Despite having the option to stay with the old report card for the rest of this year, Hawai'i's public elementary schools have overwhelmingly chosen to continue with the new, more challenging standards-based report cards that match the new standards-based curriculum.

So far, 133 of the state's 178 elementary schools have chosen to go with the new card. Seventeen schools are going with an intermediate template that the Department of Education is preparing — or with their own version — and seven will stick with the old cards through the end of the year.

The department is still awaiting choices from the few remaining schools.

Six weeks ago, the Hawai'i State Teachers Association said it had received more than 500 complaints from teachers criticizing the cards for not being clear, lacking precise definitions, and being too bulky and too time-consuming to prepare. The cards were implemented this fall in all regular elementary schools after five years of preparation and two years of trials in 10 schools.

In response, Superintendent Pat Hamamoto gave schools three options, including sticking with the old cards and the A, B, C grading system for the rest of this year, and using the year to transition into the new cards. A second choice was an intermediate measure whereby individual schools could tweak an electronic template to meet their own needs this year while moving toward full use of the new cards next year. The third choice was sticking with the new cards.

Hamamoto said yesterday she was gratified that so many schools are moving forward with the new cards, saying "it validates a lot of what we expected.

"It renews our belief in standards-based education and what we're doing to prepare our students for the future," said Hamamoto.

But she said she's glad the department provided schools the option to choose this year, especially with the number of concerns raised.

"I think it's good for teachers to know that others are supportive," she said. "This is about working together as public school teachers to improve education for our children. It's good to know you're not the only one out there. There was this controversy, but the teachers are standing together and moving forward and working together."

Meanwhile, the DOE continues to address problems raised by the teachers.

HSTA President Roger Takabayashi said he's happy that the department is developing a more complete description for the new letter grades — ME, MP, N, U, NA and SC — one of the consistent complaints from teachers.

"Hopefully it will add a lot of clarity," he said. "So we're all speaking the same language."

The union has shared with the department 147 pages of e-mail comments from teachers — minus their names. And Takabayashi said if some of the suggestions are taken, "and if they incorporated all the good stuff, you'd have a fine document."

One teacher's computer creation was so ingenious, said Takabayashi, that DOE officials were impressed and are taking a closer look at it.

Takabayashi said he's pretty sure schools using the new cards are simply making copies of the front cover and dispensing with the next three pages. "With the additional staff and paper and toner, it made it easier," he said.

On Kaua'i, every one of the 10 public schools voted to stick with the new standards-based cards, especially in light of the fact that 80 percent were doing them electronically, said Daniel Hamada, superintendent for the Kaua'i complex area.

"The process wasn't rocket science," said Hamada. "We've been supporting our teachers over the last two years, so to move into the new report cards, it was a nice transition."

With only two schools doing the lengthy paper-and-pencil versions, Hamada said, the principals at those schools pitched in and photocopied all the extra copies for the teachers "to make it easier for them."

To help with complaints about the poor duplication process on the paper used in the cards, the DOE gave each school money for extra paper, toner and clerical staff to make copies.

At Kapolei Elementary, principal Michael Miyamura took a staff vote, and all but the eight kindergarten classes chose to stick with the new cards because they had already committed to them.

"The majority felt they had invested so much time and effort in the standards-based report card (that) they didn't want to change," said Miyamura.

The kindergarten teachers, however, chose to use the old cards through the end of the year as they transition into a new card.

The HSTA's Takabayashi said the department is working on a new standards-based card version for kindergarten, as many kindergarten teachers maintain that the new cards aren't applicable to children at that level.

"Kindergarten teachers have said they'd like to see a complete revision," he said.

Kapolei Elementary principal Miyamura said that with something as new as the standards-based report cards, sometimes the only way to move into a new system is to use it.

"If you don't do the hands-on, you won't be able to say, 'This worked, and this didn't,' " he said. "No matter how much you learn, you have to do."

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com.