Amid more than 500 complaints from teachers, the Department of Education is going to re-evaluate its new report cards and possibly stop using them in their present form, schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto said yesterday.

"We know there's an urgency here for us to look at this and resolve as much as we can," said Hamamoto after a press conference by the Hawai'i State Teachers Association outlining many concerns teachers have with the cards.

"But we also know there are schools that have completed this successfully and parents are satisfied," added the schools chief.

Hamamoto said the department will work with the union in resolving problems, collecting concerns and trying to give teachers more guidance.

"We need to make an assessment of where we are, what are the issues that are solvable, and what are going to take longer before we make that decision regarding further implementation."

Hamamoto noted that while there was general support for the cards during the two years they were piloted in 10 schools, other issues often don't surface until they're in wider distribution.

The cards are being used in the state's elementary schools for the first time this fall, with plans to implement them in secondary schools already being postponed from 2007 to 2008. But they've been in production for five years, and piloted for two in 10 schools.

DOE officials have not responded to questions about what it cost to develop the cards.

According to Joan Husted, HSTA executive director, some teachers have been so upset, they're considering leaving the Hawai'i school system. Others among the hundreds who called to voice their concerns were in tears, she said.

Union representatives said the failings of the new report cards are affecting everyone from parents and students to teachers and principals, and will be one more reason the state will continue losing teachers every year.

"We have to understand the effect of these ever-increasing demands on the teachers," said Roger Takabayashi, HSTA president. "If not, we will continue losing teachers."

Takabayashi last night asked the Board of Education to postpone further implementation of the new cards at its meeting on Moloka'i. The board took no action because it was not an official agenda item, he said.

Some teachers say they worry about the effect of the new grading system on children.

"Students are unsure of their progress," said Jan Turner, who teaches at Solomon Elementary School at Schofield Barracks, and spoke at the HSTA press conference. "What is adequate? Did I make an A? That's demoralizing to a child."

From New Haven, Conn., Yale University admissions officer Robert P. Jackson cautioned that in any new report card grading system clarity is a primary criteria. Something not easily understood could work against Hawai'i students seeking admission to top Mainland colleges, he said.

"If the system is not clear we're going to have difficulty in how to determine where the kid might fall," Jackson said. "We have to have some sense about how the child is performing. To say ME equals an A or MP equals a B, now that would be a totally different thing. ... If you do that, that's fine."

Hamamoto and the union support the objective of standards-based education and report cards that parallel those objectives.

Teacher Turner agrees. "We want to do it right," she said. "We want the DOE to take it back, use our suggestions and make it workable."

Complaints from teachers include the length of time each card takes to complete, unclear grading terms, lack of training for teachers in what the cards mean, and worries that parents won't understand how their children are doing.

"Teachers have identified these problems," Takabayashi said. "The cards are poorly organized; they create problems for students transferring to schools with letter grades; there's confusion on how to interpret the letters and the General Learner Outcomes; and the time it takes to fill them out is taken away from teaching."

What used to be done in six hours in preparing report cards for a class of 25 students now takes a teacher three days, he said. And although the report cards haven't yet been used in high schools, a typical teacher responsible for 180 students would have 34 pounds of paperwork — a stack 2 feet high — for every quarter's report cards, he said.

Teachers were especially concerned about the lack of definitions for the new letter grades: ME, meets with excellence; MP, meets proficiency; N, approaches proficiency; and U, well below proficiency.

"How can I teach parents and students what this is about if I don't understand it?" said Kim Springer, a fourth-grade teacher at Chiefess Kapi'olani Elementary in Hilo, also speaking at the HSTA press conference.

Springer, a 25-year veteran, said teachers received minimal training, and were told "to meet and figure out what something like 'adequate progress' means to them."

She also said teachers were told they need a "preponderance of evidence" for each grade they give.

"We asked, 'What's a preponderance of evidence?' and no one can tell us," Springer said. She believes the definitions need to be standardized.

However, Hamamoto said the DOE wants the schools to come up with their own definitions.

"We want each school to go through the dialogue of their grading philosophy as a school," Hamamoto said.

As much as the two teachers who participated in the HSTA press conference asked for slowing down the report cards, others feel the department should move forward.

Maunawili Elementary School curriculum coordinator Ronnie Tiffany-Kinder helped test the new cards as a sixth-grade teacher the past two years. She said she had a positive feeling about the new cards even though it took time for her school to feel comfortable with them.

"It's change and it's unfamiliar and that's difficult," she said. "But I believe it's a step in the right direction.

"You're never going to please everyone, but for the most part, there's not a lot of confusion here at the school. In the beginning we felt the pains of change. And I agree we need support and time and training, but I don't believe rescinding the report card is the answer. We need to fix what needs to be fixed and move on."

Parents have mixed reactions.

Eydie Marote, a Big Island parent of a second-grader, said the new report cards don't reflect her child's progress.

"It's very vague," Marote said. "What happens when the students in high school receive this type of report card? How do you achieve a grade point average? How do they apply for college with an 'M?' "

Steve Lee, whose two sons are in one of the pilot elementary schools, also had some criticism.

"The system has taken away the stigma of an 'F' as well as the glory of an 'A,' " Lee said.

Kahalu'u Elementary School principal Amy Arakaki said her parents initially "did ask a lot of questions" after they sent home samples of the new cards.

"They were just kind of shocked not to get A's, B's and C's," Arakaki said. "Now they're saying, 'With the standards I can get more information about what my child knows.' "

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com.