Frequently Asked Questions

The Hawai'i’State Assessment is a yearly testing program that measures student progress on Hawai'i’s reading, writing, and mathematics standards or expectations.

• In the 2006–2007 school year, students will be tested in writing in the fall and in reading and mathematics in the spring for Hawai'i’s public and public charter school students. In future years, students in selected grades will also be tested in science and social studies. This website contains sample questions from previous reading, writing, and math tests.

In 1999 the Hawai'iState Department of Education established learning expectations, known as the Hawai'iContent and Performance Standards (HCPS), for Hawai'i’s students. These high academic standards give students clear achievement goals and help guide instruction in the schools.

• These standards identify important ideas, concepts, and skills students should know, care about, and be able to demonstrate.
• State and federal laws require yearly testing of students in reading and math. To follow these laws, the Hawai'iState Assessment provides clear information on how well your child is meeting these standards.

All students in grades 4, 6, 9, and 11 will take the writing test in the fall of 2006, except for the grade 4 Hawaiian Language Immersion Program students. All students in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 will take the reading and math tests during the spring of 2007. However, students in the Hawai'ian Language Immersion Program in grades 3 and 4 will take a portfolio assessment based on their classroom work instead.

Your child will be asked to answer two kinds of questions on the reading and math tests: multiple choice and constructed response.

• Some questions in the reading section might ask your child to write a sentence or two (short-answer), and some questions might ask him or her to write a paragraph (extended-response).
• Some questions in the math section might ask your child to create a graph, diagram, or data table, and some questions might ask your child to show his or her work.
• On the writing test, your child will be asked to provide written responses on two different topics.  For each topic, he or she will write a draft and then revise and edit it.

The test ensures that families and teachers know whether each student has learned the reading and math skills and information expected at each grade. The test can also help identify areas in which a student needs extra support and practice. Teachers and families can then work together to ensure that a student gets the help he or she needs. 

Visit www.hsaitems.org to see actual questions taken from reading and math tests given to Hawai'i students before 2006–07. The website gives a detailed explanation of the skills and knowledge tested by each question and explains what makes an answer correct or incorrect.

The writing tests are given in late October, 2006.  The reading and math tests are given in April, 2007.

Your school will send you a report that contains your child’s writing score in mid-February.  A report with your child’s reading and math scores will be available when he or she starts school at the beginning of the 2007–08 school year.

These test results are one of many factors that teachers use to determine whether a child has learned the skills expected of his or her grade level.

• If your child does not score well on any of the tests, this may be a sign that he or she is having difficulty learning the skills and knowledge expected of the grade level and may need additional help. You may wish to talk to your child’s teacher(s) about the test results and the resources that can help ensure his or her success. 

Students with special needs are also required to take the test. These students can receive test accommodations based on their identified learning needs as stated in each student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Modification Plan (MP).

Fully English Proficient (FEP), Limited English Proficient (LEP), and Non-English Proficient (NEP) students must take all sessions of the tests, regardless of their English Proficiency Test (EPT) rating.

The Hawai'i State Department of Education and a test-writing contractor write the test questions together. Test questions are based on Hawai'i’s Content and Performance Standards (HCPS) III, which were developed with input from teachers, families, and school personnel across the state.

Your child will receive one score for reading and one score for math that indicate how well he or she is meeting Hawai'i’s standards. In writing, your child will be evaluated on five dimensions that measure two of the writing standards: rhetoric and conventions and skills.

• Your child will also receive rank scores for CTB McGraw-Hill’s TerraNova Reading and Math sections. These rank scores will provide a national comparison with thousands of other students in the same grade who took the test at the same time and under the same testing conditions as your child.

The best way to help is to give your child the consistent day-to-day support that will help him or her do well in school every day—enough sleep, a healthy breakfast, completed homework, and daily attendance. The goal of the Hawai'i State Assessment is to see how well your child is meeting the academic standards, which will cover more than what your child could learn in a few hours of studying or overnight cramming.

The tests this year will be very much like tests given before, except for the following:

• Each question on the tests will match the Hawai'i Content and Performance Standards (HCPS) III, which are the third edition of the Hawai'i standards. 
• The writing test will now be administered in the fall, and it will replace the writing test that used to be administered in the spring. The new test is designed to help determine whether a student has gained a strong understanding of the standards he or she learned the year before.  For example, new fourth-graders are tested on grade 3 standards. These standards follow the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law.
• The tests will be shorter this year. The reading and math tests will consist of four short-answer questions (2 points) and two extended-response questions (4 points). Also, the reading test will no longer have any 3-point open-ended questions.
• The tests will also ask multiple-choice questions similar to prior tests.
• Students will no longer take the Stanford 9. Instead, they will take the TerraNova, another test that allows parents and educators to compare how students in Hawai'i compare to other students nationally.

For additional support with this website, please dial our toll-free number, 1-(866)-648-3712 or email HSAhelpdesk@air.org.

The Hawai'i State Assessment measures how well students have learned concepts taught in grades 3–8 and grade 10. The tests are designed specifically for Hawai'i students and are based on Hawai'i’s Content and Performance Standards (HCPS).

• The federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requires all states to establish academic standards that detail what students should know and be able to do in different subject areas at the end of each grade. 
• NCLB also requires states to test all students in grades 3–8 annually in reading and mathematics to assess how well students are meeting the state academic content standards.
• The results of the tests are used to identify complex areas, schools, and students who may require support to meet state academic standards.

The Hawai'i State Assessment is written in reference to specific strands, standards, and benchmarks in the Hawai'i Content and Performance Standards (HCPS).

NOTE: The scoring guidelines provided in the www.hsaitems.org were not used to score questions administered in past years when HCPS II standards were used. Instead, these scoring guidelines provide examples of how the questions will be scored on the 2006–07 Hawai'i State Assessment. The 2006–07 Hawai'i State Assessment will measure progress on HCPS III standards and benchmarks.

