Charter Schools Score Best and Worst On State Test

By: 
Katherine Poythress, Honolulu Civil Beat

The Hawaii Department of Education revealed today how each school in the state did on the Hawaii State Assessment, an annual standardized test which determines schools' standings against federal benchmarks established by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Feel free to peruse the data yourself, but first some highlights: Charter schools took both top and bottom honors in math, and one takes top honors in reading.

Out of all the students tested — at all the grades in all the schools — third-graders at Lanikai Elementary, a public charter school, received the highest math scores, with 78 percent exceeding the state-established proficiency level.

A charter school also accounted for the lowest math performers. Ninety-three percent of eighth-graders at Kua O Ka La School public charter school fell well below the math proficiency level and another four percent only "approached" proficiency.

In reading, 10th graders at public charter school Education Laboratory outstripped all other students, with 73 percent exceeding proficiency level — 15 percent more than the next-best readers in seventh grade at Voyager School (also a charter school).

Waianae High School's 10th-graders received the highest percentage of reading scores "well below" the proficiency level.

More news about charter schools