Another battery of tests has shown Hawai'i public schools in an unfavorable light, despite the state's focus on education reform and fundamental changes from the classroom to the Department of Education.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress scores released yesterday show Hawai'i's fourth- and eighth-graders trailing most of the nation in mastery of basic reading and math skills. Those scores came on the heels of the Hawai'i State Assessment, which showed nearly two-thirds of students falling short of state standards.

However, the comparison with the rest of the states does not reflect Hawai'i's general trend of improvement over the past 15 years. Since the gains mirror improvement shown by the rest of the nation, the state has not been able to rise from the bottom of the pack.

Why Hawai'i schools have not shown more progress on the tests is a complex mix involving everything from the number of top students opting for private schools to the sheer magnitude of the changes that have been undertaken by the Department of Education, educators say.

"I sincerely believe that it is not for lack of trying, but we needed to have clearer targets," said Kathy Kawaguchi, assistant superintendent in charge of curriculum, instruction and student support for the DOE.

In recent years, the DOE has been buffeted by changes, both internal and external, including the department's own shift to "standards-based instruction," the federal No Child Left Behind Act and the Reinventing Education Act of 2004 passed by the Legislature.

"We're looking at a fundamental change in just about everything we do in schools, from curriculum, to how we teach and how we assess and how we grade," Kawaguchi said.

Part of the problem may lie in the state's Hawai'i Content and Performance Standards, which have been revised recently to offer teachers a clearer picture of exactly what it is that they are supposed to be teaching at each grade level.

Once the new standards are implemented, Kawaguchi expects to see improvement not only on the NAEP scores, but on the department's own Hawai'i State Assessment, as well.

But significant systemic improvement will not be immediate. "I don't want it to be an excuse, but if you look across the board in any educational arena, it will take at least three years before there are significant changes," Kawaguchi said.

What is not clear when comparing the state's scores with the rest of the country is that Hawai'i's students have been steadily gaining over the years, especially in fourth-grade math.

"I'm real pleased with the gains in the fourth grade," said Robert Hillier, NAEP coordinator for the DOE.

For example, the number of fourth-graders achieving mastery of basic math skills has almost doubled in the past five years, he said. Likewise, fourth-graders' reading scores have improved enough to narrow the gap with the national average. "The improvement is slower, but it's been steady," he said.

This year, the fourth-graders matched or outperformed Alabama, Arizona and California in both reading and math, as well as Mississippi and New Mexico in math and Louisiana and Nevada in reading.

Eighth-graders' scores stayed flat in math and dipped three points in reading since 2003, the last time the NAEP was administered, but those scores have also improved when looked at over the past 15 years, Hillier pointed out.

To Ron Heck, chairman of the University of Hawai'i-Manoa's Department of Educational Administration, the gains and dips from 2003 to 2005 were insignificant. "That's just what I call random fluctuation," he said.

He points out that one reason why Hawai'i's scores may compare unfavorably is that the state has a higher percentage of students in private schools.

"The point is, if you take a chunk of 16 (percent) to 18 percent of kids out of one group and these are the kids that score quite well on the tests, it means the scores of the group they're taken out of is going down," he said.

The national average of students in private school is 11 percent.

He notes that socioeconomic levels are related to test scores and the tests tend to pick up composition differences in the group rather than educational differences.

"It really has nothing to do with the quality of education, it is really changing the demographics and composition of students taking the test," he said.

Randy Hitz, dean of the UH-Manoa College of Education, said the test scores are definitely something to be concerned about. "Exactly why they're low, that's a matter of great debate," he said.

He also pointed to Hawai'i's high percentage of private school students as a possible factor. "We want to, first of all, make sure we're comparing fairly," he said.

He also brought up some differences between Hawai'i's educational system and other states, such as Hawai'i's being the only state with a single school district.

While he has not seen any research that shows a single school district would lead to lower performance, research does show that school size does.

"We know that small schools make a difference. We also know that Hawai'i has some of the biggest schools in the country, on average, in both elementary and secondary," he said. "That might be part of the problem.

Hitz also pointed to studies that show the DOE is underfunded and the teachers are undercompensated.

"The fact is it is probably some combination of all these things," he said.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.