62
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.R. NO.              
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE RESOLUTION
ADOPTING AND ACHIEVING A POLICY GOAL THAT BY THE YEAR 2004 NINETY
   PERCENT OF STUDENTS IN PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS READ AT OR
   ABOVE GRADE LEVEL BY THE END OF THE THIRD GRADE. 



   WHEREAS, reading is the doorway into the information age,
  and schools teach eighty-five percent of curriculum through
  reading; and

   WHEREAS, it is essential for children in public elementary
  schools to get an early start in reading and to read well by
  the end of third grade; and

   WHEREAS, providing elementary schools with a clear and
  visible goal, the assessments to determine students' reading
  level, annual measurements of reading improvement, and by
  creating accountability at each level of the educational system
  will result in a significant increase in the number of children
  reading at or above grade level; and

   WHEREAS, by the third grade, educators can accurately
  predict future academic success or failure based on a student's
  reading ability, and academic failure at middle and high
  schools has been almost always preceded by failure to learn to
  read at or near the grade level; and

   WHEREAS, it is deemed necessary that each student leaving
  the primary grades read well, or it will matter little as to
  what educational reform achieves for each student; and

   WHEREAS, up through third grade, students learn to read,
  and after third grade, they read to learn; now, therefore,

   BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
  Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
  of 2000, that the Office of the Governor, the Department of
  Education, and the Board of Education are requested to adopt
  and achieve the policy goal that by the year 2004 ninety
  percent of Hawaii's students read at or above grade level by
  the end of the third grade; and

 
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                                  H.R. NO.              
                                                        
                                                        

 
   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this goal be achieved at each
  school by:

   (1)  Using classroom-based assessments to annually evaluate
        the reading level of its kindergarten, first, and
        second graders for intervention and remediation,
        commencing in the spring of 2002;

   (2)  Assessing the reading level of its third graders in
        the spring of 2002 and each year thereafter using the
        third-grade assessment for system accountability and
        not for remediation commencing at grade four;

   (3)  Determining its building baseline which shall be its
        actual percentage of students reading at or above
        third-grade level as determined by the third-grade
        reading assessment administered in the spring of 2002;
        and

   (4)  Making equal annual incremental improvement from its
        baseline;

  and

   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that equal annual incremental
  improvement of one-fourth of the reading improvement necessary
  to progress from the building baseline in the spring of 2002 to
  the State reading goal of ninety percent in the spring of 2004
  be calculated and measured on a school by school basis; and

   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the percentage requiring
  improvement be unique to each public school since it is based
  on an individual building baselines; and

   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the levels of system
  accountability and reporting necessary to achieve the reading
  goal include the State, professional associations, principals,
  teachers, public schools, school districts, and parents; and

   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Superintendent: 

   (1)  Report annually to the house and Senate Education
        Committees on the state-wide progress toward the
        reading goal;

 
 
 
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                                  H.R. NO.              
                                                        
                                                        

 
   (2)  Provide progress reports on the third-grade reading
        assessment scores to the public in clear,
        understandable terms on a school, district, and state-
        wide basis, and disclose the number of third graders
        reading at each grade-level equivalent across the
        range from kindergarten through eighth grade;

   (3)  Encourage schools to develop a repertoire of
        instructional approaches, each tailored to different
        student learning styles;

   (4)  Provide information to public schools and school
        districts regarding organizational and instructional
        practices of representative schools that are making or
        exceeding the equal annual incremental improvement
        toward the reading goal; and

   (5)  Discourage a specific instructional approach because
        the standard for evaluating an elementary school on a
        district's reading instruction is determined by the
        annual and incremental growth;

  and

   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Superintendent coordinate
  the activities of relevant professional associations by:

   (1)  Meeting and conferring with each relevant professional
        association regarding voluntary alignment of
        association resources to support the achievement of
        the reading goal; and

   (2)  Annually reporting to the Senate and House Education
        Committees on the efforts of professional associations
        to support the achievement of the reading goal;

  and 

   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each public elementary school
  principal have the primary responsibility within the building
  for providing leadership in reaching the reading goal; and 

   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each third grade teacher
  annually report to the parent or guardian the reading level the
  child as measured by the third grade reading assessment
  commencing June 2002, and each year thereafter in grade level
  equivalents; and

 
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                                  H.R. NO.              
                                                        
                                                        

 
   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each elementary school annually
  report to its community the number, the actual percentage, and
  the adjusted percentage of third grade students reading at or
  above third grade level, and the distribution and range of all
  reading scores in grade level equivalent increments, on the
  third grade reading assessment required by the ninety percent
  accountability; and

   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the reports be submitted to the
  Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of
  each Regular Session; and

   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
  Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Superintendent
  of Education, and the Chair of the Board of Education.



                     OFFERED BY:  ____________________________