Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce

Issue

When it comes to education, states aren’t making the grade. That’s the conclusion of the latest state-by-state assessment of K-12 education systems conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Center for American Progress, a research and educational institute.

The goal of this report was to grade all 50 states on their K-12 school systems in order to identify the areas of school performance needing the most improvement. Here in

Hawaii, the marks were bleak.

Hawaii’s grades in the nine categories assessed were:

Academic Achievement F

Academic Achievement of Low-Income and Minority Students C

Return on Investment F

Truth in Advertising about Student Proficiency B

Rigor of Standards D

Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness F

21^st Century Teaching Force B

Flexibility in Management and Policy B

Data Quality A

In addition, according to the HI DOE 2006 Superintendent’s 17^th Annual Report, 79.2% of students graduated, while 15.7% of the students dropped out from school. In the same year, results from the Hawaii Content & Performance Assessment revealed that only 42.9% of the 10^th graders met or exceeded proficiency in reading and an alarming 18. 5% who met or exceeded proficiency in math.

Position

•Engage in constructive partnerships: support efforts to share and promote ideas, methods, and programs to make businesses more effective local partners in school improvement plans. Teacher, school administrators, parents, business leaders and community leaders must advance a constructive partnership between their communities.

•Apply business practices to the educational system to support standards and accountability that are effective in achieving higher student performance.

Thus the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce supports:

1. Improved education by:

a. Strengthening professional development programs that will enhance recruitment and retention of educators and will result in an increase of skills and knowledge to improve student performance.

b. Reforming pay and performance structures, improving starting salaries and rewarding outstanding teachers.

c. Supporting rigorous statewide performance standards to ensure a graduation diploma carries an appropriate baseline of knowledge. Opposing legislation that weakens a graduation requirement or retreats from accountability for the achievement of rigorous results.

2. More innovation by:

a. Strengthening innovative education models such as small learning communities, early enrollment in college-level courses for credit, youth apprenticeships and internships, charter schools and online learning.

b. Developing and pursuing a comprehensive strategy for assuring that grade promotion in the primary grades results in adequate preparation for secondary level course work.

c. Supporting incentives for schools to utilize technology for curriculum delivery to improve instruction, collaboration and communication as well as accountability and productivity.

3. Efficient Management by:

a. Supporting State and legislative action to modernize data collection and utilization in order to improve accountability and management at the state, district and school site level.

b. Providing more empowerment to principals to manage budgets and personnel decisions, and to facilitate a safe, productive learning environment for all students.

c. Identifying appropriate expenditure of monies at all levels.