Hawaii’s science standards for public school students are inadequate, inconsistent and include errors, according to a report that rated most states’ learning benchmarks for science as "mediocre to awful."
While science standards for Hawaii’s elementary and middle school students are at times "reasonably rigorous," the report said, high school material includes "only rare islands of content floating in a sea of omission, confusion and plain inaccuracy."
The study, released Tuesday by the Fordham Institute, a conservative education policy think tank, gave Hawaii and 16 other states grades of D for the content, rigor, clarity and specificity of their science standards.
Ten states got F’s and 11 states received C’s, while 13 states and the District of Columbia got A’s or B’s for their science learning benchmarks.
Derrick Tsuruda, science educational specialist at the state Department of Education, said the report’s negative review of Hawaii’s standards is discouraging.
"Anybody getting a D on a report card for anything would be disappointed," said Tsuruda, who described standards as the "guide of what students should be able to know and do."
"I think we’re going to have to look at, based on this report, a review of the (science) standards."
The report comes as states, including Hawaii, are looking to beef up science standards and steer more students to high-demand careers in science, technology, engineering and math.
While Hawaii students have shown progress over the past decade in reading and math proficiency, the state has struggled to improve science proficiency.
In 2011 just 22 percent of 10th-grade students tested as proficient in biological science on the Hawaii State Assessment. Some 43 percent of fourth-grade students were proficient in science, down from 49 percent the year before.
Hawaii students also perform poorly in science compared with their mainland peers. Last year the average score for Hawaii eighth-graders on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the "Nation’s Report Card," was lower than that seen in 41 states and higher than only one: Mississippi. The average score for fourth-graders was lower than those in 39 states and also higher than Mississippi. (Hawaii and several other states tied.)
Hawaii has pledged to boost science proficiency and revamp its science standards as part of ongoing education reforms.
The state’s current standards for science were developed in 2005 in partnership with an education research and development corporation. The standards are based in part on frameworks found in other states.
The Fordham report said Hawaii’s science standards begin with "clear, rigorous and grade-appropriate statements" for lower grades.
But with older students the standards fall short.
"The inadequacy of the writers’ knowledge is distressingly evident in high school, when scientific content across nearly all disciplines is rife with misconceptions and errors," the study said. "For physics in particular, the ignorance on display is shameful."
