Dear Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer:

Your Department of Education and teachers seem to be working on their assignment to devise a better form of student report card. But they really need to apply themselves and finish the work if this standards-based approach to schooling is going to work.

Mid-term grade: C-minus.

Oh, that's right: The old-fashioned letter grades aren't used anymore. Well, whatever the code is that means "has not quite met the standard," that's the mark they get.

All the turmoil over these cards is mystifying. Wasn't the two-year pilot test of the evaluations supposed to avert this situation? Many of the teachers who took part in this test acknowledge the cards took some time to master but now say they're happy with them.

This suggests that the rest of the teachers were not adequately trained before the new cards were rolled out statewide this fall.

The Hawai'i State Teachers Association has announced that many teachers find the new system too cumbersome and time-consuming. They have a point. A computerized database would be better suited to tracking student progress in detail than a paper form filled out manually each term.

But the schools don't yet have such a system, and the students shouldn't have to wait forever for the kind of feedback they've been promised. The union needs to curb the complaints, help officials simplify the form where possible, eliminate unnecessary technical problems and get the teachers up to speed. This is no time for turning back.

Yes, there's a learning curve here — but isn't that what education is for?