Race to the Top. Hawaii Report. Year 4: School Year 2013-2014. [State-Specific Summary Report]
Author: Department of Education (ED)
Date: 2015-04-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Academic Standards,Accountability,Achievement Gap,Administrator Effectiveness,Alignment (Education),Budgets,Career Readiness,Charter Schools,College Readiness,Core Curriculum,Data,Educational Assessment,Educational Change,Educational Improvement,Elementary Secondary Education,Federal Legislation,Federal Aid,Educational Legislation,Federal Programs,Formative Evaluation,Grants,Higher Education,Language Arts,Leadership Effectiveness,Literacy,Low Achievement,Mathematics Achievement,Measurement Objectives,Models,Outcomes of Education,Partnerships in Education,Poverty,Principals,Professional Development,Program Effectiveness,Program Implementation,School Districts,School Effectiveness,School Turnaround,State Government,State Standards,STEM Education,Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Evaluation,Student Characteristics,National Competency Tests

This State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of Hawaii's Year 4 Race to the Top implementation. Hawaii made tremendous progress over the course of the grant period in implementing its Strategic Plan and six priority strategies and creating an aligned organization focused on increasing student outcomes. Among some of the other accomplishments, Hawaii implemented its Complex Area Support Team structure, which increased Complex Area capacity by providing resource teachers to help local staff implement the State's six priority strategies. Using implementation continuum rubrics associated with each strategy, the Hawaii Department of Education (HIDOE) tracked and analyzed Complex Areas' self reported progress. The State continued to collect and share data on implementation using its data dashboard, the System Scorecard. Hawaii also launched a new intranet portal in January 2014 to provide a space for all HIDOE staff to collaborate, share, and access resources. Throughout Year 4, Hawaii continued to provide training and resources to educators statewide as they implemented Common Core State Standards (CCSS)-aligned instruction. The State operationalized end-of-course examinations in four subject areas (Algebra I, Algebra II, Expository Writing, and U.S. History), and continued implementation of the College and Career Ready (CCR) diploma. Throughout SY 2013-2014, the State made progress in its projects aiming to increase the number of effective teachers and leaders working in Hawaii's schools. Some challenges Hawaii faced in Year 4, included those related to statewide implementation of its six priority strategies. Specifically, while the State and its Complex Area Support Team leads seem to have been successful in communicating the integration of the six priority strategies, educators need more time to leverage State-provided resources and supports for CCSS implementation, and the State needs to clarify the intended uses of various data sources and integration between them. Moreover, as evidenced by State educator evaluation system (EES) data illustrating that a high percentage of teachers were rated in the top two performance categories and the State's plan to reevaluate performance categories to ensure greater differentiation, as of Year 4 Hawaii needed additional time to improve EES implementation. Despite providing additional support and guidance in spring 2013 for personnel regional officers and Zones of School Innovation principals on how to leverage the new opportunities, HIDOE also reported little impact of these efforts on the number of educators recruited and hired for SY 2013-2014. Looking ahead, Hawaii has begun to embed many elements of its Race to the Top plan into the overall structure of HIDOE to ensure sustainability of implementation beyond the grant period. HIDOE plans to continue to focus its reform efforts around its Strategic Plan and six priority strategies, as well as track progress and differentiate supports based on Complex Areas' self-assessment rubrics. The State expects to continue to provide training and resources to educators and use its Complex Area Support Team leads to support implementation of CCSS-aligned instruction and implementation of Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) assessments in SY 2014-2015. According to HIDOE, all schools and Complex Areas are expected to fully implement the EES and Comprehensive Evaluation System for School Administrators (CESSA) in SY 2014-2015, and the State intends to refine implementation based on lessons learned from prior years. [For &quot;Race to the Top. Hawaii Report. Year 3: School Year 2012-2013. A glossary is included. [State-Specific Summary Report,&quot; see ED580313.]