Hawaii's sustained long-term effort at supporting standards-based education is getting results.

Steady gains since 2000 are highlighted by this year's National Assessment of Educational Progress mathematics scores, which show significant improvement for our fourth- and eighth-graders. More important, Hawaii students continue to narrow the gap with students in other states. While scores for our students increased sharply, national scores remained relatively flat, causing U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to observe that "Hawaii has been making progress on student achievement" (The Advertiser, Oct. 23).

Our current dialogue about public education has been primarily about resources — funding, instructional time, teacher quality, etc. Standards-based education is about outcomes, focusing on what students should know and be able to do. A standards-based system measures student achievement/ performance against concrete standards rather than comparing students against one another. They apply to all students, including English-language learners and those with special needs.

Hawaii has been at the forefront of standards-based education for more than 15 years, dedicated earlier than most states to setting and implementing expectations for what all students should know and be able to do. We have stayed the course, making modifications along the way. As a result, this year's 10th-graders are the first class to have had standards-based instruction since entering school.

We have a guiding aspiration for standards-based education: All students must graduate proficient in what they need to know and be able to do for success in college, career and citizenship. Standards are the alpha and the omega of our overall system; they determine the allocation of resources, the professional development of faculty and staff, and the design and implementation of the Hawaii State Assessment of student learning.

Let's be clear. Standards-based education is not the same as standardization, but it does allow us to set clear outcome expectations against which individual students are measured. While there is an expectation that all students will perform at high levels described by the standards, we know that there are multiple pathways for our students to get to this destination, and we know that not everyone will achieve performance mastery at the same time or in the same way.

Hawaii's efforts will be enhanced soon by leadership being provided by the National Governors' Association Center along with the Council of Chief State School Officers working in collaboration with Achieve Inc. These national groups are mobilized around the task of collecting widespread review and input for a new set of Common Core Standards in English and mathematics.

Forty-eight states, including our own, have agreed to work together toward the completion of this urgently needed task which, when complete, will set forth research and evidence-based standards that are internationally benchmarked, aligned with expectations of college admission directors and workplace employers. When complete in spring of 2010, these new Common Core Standards will provide a rigorous national framework for student learning.

We fully expect the new national standards to be adopted by Hawaii, allowing us to continue the momentum already under way in our community to support teaching and learning for the 21st century.

An enhancement to our ongoing efforts will be our new ability to share outcomes from common assessments, making test results meaningful across states, while lowering the cost for implementing our statewide testing program. We can also expect more high-quality, research-based instructional materials and professional development will be available for Hawaii's schools.

Since 1991, Hawaii's educational leaders and policy-makers have been steadfast in navigating a course toward improved student achievement. By creating Act 334 that year, the Hawaii State Legislature established the Hawaii Commission on Performance Standards, whose charge was to "set the performance standards of achievement expected of students in public schools and the means to assess educational achievement to ensure that students in Hawaii's public schools are able to master basic skills and essential competencies necessary for success in life."

Because of our early efforts in 1991 to set performance standards, Hawaii was the first state to receive funding under the "Goals 2000-Educate America Act" signed into law by President Clinton in 2002 to develop state standards.

We must also remember that business answered the call for establishing higher standards and greater accountability. The national Business Roundtable issued its report in 1996 "A Business Leader's Guide to Setting Academic Standards," followed by three business summits on education in 1996, 1999 and 2001. Their efforts have provided substantial momentum for standards-based education with a clear focus on producing graduates ready for success in college and/or careers.

This work is sustained today by Achieve Inc., a business-led organization with strong affiliations with Hawaii's public schools, and aligned significantly with the values of our own Hawaii Business Roundtable.

Today, as we strive together to overcome budget deficits and "furlough Fridays," our best hope is to build on the legacy of innovation and improvement started in 1991, and to creatively maintain our focus on outcomes for students. As Secretary Duncan challenges us with his "Race to the Top" campaign, let's prove to him that Hawaii's success continues and is still gaining momentum.

Voices of Educators comprises some of Hawaii's top education experts, including: Liz Chun, executive director of Good Beginnings Alliance; Patricia Hamamoto, superintendent of the Department of Education; Christine Sorensen, dean of the University of Hawaii's College of Education; Donald B. Young, Hawaii Educational Policy Center; Wil Okabe from the Hawaii State Teachers Association; Sharon Mahoe of the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board; Francine Honda, HGEA Unit 6 president; and Robert Witt of the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools. Visit their Web site at www.hawaii.edu/voice.