Hawaii's Race To The Top


Hawaii has answered a challenge from the U.S. Department of Education with an ambitious plan that reaches across all islands and into each public school to ensure all students have access to a high-quality education that prepares them for college and career in a competitive global workforce.

Over the past year, Hawaii has adopted internationally-benchmarked academic standards and has started developing the assessments and tools to make sure schools are equipped to meet the higher expectations. It has developed a plan to turn around struggling schools and close achievement gaps between students, with targeted help to keep students and schools on a path to progress. It has also retooled its data systems to maximize direct classroom level-instruction and help inform decisions by school- and system-level administrators.

Hawaii's application for a four-year $75 million Race to the Top grant ranked third among 10 winners in Phase 2 of the national competition, which divided almost $3.4 billion among applicants with bold and achievable reform plans. While the state’s written application earned it a spot among 19 finalists, a team from Hawaii secured the award during a presentation and question and answer session before peer reviewers in Washington, D.C.

The national recognition validates the work across the state to improve Hawaii’s public schools during a challenging time, said Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi. Hawaii's budget woes and state worker furloughs led some analysts to bet against the state's chances to advance in the Race to the Top competition. Many pointed to the public turmoil over the loss of 17 school days during the last school year as evidence that stakeholders couldn't come together to support a reform plan.

But Matayoshi casts the school closures in a different light. The public discord overshadowed strategic, patient work that ultimately led to an agreement that reopened the schools even though state furloughs are still in effect for our employees, she said.

“I think it helped build trust among the parties and an understanding that when hard issues come up, we don't want to point fingers at people and say, 'It's your fault.' We really wanted to find a solution that worked for everyone,” she said. “Everyone makes a sacrifice, but if we're doing it for the right reasons, then people will make the hard decisions.”

Now the community is stronger and more united behind supporting and improving public education, Matayoshi said. “We know it won’t be easy, but we know education reform will happen if everyone works together toward a common goal.”

Comments from the peer reviewers echo Matayoshi’s analysis. Reviewers commended the state for increasing public education funding in a bleak economy and making policy changes in line with its education reform plan.

Alvin Nagasako, executive director for the Hawaii State Teachers Association, boosted the state’s score during the presentation by clarifying the level of union support for the reform initiatives. The state’s plan will place high demands on the state’s 14,000 teachers, but also provides critical training and support and incentives for the state’s best teachers to work in the most challenged schools.

Nagasako believes the presentation conveyed Hawaii’s uniqueness, not just in terms of geographic isolation, but also in a sense of ohana that promotes team work and collaboration. “I think the reviewers got the sense that we’re deeply committed to students and the community,” he said.

Hawaii’s application was further strengthened by its ability to build off years of prior reforms that have emphasized rigorous standards-based learning, equitable school funding practices based on individual students’ needs and cooperation across the education continuum.

Team member Tammi Oyadomari-Chun, a policy analyst for the Governor and former executive director of Hawaii P-20, believes the coordinated effort to improving the quality of education from early childhood through college strengthened the state’s bid. “We’re really ensuring that our kids are ready for success in college and career choices outside of high school,” she said.

While reform efforts have yielded steady gains in student achievement across the state, the progress has not been universal. Rather than dismissing persistently struggling schools and student groups, the state plan calls for meeting its biggest challenges head-on. “That’s a huge one for us -- a total elimination of the gaps in proficiency, graduation rate and college going rate by 2018, especially for our Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders who are making good, steady progress, but not closing the gaps,” said DOE Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe, another member of the presentation team.

The state’s lowest-performing schools almost exclusively fall within two designated Zones for School Innovation, where geographic remoteness and poverty have stood in the way of attracting and retaining qualified teachers and traditional teaching practices have been ineffective in reaching the diverse student population.

Chris Pating, Kamehameha Schools vice president for strategic planning and implementation, made it clear to the review panel that Kamehameha has become a key partner in the zones, in keeping with Kamehameha’s mission to educate Native Hawaiian children. “Success in the zone is the same for all kids across our state,” he said. “College and career readiness is a given.”

National Education Priorities

The national Race to the Top competition challenged states to come up with ambitious but achievable plans that meet the education priorities identified in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

To date, 11 states and the District of Columbia have received grants totalling $4.35 billion in a competition that drew applications from 46 states and territories. During Phase 2, Hawaii won $75 million, the maximum it could receive based on its student population. Hawaii’s Race to the Top application integrated goals set in the state’s Common Education Agenda with the four national priorities:

  • Adopting college- and career-ready standards and assessments aligned with international benchmarks
  • Building data systems that measure growth in student learning, identify effective teaching strategies and inform decisions on how to improve instruction
  • Recruiting and retaining effective teachers and principals, rewarding professional development and deploying excellent educators to high need areas
  • Turning around persistently underperforming schools

Hawaii’s application included a fifth priority -- reorganization within the Department of Education to facilitate implementation of the reforms.

Meet Hawaii's Race to the Top Presentation Team

Hawaii’s Race to the Top Phase 2 Application Executive Summary (PDF)

Hawaii’s Race to the Top Phase 2 Application


November 2010