PCF— Education Day, part I

The day began with a breakfast session at the Plaza Club to hear new DOE superintendent Kathy Matayoshi examine the challenges facing Hawai'i's public schools and her vision for the future. Ms. Matayoshi comes to the job with a wealth of experience in the private sector: Hawai'i Business Roundtable, Community Links, Goodsill Anderson Quinn and Stifel, Hawaiian Electric, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, P-20 Council. Her lack of direct experience in education raised some flags amongst some DOE members, but others see that as a plus in that she will bring private sector management and leadership skills to a massive job.

The DOE is comprised of 178,000 students and 13,000 teachers and librarians all encompassed in a single district (the 10th largest in the US). That size enables the Hawaii DOE certain advantages such as scaling and buying power, but it also presents as many if not more difficulties. The centralized services and the administrative systems in place are old, highly inefficient, and non-responsive. However, there is only one teachers' union to negotiate with.

According to Ms. Matayoshi, the bottom line is student achievement. The current Race to the Top program awarded Hawaii (one of only eleven recipients and then only one west of the Mississippi) $75 million for education reforms; none of that money can go to the budget. Due to its unique conditions the US DOE is looking to Hawai'i as a model for other states to follow. The P-20 initiative seeks to have 55% of all Hawai'i public school graduates complete two or four years of college in six years. The implications for the future are huge as the level of college attainment nationwide is falling dramatically after the 44-54 year old demographic. Hawai'i ranks 10th in terms of job that require post-high school education.

The first step is to turn around struggling schools. Waianae and Nanakuli, two schools in areas with strong communities, are first in line to get the funding and reform programs. Kea'au, Pahoa, and Ka'u complexes on the Big Island are also among the first to participate. It is agreed amongst all people that ages 0-5 are the most important ages for educational attainment. Seat time is not necessarily the most important indicator of student achievement— learning needs to be exciting; great teachers, great leaders. Under No Child Left Behind, Adequate Yearly Progress is callibrated to standards, but every state is different so that could lead to fraud until their are national standards.

Charter schools are a possibility but they got off to a rocky start in Hawaii due to varied quality and lack of accountability. Nevertheless, Ms. Matayoshi like the idea of having the charter schools act as the innovative wing of the DOE to try out new methods and practices that they can then share with the broader school population.

Dealing with the unions should also be on a new path with Al Nagasako, former principal at Kapolei, as the new head of the HSTA. Rather than the previously contentious collective bargaining model, they will seek to change the model to get the HSTA and HGEA in the same room to engage in interest-based bargaining. That will most likely include a new teacher evaluation method that puts equal emphasis on student growth and other measures such as leadership and department approval.