Hawaii’s math teaching deemed ‘unacceptable’

A nonpartisan national council that analyzed the quality of the nation’s math teaching found Hawaii to be one of seven states with an “unacceptable” rating for math education.

This rating from the nonprofit National Council for Teacher Quality was determined with the help of experts like researchers, teacher prep program leaders, and state officials by analyzing five “levers” of state policies regarding educators — including preparation, licensure and support — alongside random standardized testing of students to determine how their math comprehension ranks nationally.

“We know how much teachers matter when it comes to student outcomes, and we know that strong math skills add up to better reading scores, they produce stronger college readiness, and strong math skills eventually help students get access to jobs that earn higher wages,” said NCTQ President Heather Peske. “If we want students across the U.S. and particularly in Hawaii to be successful, then we really need to better prepare and better support elementary teachers to be able to deliver effective math instruction.”

The council found that 23% of Hawaii’s fourth-graders have a “below basic” understanding of math, meaning that over 3,000 students statewide are likely unable to add and subtract multidigit whole numbers, fractions and decimals.

“We say that math skills progress vertically, (meaning) they build on one another,” Peske said of why their analysis focuses on elementary school math education. “If students don’t get that foundation in the early grades, they struggle to catch up in the middle and high school years.”

This result comes from the National Assessment of Educational Progress test given to a randomly selected sample of fourth-graders to test their comprehension and abilities in subjects like reading and math to understand the effectiveness of statewide education.

Often called the Nation’s Report Card, NAEP testing was the same barometer by which the Hawaii Department of Education determined in late January that the state’s fourth-graders had shown an improvement in math. Their determination of improvement was based on a two-point increase in the state’s averaged NAEP test results from 2022 to 2024.

Hawaii’s average scores in fourth-grade math were above the national average by two points in both 2022 and 2024, according to the DOE announcement of NAEP scores in January.

“The upward trend in Hawaii’s fourth-grade math scores is an encouraging sign of resilience and instructional effectiveness,” Superintendent Keith Hayashi said in late January. “Given the national context, where most states saw little or no improvement, Hawaii’s ability to sustain and even surpass pre-pandemic performance levels is particularly significant.”

Peske said the NCTQ analysis found a deeper need for concrete policy changes that will elevate the effectiveness of teaching elementary math by filling gaps in teacher preparedness.

The five levers of teacher preparedness studied in the analysis include detailed set math standards for teacher preparation programs, consistent reviews of such programs to ensure effectiveness, the adoption of a strong elementary math licensure test, the requirement of districts to select high-quality math curricula and support skillful implementation, and ongoing support for teachers to sustain effective math instruction, the report states.

The analysis found Hawaii to be “unacceptable” for four out of the five levers, and a slightly better rating of “weak’” on the lever regarding high-quality curricula and implementation. The NCTQ also graded five Hawaii universities in their education of math teachers, with the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s graduate program receiving the highest grade of B as the other four institutions received three C’s and one D.

“Hawaii earned an ‘unacceptable’ rating, and what that means is that the state has little to no policies in place across those five policy levers. So, there’s much more that Hawaii can do,” Peske said of NCTQ findings.

Arizona, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska and New Hampshire joined Hawaii in being deemed “unacceptable” by NCTQ.

The NCTQ outlined 16 actions that will produce more effective teachers, and Hawaii was found to be effective in on only three of those actions and partially on a fourth. Therefore, Peske said, the state can elevate its educator quality by executing more of the recommended actions like the quality of teacher licensure tests, which she called “guard rails” to ensure effective teachers are providing elementary math education.

The NCTQ found that of the two elementary math license tests the state’s single school district uses to hire teachers, only one was found to be acceptable while the other was weak, meaning it “hasn’t addressed at least half of all the important math content topics and it also combines math with other subjects … so it’s unclear if they actually have the content knowledge they need once they get into the classrooms to be effective.”

A PDF of the Hawaii state snapshot of NCTQ’s findings is available at https://tinyurl.com/3rpjwywh.

“We hope this report on Hawaii catalyzes action on the part of the (HIDOE) and catalyzes action on behalf of improved teacher instruction and certainly improved student outcomes,” Peske said.

The state Department of Education did not return requests for comment in time for this story.

Email Kyveli Diener at kdiener@hawaiitribune-herald.com.