STAND. COM. REP. NO. 331

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1267

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 1267 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MATHEMATICS EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to appropriate an unspecified amount for the purchase of mathematics textbooks and other mathematics learning materials; professional development for teachers of mathematics and mathematics coaching; and for the use of assessments to provide appropriate mathematics interventions for individual students.

     The Department of Education and the Hawaii State Teachers Association submitted testimony in support of this measure.

     Your Committee finds that school complexes need textbooks and instructional materials that enable students to achieve proficiency in the Hawaii Content and Performance Standards III Mathematics Benchmarks.  In addition, professional development is critical in teaching teachers how instruction in a standards‑based classroom is different from instruction in the traditional classroom.  Through professional learning opportunities, teachers can learn to be more effective in using formative assessments and data to personalize instruction and interventions for individual students.

     It is your Committee's intent to support an appropriation for mathematics coaches and their training, as well.  Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Adding mathematics coaches and their training to the purposes of the unspecified appropriation; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1267, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1267, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

____________________________

NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair