Fewer Hawaii Schools Meet Annual Progress Goals
UPDATED 7/15/11 4:33 p.m.
Sixty-two percent of Hawaii’s 286 public schools didn’t meet the new, higher federal No Child Left Behind progress requirements, according to a report released Friday.
That’s a dramatic increase from last year, when 49 percent of Hawaii schools fell short.
“We’re sure good things are happening in all our schools, but the law is pretty inflexible,” said Cara Tanimura, director of the Department of Education Systems Accountability Office.
Whether schools meet Adequate Yearly Progress objectives depends on student assessment scores. While the Hawaii State Assessment has low stakes for students, it has high stakes for schools. Schools that don’t meet the goals for two years face state intervention.
UPDATE Still, the number of Hawaii schools eligible for state intervention under federal guidelines went down this year, according to the preliminary report. Fifteen[1] schools that were under sanctions made their way back into good standing.
This even as the number of students required to score “proficient” in reading went up 14 percentage points, while the number required to be proficient in math went up 18 percentage points.
Thanks to the rising progress requirements, now even the good schools are falling behind, said Glenn Hirata, administrator for the System Evaluation and Reporting Section of the Hawaii Department of Education. Many that have never before fallen out of the “Good Standing, Unconditional” category have now moved into “Good Standing, Pending,” which means the next step could be sanctions.
“The (annual measurable objectives) are going so high and the standards are tough enough that even these very good schools that never had any problems before are now for the first time not making it,” Hirata said.
And the objectives will continue to rise until 2014, when schools are expected to show that 100 percent of their students are proficient in math, reading and science.
The principal of one of the only combination intermediate/high schools still in good standing said she knows it’s going to be difficult to keep up with the rising requirements.
“We’re going to celebrate it, but we know the work is just beginning,” said Randianne Porras-Tang, principal of Waialua High and Intermediate School.
Complex Area Superintendent Patricia Park oversees the Waialua complex, among others. It is the only complex statewide in which all the schools remain in unconditional good standing.
“We worked really hard and we’re really happy,” she said, adding that to be fair, the complex has only three schools in it. She also acknowledged that all schools are under the same federal requirements, and unless they change, even Waialua’s schools may eventually end up under sanctions.
She and other educators throughout Hawaii and the nation are raising their voices in a call to amend No Child Left Behind so it better reflects student growth and school improvement.
“We do want everyone to be successful, but 100 percent in anything is not a realistic goal,” she said of the requirements currently scheduled for 2014.
Distribution of schools by status:
Status movement of schools from last year to this year:
