Posted on: Friday, October 24, 2003

ISLAND VOICES
Look at the bright side of education

By Patricia Hamamoto & Joan Lee Husted
Patricia Hamamoto is the states school superintendent. Joan Lee Husted is the executive director of the HSTA.

We applaud your Oct. 4 editorial "Test scores cause for concern, but not panic," which wisely points out that while we have more work to do, Hawai'i's public schools are getting better.

Recent media coverage on test scores — and how Hawai'i's public schools measure up — might leave some of Hawai'i's residents with the impression that Hawai'i's public schools are in a crisis. This is simply not the case.

While we must be unyielding in our efforts to improve, we must also continue to celebrate all that's right with Hawai'i's public schools:

• Reading scores are up. The proportion of Hawai'i public school fourth-graders who scored at the highest two levels in reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) increased by 24 percent between 1992 and 2002.

• Writing scores are up. The proportion of Hawai'i public school eighth-graders who scored at the highest two levels in writing in the NAEP increased by 20 percent between 1998 and 2002.

• Math scores are up. The proportion of Hawai'i public school eighth-graders who scored at the highest two levels in math increased by 33 percent between 1990 and 2000.

• Hawai'i's public school teachers are some of the best-qualified, highly skilled education professionals anywhere in the nation. We lead the nation — we're at the very top — in the percentage of teachers holding advanced degrees.

It's important to note that we have achieved these education successes often against all odds.

While we "talk" about the need to improve public schools, we have never committed the dollars needed to create a world-class public education system in our island home. We have chronically under-funded public schools and under-supported public school teachers.

Of course, none of us are satisfied with recent test scores. We have a clear plan for how we will improve them, and we're redoubling our efforts to ensure we succeed. We also know our students' performance can — and will — improve when class sizes are reduced, schools are adequately and equitably funded, education professionals receive appropriate salary and benefits, and parental involvement is increased.