Report Title:
Education; Promotion Policy
Description:
Requires the department of education to prepare a report assessing the impact of the policy on course completion and promotion rates and the policy's effect on middle school instruction, achievement, and resources.
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
1594 |
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TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO EDUCATION.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the department of education launched a policy in the fall of 2004 that requires students in grades six, seven, and eight to take and pass receiving marks in the core courses -- language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies -- in order to be promoted to the next grade. The aim of this policy is to prepare middle school students for the "academic rigor of high school and beyond" using benchmarks in the Hawaii content and performance standards. This policy effectively shuts down the long-standing and controversial practice of social and age-based based promotions.
The legislature also finds that, while the educational merits of this policy are noteworthy, it is unclear whether this policy also requires additional funding, such as providing extra help to academically struggling and failing middle school students. The purpose of this Act is to require the department of education to evaluate the policy on course completion and promotion rates and the policy's effect on middle school instruction, achievement, and resources.
SECTION 2. The department of education shall conduct a study to evaluate the policy on course completion and promotion rates and the policy's effect on middle school instruction, achievement, and resources. The study shall address, but not be limited to, the following questions:
(1) Under that policy, were more students promoted in 2004-2005 compared to 2003-2004 and earlier?
(2) Which core subjects had the highest promotion rate and the lowest promotion rate and what measures were put in place to help academically struggling and failing students?
(3) Were those measures -- e.g. catch-up courses, double periods, tutoring, inter-session and summer school -- available to all who needed the extra help?
(4) What grade levels had the highest promotion rate and the lowest promotion rate and what effect did the eighth grade promotion rate have on ninth grade course offerings and staffing?
(5) How did students with disabilities and students with limited English proficiency perform academically under this new policy?
(6) Is the middle school being led to fundamentally rethink how the core curriculum is to be organized and taught? If so, what is the likely cost? For example, is a sequence of core courses and credits starting in the sixth grade better suited for preparing middle school students for the academically rigorous ninth grade curriculum, for measuring up to the ever-tougher board of education graduation requirements, and for meeting the requirements of the federal "No Child Left Behind Act"?
SECTION 3. The department of education shall submit to the legislature, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2006, a report detailing the answers to the questions posed by this Act regarding the policy on course completion and promotion rates and providing any other information necessary to assess the policy's effect on middle school instruction, achievement, and resources.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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