what happens in the classroom and on the test. Let the governance argument proceed, but don't think changing the way things are run will result in dramatic changes in test scores.

A second impulse will be that, in order to get better performance on the tests, we need to convince teachers to teach more directly the things that will be tested. This is the old "teaching to the test" concept, and most educators will tell you it is shortsighted and ultimately a failed way to produce true learning.

After all, the test is a gauge, not a grade.

It is a tool used to determine how well the learning process is going. It is not an end in itself.

A third impulse is to simply make the assessment test easier, and results will automatically improve. Some school districts have gone this route.

That makes no sense at all. Lowering standards to achieve better testing success may make the grownups feel better, but it cheats the kids.