Posted on: Thursday, July 15, 2004

Report mixed for state on No Child progress

By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Education Writer

The state Department of Education is on track to meet the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law, but still needs to make sure that teachers get high-quality professional development and that there are policies to salvage failing schools, a national report has found.

The Education Commission of the States, a Denver nonprofit education research group, examined progress nationwide and found that most states have made gains in developing policies to comply with the law.

The law requires that schools make annual progress toward having all students proficient in core subjects by 2014, which has proven a challenge in Hawai'i and across the nation.

Sixty percent of Hawai'i schools failed to make their targets in the 2002-2003 school year and 25 schools are working with intervention teams to avoid sanctions after several years of poor performance. U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai'i, was so concerned about the state's record that he asked for help from the U.S. Department of Education.

Yet the report released yesterday found that the state Department of Education has met or was on track to meet most of 40 key requirements under the law. The requirements range from developing math and reading standards to policies that measure school improvement and teacher quality.

However, researchers said Hawai'i needs to provide more professional development for teachers to meet the law's requirement that teachers in core classes be highly qualified. Hawai'i was among 38 states and the District of Columbia that needed to do more in professional development.

Case, in a letter Tuesday to state schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto, said the DOE has $15.4 million in federal education money that has yet to be spent, including $5.5 million to improve teacher quality. The congressman said the money could revert back to the federal government or be restricted if the DOE does not use the money soon.

The report also found that Hawai'i was among 11 states and the District of Columbia that needed to develop policies to restructure failing schools. The DOE has outlined the possible sanctions for schools that persistently fall behind, including the replacement of school staff, but no school has reached that threshold.

Nationwide, the report found that all states had met or were closer to meeting at least half of the 40 key requirements of the law. But education researchers cautioned that it could take years for the structural foundation schools have created under the law to translate into greater academic achievement by students.

Clayton Fujie, the deputy superintendent of the DOE, said Hawai'i schools are making an intense effort to comply. "We're spending a lot of time trying to meet all of the criteria," he said.

In broader recommendations, the report, developed through a $2 million grant from the federal education department, urged states to embrace the law as a civil-rights issue that could help low-income and minority students who have struggled in public schools. The report also recommended that schools work to build academic growth among all students, not just low-performing students.

The report urged Congress to reassess how annual school progress is determined, perhaps by following students over time, which could provide a more accurate picture of student performance and teacher effectiveness. Hawai'i students are now tested in the third, fifth, eighth and 10th grades. Under the law, states will have to eventually test students in the third through eighth grades and the 10th grade, which would give educators more data.

State Rep. K. Mark Takai, D-34th (Pearl City, Newtown, Royal Summit), who has called for alternative ways to measure school progress, said low-income and special-education students and students just learning English do not always learn at the same pace as other students, yet are held to the same targets under the law.

"It's basically setting up schools for failure," said Takai, who was attending an Education Commission of the States conference in Orlando, Fla., where the report was released.

U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige said the report was encouraging.

"Educators, parents and communities are rolling up their sleeves and doing the hard work of making sure the goals of No Child Left Behind become a reality: that every child — regardless of skin color, spoken accent or street address — receives the best education our great nation can provide," he said.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.