In addition, the 2006–07 assessment will have more detailed scoring rubrics written specifically for each question, rather than generic rubrics for all questions.

Students with special needs are also required to take the test. These students can receive test accommodations based on their identified learning needs as stated in each student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Modification Program (MP).

Fully English Proficient (FEP), Limited English Proficient (LEP), and Non-English Proficient (NEP) students must take all sessions of the tests, regardless of their English Proficiency Test (EPT) rating.

State test results are not intended to be used for teacher evaluation. Instead, they provide a good snapshot of how well your class and individual students in the class have learned state academic content standards for their grade level. The tests can also help identify particular areas in which individual students or a class can benefit from targeted instruction.

• The Department of Education encourages teachers, principals, and superintendents to use the assessment score reports as tools for examining and discussing student achievement.  Principals and complex area superintendents or district personnel can also use the test results to identify professional development opportunities for staff related to specific content strands or standards.

The Hawai'i State Department of Education and a test-writing contractor write the test questions together. Test questions are based on Hawai'i’s Content and Performance Standards (HCPS) III, which were developed with input from teachers, families, and school personnel across the state.

• Every question is field-tested in Hawai'i schools before it can be included in the official tests. Committees of Hawai'i educators review all test questions and materials before and after the field test. This panel of experts reflecting Hawai'i’s cultural diversity scrutinizes each question for content that may be offensive or that may put any group at a disadvantage when answering the question.
• Additional panels review questions to ensure that they are all fair. These panels recommend which questions from the field test should be included on statewide tests and which should be discarded. Only reviewed, field-tested, and approved questions are used on any of the statewide tests or the practice tests.

Yes! Visit www.hsaitems.org to see actual questions taken from tests given to Hawai'i students. The website gives a detailed explanation of the skills and knowledge assessed by each question and explains what makes an answer correct or incorrect.

NOTE: The scoring guidelines provided in the www.hsaitems.org website were not used to score questions administered in past years when HCPS II standards were used. Instead, these scoring guidelines provide examples of how the questions will be scored on the 2006–07 Hawai'i State Assessment. The 2006–07 Hawai'i State Assessment will measure progress on HCPS III standards and benchmarks.

In addition, the 2006–07 assessment will have more detailed scoring rubrics written specifically for each question, rather than generic rubrics for all questions.

Score reports will be produced for the writing assessment for grades 4, 6, 9, and 11 and reading and mathematics for grades 3–8 and 10. Student, class, and school reports for the fall writing assessment will be available to teachers in the spring. The same type of score reports for the spring reading and mathematics assessment will be available the following fall.

Students will receive proficiency scores on the reading and mathematics tests. Proficiency scores reflect students’ overall test performance. Students receive a single proficiency score for each subject tested, based on the total number of points earned in the subject area.

• There are different types of questions on your students’ reading and mathematics tests—multiple choice, short answer, and extended response. Each of these is scored differently. Multiple-choice questions are given a score of 0 or 1, depending on whether the answer is incorrect or correct. Short-answer questions are scored from 0 to 2 points, and extended-response questions are given a score from 0 to 4 points, depending on your students’ performance.
• Students will be evaluated on five dimensions for the writing assessment: meaning, voice, clarity, design, and conventions. Each dimension is scored on a 1 to 5 scale with 5 being the best.

NOTE: The scoring guidelines provided in the www.hsaitems.org website were not used to score questions administered in past years, when HCPS II standards were used. Instead, these scoring guidelines provide examples of how the questions will be scored on the 2006–07 Hawai'i State Assessment. The 2006-07 Hawai'i State Assessment will measure progress on HCPS III standards and benchmarks.

In addition, the 2006–07 assessment will have more detailed scoring rubrics written specifically for each question, rather than generic rubrics for all questions.

Item Specific Rubrics contain scoring rules that are specific to each constructed-response question. Generic Rubrics contain scoring rules that remain the same for all constructed-response questions.

An Item Specific Rubric contains benchmark-specific language taken directly from the HCPS III standard as it pertains to the individual constructed-response question. The rubric also contains an exemplar response as an example of a student response that would receive the highest score possible and sample responses at each of the remaining score points.

Generic Rubrics may seem easier to use because they are already written for you and are the same for each constructed-response question. In a large scale setting, such as the Hawaii State Assessment, generic rubrics do not provide enough reliability for the constructed-response questions. We are changing to Item Specific Rubrics to ensure maximum reliability as they use consistent language that shows a logical progression from score point to score point with specific sample responses that the scorers are to look for during scoring.

All Item Specific Rubrics for all constructed-response questions go through a rangefinding process before the student response papers are scored.

Rangefinding is a process that is used to select student response papers at each rubric score point for questions that have been field tested. The selected student response papers are then used to train the scorers to ensure consistency in the scoring process. These selected papers represent the range within each score point.

The kind of rubric used in the classroom depends on what is being assessed and the purpose of the assessment. There is a place and purpose for both types of rubrics. If teachers are addressing concepts, such as problem solving or reading response, generic rubrics can be used for many different prompts or tasks as they will help students gain understanding of quality and be able to generalize attributes of good work. Item-specific rubrics are used when assessing a specific knowledge that is to be learned by all students. `In the classroom, time and student involvement needs to be addressed as the criteria should be clear to students without giving away the answer. Time to create and score items also need to be weighed as this is just part of the classroom curriculum.

Yes. Item Specific Rubrics can be seen on the new item release website at www.hsaitems.org. This website contains a sample of constructed-response questions with Item Specific Rubrics.

For additional support with this website, please dial our toll-free number, 1-(866)-648-3712 or email HSAhelpdesk@air.org.