Report Title:

DOE; Effective Research-Based Reading; Grades K-3

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, reading is a cornerstone of learning and essential to the success in school of every child; and

WHEREAS, students who experience reading problems by grade one will have them for the rest of their school career unless there is a skillful teacher who has mastered beginning reading strategies; and

WHEREAS, students who are unable to read will be unable to successfully attain the Hawaii Content and Performance Standards; and

WHEREAS, students who experience reading problems are more likely to become school drop-outs; and

WHEREAS, the 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Report ranks Hawaii last among all states in reading proficiency; and

WHEREAS, the 1998 Report indicates that fifty-five per cent of sampled fourth grade students in Hawaii receive a report of "Below Basic" in reading proficiency; and

WHEREAS, two recent national reports, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (National Reading Council, 1998) and Teaching Children to Read (National Reading Panel, 1999) clearly recommend research-based beginning reading strategies which have been proven to work with all students, including those who are struggling and the strategies include phonemic awareness, alphabetic understanding, and automaticity with the code; and

WHEREAS, it is essential that teachers at the elementary level be prepared to teach every child to read, because test scores show that there are many youngsters in the public schools who are below average in reading; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Education has begun to prepare every child to read through its Reading Challenge, Class Size Reduction, and Pihana Na Mama reading efforts; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Education is requested to provide the most effective research-based reading instruction for all children in grades kindergarten through third grade; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Superintendent and to the Chairperson of the Board of Education.