Hawaii Teacher Standards Board

School reform is a hot issue not just for Hawaii, but for the entire nation. The first alarm sounded in 1983, when A Nation at Risk described America's schools as drowning in a “rising tide of mediocrity.” This triggered an avalanche of legislation to fix the problem. In 1989, the nation's governors set out education goals for the year 2000 – that all students will come to school ready to learn; they will learn in a safe, drug-free environment; nearly all students will graduate with strong academic skills; and they will rank first in the world in math and science.

On the eve of the year 2000, America's schools are far from realizing those goals. But while good work continues in educational reform, with efforts targeted at improving student performance, there is an important missing link.

One strong voice emerged in September 1996 when the National Commission on Teaching & America's Future published a report titled, What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future. The report offers what the commission believes is “the single most important strategy for achieving America's educational goals: A blueprint for recruiting, preparing, and supporting excellent teachers in all of America's schools.”

The commission believes that the school reform movement generally ignores the obvious – that what teachers know and do can make the critical difference in what children learn, and that the way schools are organized can make a difference in what teachers can accomplish.

With this in mind, the commission developed a comprehensive plan with what it calls an audacious goal that “by the year 2000, America will provide all students in the country with what should be their educational birthright: access to competent, caring, and qualified teachers.”

The plan is based on three simple premises:

It offers five recommendations to accomplish these goals:

For communities that are serious about educational reform, the commission issued this call to action:

To governors: Create state professional boards to govern teacher licensing standards and to issue annual report cards on the status of teaching.
To state legislators: Set aside at least 1% of funds for standards-based teacher training.
To Congress: Put money behind the teacher recruitment programs it has already approved but never funded.
To the profession: Take seriously your responsibilities to children and America's future.
To state officials: Close the loopholes that permit unqualified people to be placed as teachers in the classroom.
To university officials: Take up the hard work of improving the preparation of new and practicing teachers.
To administrators and teachers: Take on the difficult work of developing teaching of ever higher quality.
To school boards and superintendents: Play your vital role by streamlining hiring procedures, upgrading quality, and putting more staff and resources into the front lines of teaching.