Hawaii fourth-graders highlighted an impressive round of national test scores by students in the state when compared to national averages.
Declines in reading and math scores were prominent across the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a news release from Gov. David Ige's (D-HI) office. The 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results released on Oct. 24 showed that Hawaii fourth-graders performed above the national average in both reading and math. Hawaii eighth-graders also deserve credit for performing at the national level for the first time in reading and only slightly below the national average in math. Hawaii state officials said that the school system's performance is notable, considering the adverse impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on student learning across the state and country.
"The fact that our students held steady on three out of the four NAEP assessments, compared to national drops across the board, speaks to the resilience of our students and the dedication of our educators," Keith Hayashi, Hawaii superintendent of education, said in the news release. "Still, from the NAEP and our own data, we know that our math performance — especially in our middle school grades — continues to lag below our state targets and national levels. As we continue to analyze these and other performance indicators, we are doubling down on our efforts to determine where more support and interventions are needed to improve learning and achievement for all students."
The NAEP is also known as the "The Nation's Report Card," the news release noted. It "is an assessment program of the National Center for Education Statistics that provides comparable results across states on select subjects." The NAEP is given every two years to offer a national sample of fourth- and eighth-graders. Approximately 8,000 public school students in Hawaii took the test this spring. It was the first time the tests were given since 2019.
The NAEP results mirrored the Hawaii State Department of Education's (HDOE) annual Strive HI Performance System results, which were recently disclosed, according to the news release. These results "showed overall gains in academic performance across core subject areas on the Smarter Balanced Assessment" (SBA). The SBA measures whether students are on track for college and career success. Hawaii's proficiency levels in Smarter Balanced English/language arts were the highest among 10 states that reported scores for the 2021-22 school year. Hawaii was near the highest-performing states in math.
"As measured by our state assessments, students' language arts and mathematics proficiency dropped during the pandemic, then improved last year with the return to in-person learning, despite a record number of students being absent," Tammi Oyadomari-Chun, deputy superintendent of strategy for HDOE, said in the news release. "The NAEP and Smarter Balanced Assessment results indicate that our students, for the most part, are performing at the same level as or above their national peers and that the nationwide pandemic impacts have been more severe in many other states."
Recognition of Hawaii's fourth- and eighth-graders is not new. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation in 2016 ranked Hawaii second in the nation "for improvement in fourth- and eighth-grade statewide performance on the NAEP between 2005 and 2015," the news release noted.