What is the optimal rate of math or English proficiency for any public school? Public school proficiency arguably shouldn’t be 100 percent. The problem with 100 percent proficiency is the price of collecting those last percentage points. It is, after all a public school, a democratic right and one in which no one is denied admission. To chase those last few percentage points would be prohibitively expensive and would deprive those meeting proficiency from advancing yet further.
Taking the other view however, it really shouldn’t be as low as the Hawaii Department of Education scores for the 2013-2014 school year. Only 18 of 47 schools had 75 percent or more of students proficient in reading, and only three schools had 75 percent or more of students proficient in math.
Below is a chart of middle school scores from of what is being called the bridge assessment, a period of transition from the Hawaii State Assessment (HSA) to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) based test. Horizontal lines have been inserted at the 25%, 50%, and 75% tiers
Data Source: 2013-14 Strive HI Master Data File(.xlsx file) Hawaii Department of Education
The PDF format is attached below.
