After last year's dismal test scores for students in Hawai'i's public schools, it's good to see that the tide has turned for the better. As Advertiser writer Beverly Creamer reported today, test scores in both math and reading have gone up.

What this shows at least is that the state Department of Education has found a more successful way of adjusting its methods to meet the federal No Child Left Behind guidelines. In terms of avoiding federal sanctions on schools that don't meet federal benchmarks, this was a positive, if not necessary, move.

Last year's test scores resulted in nearly two-thirds of our schools facing some type of sanction — from extra tutoring to major restructuring or takeover. The price tag for such work in 2005 was $7.9 million.

But our students are the ones who really pay the price.

Under the rigid guidelines of No Child, test scores are used to monitor a school's adequate yearly progress. Failure to show improvement leads to a cut in funding and/or the sanctions mentioned above. But where, in all this talk of scores and money, does the individual student's progress come into play? It doesn't — and that's one of the key problems with the law.

The underlying goal of No Child is difficult to dispute: to close the achievement gap between low-income and minority students, and to ensure that all students are making yearly progress in math, reading and science at grade level.

But the law's cookie-cutter approach to education doesn't fit our nation's diverse classrooms. Progress should not be measured in lump sums, but by individual performance. That's where the "growth model" comes in.

This model measures how much individual progress students make, rather than whether they hit the score levels set by NCLB. Currently, states must apply to be measured under the growth model (Hawai'i's request was recently denied).

But since the law was enacted in 2002, numerous states have struggled to meets its demands — and now that the law is up for reauthorization, it's time for Congress to rethink its structure.

In March, Reps. Howard P. McKeon, R-Calif., and Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., announced their support for incorporating the growth model into the No Child reauthorization.

High standards and accountability are needed in our nation's public schools. But putting formulas and statistics above each child's success defeats the goal of truly leaving no child behind.