Remove ImagesThe Exchange
Issue 10.10: Cunning Lingle
What Governor Linda Lingle says on her official campaign website (www.lindalingle.com) about her education accomplishments:
August 31, 2006
"We have made great strides in… improved education starting at the pre-school level."
What she didn't say:
The latest Hawai`i State Assessment scores show about 34 percent of our public schools meet reading and math goals as laid out in the federal No Child Left Behind guidelines. This is, according to the Aug. 22, 2006 Honolulu Advertiser, pretty much where the state was last year. Of course, there has been some improvement: 43 percent of third-graders now meet or exceed reading minimums, compared to 31 percent last year, while 40 percent of those same kids are at or above grade level in math, which is remarkably better than the 18 percent figure from 2005. Whether such results meet the criteria of "great strides" will be up to the voters to decide.
-Anthony Pignataro