The state’s top-performing public schools were announced Wednesday by the Department of Education, based on the latest round of results on the school accountability system known as Strive HI.
The program credits schools for improvements in standardized test scores, attendance, graduation and college-going rates, ACT exam scores, and closing the achievement gap between high-needs students and their peers.
(Unlike in past years, schools did not receive a raw score and corresponding ranking — Recognition, Continuous Improvement, Focus or Priority — on Strive HI because the DOE is calling this a “transition year.” It’s likely the state’s accountability system will be revised under provisions of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. Annual Strive HI reports for each school can be found online at hawaiipublicschools.org.)
Statewide results for the Smarter Balanced Assessment were released Tuesday night, showing students overall made slight gains in English language arts and math over the previous year. More than 90,700 students in grades three through eight and 11 took the Common Core-aligned exam in the spring.
Below are Strive HI highlights for regular public schools and charter schools based on data from the 2015-16 school year:
>> The percentage of students meeting or exceeding the achievement standard in English language arts rose
3 percentage points to
51 percent, while overall math proficiency improved to 42 percent from 41 percent the year before.
>> At individual schools, elementary students achieved the highest proficiency levels in both subjects. The highest-achieving schools for language arts were Kaelepulu Elementary (91 percent), Waikiki Elementary (84 percent), Momilani Elementary (83 percent), Mililani Ike Elementary (82 percent) and Lanikai Elementary (81 percent).
>> The top scorers in math were Momilani Elementary (84 percent), Waikiki Elementary (84 percent), Kaelepulu Elementary (83 percent), Noelani Elementary (81 percent) and Lanikai Elementary (80 percent).
>> High school students and students in grades four and eight are tested annually on science using a different exam. Statewide proficiency increased to
43 percent from 41 percent the previous year. Top
performers were again elementary schools, including 100 percent proficiency at Kaelepulu Elementary. Other high-achieving schools were Waikiki Elementary (97 percent), Haleiwa Elementary (96 percent) and Maunawili Elementary (95 percent).
>> Chronic absenteeism in elementary schools edged up last year to 13 percent from 11 percent, reflecting the percentage of students absent 15 days or more. Three elementary schools tied for the lowest absenteeism rate at 2 percent: Nimitz, Mililani Ike and Wilson elementary schools.
>> Attendance, an indicator of student success, was measured at the middle and high school level for the first time this year. Middle and intermediate schools with the lowest chronic absenteeism rates were Innovations Public Charter School (3 percent), Mililani Middle
(3 percent) and Kawananakoa Middle (5 percent). The statewide rate for middle schools was 14 percent.
>> At the high school level, Halau Ku Mana Public Charter School had the lowest chronic absenteeism rate at 4 percent, followed by West Hawaii Explorations Academy at 6 percent and University Laboratory School at
7 percent. The statewide rate was 19 percent.
>> High schools with the highest on-time graduation rate, meanwhile, were University Laboratory School at 100 percent; West Hawaii Explorations Academy, 96 percent; Moanalua High,
96 percent; Kula Kaiapuni O Anuenue, 94 percent; and Radford High, 93 percent. The statewide rate held steady at 82 percent.
>> The number of students enrolling in college within 16 months of graduating also held flat at 62 percent. Schools with the highest college-going rates were University Laboratory School
(96 percent), Kalani High
(84 percent), Kaiser High
(81 percent), Kihei Charter School (78 percent) and Roosevelt High (78 percent).
“We will be taking a close look at our highest-achieving schools and determine best practices that can be implemented in schools that need supports,” schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi said in a statement.
First approved in 2013, the state-developed Strive HI system largely replaced federal mandates under the outdated No Child Left Behind law, which required schools to meet rising reading and math proficiency targets or face sanctions. Although Strive HI was designed to move away from using test scores alone to grade schools, Corey Rosenlee, president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, contends the current system relies too heavily on test scores.
“If you look at our elementary schools, 95 percent of how we measure success is based on this one high-stakes standardized test,” said Rosenlee, whose union represents 13,500 teachers.
Although the DOE no longer mandates tying test scores to teacher evaluations, Rosenlee said because schools are still graded on the scores, teachers are forced to “teach to the test” at the expense of other nontested subjects.
“When we teach to the test and teachers are told what curriculum to teach, you suck the joy out of teaching,” he said. He’s hopeful the state will pursue creating so-called authentic assessments now allowed under the new federal education law.
