Editorial: Pupils sorely need tutors, catch-up

There’s no question that the COVID-19 pandemic hit Hawaii schools hard. We’re continuing to see the damage.

Academic performance levels for students in the first two quarters of the 2021-22 school year have been released, and they are not reassuring, despite students’ return to the classroom.

The “good news” in Hawaii’s most recent grades report is that the percentage of elementary students with a failing grade in English dropped between quarters — from 23% to 22%. This shouldn’t obscure the news that more than 1 in 5 elementary school students received a failing grade during the assessment period.

In math, the percentage of elementary school students with a failing grade rose from 14% to 16%.

Drill down farther into these statistics, and there is more bad news.

Elementary school students with disabilities showed the most significant decline in academic progress between the first and second quarters. Those with a failing grade in English rose 5 percentage points to 55%, and those with a failing grade in math increased 6 percentage points to 42%.

When broken down by race and ethnicity, the Pacific Islander group lagged the furthest behind; among elementary school students, 39% had a failing grade in English, and 31% in math.

That leaves far too many students at a troubling academic disadvantage.

Given that, it’s time for an “all hands on deck” approach to serving students who need help catching up, this summer and in the coming year.

With the help of federal funding, what Hawaii’s students and families need is targeted academic services to bring students in need back on track; outreach to regain interaction with repeatedly absent students; services to help students and families recover from trauma; and, particularly for the most disadvantaged, one-on-one assistance, as with tutoring.

It’s helpful that summer programs, meals and more will be free this year. Services offered will include counseling and transportation, as the Hawaii Department of Education spelled out when presenting its budget and action plan for summer school to the Board of Education last Thursday.

Students will have access to summer school; school “learning hubs” with courses designed at the school-complex level to meet communities’ needs; specialized student support; accelerated learning; and college, career and community learning, including internships.

The DOE chooses to call education that brings students up to baseline levels “accelerated learning.” Here, advocacy group HawaiiKidsCAN calls for a measurable boost in tutoring, a proven strategy to help individual students. We’d like to see that happen.

Finally, the need is dire to increase attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism, a problem that has only grown worse in the wake of the pandemic.

At the end of the second quarter, 31% of all students and 40% of high-needs students (students who receive special education services, are English learners or are economically disadvantaged) had excessive absences and “were at risk of being chronically absent,” reported the DOE.

In the future, Hayashi and the DOE pledge to provide more support to “reengage students and their families,” with personal outreach, home visits, school-based information sessions and engagement with community partners. We can only emphasize that each and every child missing from the classroom is a lost opportunity.

The DOE must place special emphasis on one-on-one outreach and communication with parents. Creativity, too, in vigorous recruitment of community partners, and leveraging volunteer and private-sector assistance, can make each dollar of funding go further.