By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

This November, Hawaii Catholic school and religious education students in grades 5, 8, 9 and 11 will be handed a 12-page white booklet with a blue and yellow design on the cover and given an hour to answer all the questions inside.

The national standardized “test” has come to religion class.

It’s called the NCEA-ACRE, the National Catholic Educational Association’s Assessment of Catechesis/Religious Education, and this is the first time it is being used state-wide to determine what religion class students know, believe and practice about their faith.

The purpose of ACRE is to help parish and school catechetical leaders evaluate their programs by surveying the religious knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and practices of their elementary and high school level students. According to the NCEA, its assessment program serves 200,000 students nation-wide.

Hawaii educators were introduced to ACRE in workshops last fall.

ACRE is available for three levels: Level 1 for grade 5, level 2 for grades 8 or 9, and level three for grades 11 or 12.

While some Hawaii schools have done this on their own, it has never been done diocese-wide, according to Carmen Himenes, superintendent of Hawaii Catholic Schools. It is mandatory for Catholic schools and voluntary for parish religious education programs.

“The results will guide us in the evaluation of our strengths and challenges,” said Himenes, and will help adjust the curriculum or change strategies to improve religious education in Hawaii.

Jayne Mondoy, the diocesan Director of Religious Education, said the entire process is “exciting” because it joins those from both parish and school “in working together to provide opportunity for our children to learn about the faith.”

The process is valuable, she said, “as an avenue for us to discuss where we are strong and where there are gaps in our programs so we can appropriate the resources needed as a community.”

The process will show us “how we can improve the program so that we do our very best in turning the minds and forming the hearts of children,” Mondoy said.

In the Level 2 booklet for grades 8-9, part one, entitled “Religious Knowledge,” has seven pages of multiple choice questions on the Bible, Mary, God, the sacraments, Catholic teaching, liturgy and other categories.

Part two, “Personal Beliefs, Attitudes, Practices and Perceptions,” lists two-pages of statements about Jesus, prayer, being Catholic, Mass attendance, sin and other topics, and asks students if they: A) Strongly Agree, B) Agree, C) Disagree, D) Strongly Disagree.

The completed booklets are sent back to the NCEA for scoring and in January, a member of the association will be in Hawaii to evaluate the results with local educators. Further review of the results by principals, the superintendent and the religious education director will continue until next June.