Losing Ground: Longitudinal Trends in Hawai‘i DOE Test Scores for Major Ethnic Groups

Examination of cross-sectional test scores suggests that DOE student performance improves in the elementary years only to deteriorate at the secondary school level. Tables 1 and 2 below report the results for students in grades 3, 6, and 8 in Spring 1998. The percentile rank of the average reading score was 38 for students in grade 3, 47 for students in grade 6, and 40 for students in grade 8. A similar pattern is observed in the math scores. Popular explanations for this pattern include a failure of the public secondary schools, a “brain drain” as public school students move to the private schools for secondary school, and changes stemming from the developmental characteristics of adolescents.