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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.C.R. NO. |
247 |
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TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005 |
S.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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RESOLUTION
requesting the hawaii educational policy center to study the report by the education commission of the states and review and evaluate the techniques and testing of the three states with the highest performing schools that meet the no child left behind act of 2001 standards and compare them to the hawaii state assessment test ADMINISTERED by the department of education.
WHEREAS, a recent study by the National Conference of State Legislatures studied the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Act) where the goal of the study was to formulate a comprehensive set of recommendations geared toward improving the Act, making it more workable, more responsive to variations among states, and more effective in improving elementary and secondary education; and
WHEREAS, the initial intent of the Act was to close or dramatically narrow the differences in achievement among American students that cross lines of skin color, ethnicity, immigrant status, and wealth; and
WHEREAS, contrastingly, the Act has created great inequities due to its one-size-fits-all theory that does not take into account Hawaii's unique cultural, social, and geographical characteristics and the structure of the Department of Education; and
WHEREAS, the National Conference of State Legislatures and its task force made a number of recommendations to Congress regarding the Act, including the following:
(1) Create a revitalized state-federal partnership that acknowledges diversity among states and shifts focus from processes and requirements to outcomes and results;
(2) Conduct a study on whether the law is an unfunded mandate;
(3) Provide states much greater flexibility in meeting the objectives of the adequate yearly progress provisions;
(4) Allow states to use multiple measures rather than relying exclusively on standardized tests to evaluate performance;
(5) Reduce the over-identification of failure, and make the adequate yearly progress provisions less prescriptive, rigid, and absolute;
(6) Allow states to decide the order of interventions when a school is identified as being in need of improvement;
(7) Provide states with flexibility in determining the percentage of special education students who can be tested according to their ability, not their grade level;
(8) Allow states to determine the appropriate time to use native-language tests and English-only tests;
(9) Substantially increase federal funding for the law;
(10) Reevaluate the one hundred percent proficiency goal established in the law; and
(11) Reexamine the financial consequences for states that would choose not to participate; and
WHEREAS, twenty-four of Hawaii's public schools have been targeted for managerial and curricular "restructuring" during the 2005-2006 school year; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Education must now, among other things under the Act, assess areas needing improvements, identify and implement an improvement plan, inform parents of affected students, and provide students an option to transfer to another public school; and
WHEREAS, these and other requirements under the Act fail to take into account the difficulties of transferring to other schools for neighbor island residents, pressure on teachers, lack of funding, and community concerns; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, the Senate concurring, that the Hawaii Educational Policy Center is requested to review the report published by the Education Commission of the States, identify the three states with the highest performing schools, review the programs and testing techniques of these three states with the Hawaii State Assessment Testing Program, and compare the programs and testing techniques of the three states and the Hawaii State Assessment Testing Program with the criteria set forth by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is requested to provided funding, in an amount not to exceed $20,000, to the Hawaii Educational Policy Center to conduct this study; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Hawaii Educational Policy Center is requested to report findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2006; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Dean of the University of Hawaii College of Education, the Hawaii Educational Policy Center, the President of the University of Hawaii, the Chairperson of the Board of Education, the Superintendent of Education, and the Department of Education Planning and Evaluation Office, which in turn is requested to forward copies of this measure to each of the principals of all of Hawaii's public schools, and the Hawaii State Teachers Association.
Report Title:
No Child Left Behind; Assessments