Starting next year, Hawaii public schools will operate under an updated Strategic Plan, a multiyear document outlining goals to help more students succeed.
Starting next year, Hawaii public schools will operate under an updated Strategic Plan, a multiyear document outlining goals to help more students succeed.
The state Board of Education approved the updated version Tuesday and added several amendments of its own. The new plan, touted by the state Department of Education as being more “student centered,” will take effect starting in the fall for 2017-20. It was last updated in 2012.
According to the DOE, notable changes include:
• Student success is the “foremost focus.”
• A commitment to closing “opportunity and achievement gaps.”
• A “shared direction for public education” but with “flexibility in implementation,” given the state’s “diverse communities.”
• A “focused set of statewide indicators” to better track progress, all with three-year targets.
DOE Superintendent of Education Kathryn Matayoshi lauded the plan as putting “Hawaii’s public school students … at the heart.”
The new plan takes effect as Hawaii implements the Every Student Succeeds Act, a new federal education law replacing No Child Left Behind. The state also is drafting a plan to implement ESSA.
BOE Vice Chairman Brian De Lima, who resides on Hawaii Island, proposed an amendment Tuesday that calls for schools to make the needs of struggling students the “highest priority” and asks schools to match their “most vulnerable students … with highly qualified teacher(s).”
Schools “should not foster a culture of testing beyond what is required,” De Lima’s amendment continues, and schools should “remain vigilant” in reducing chronic absenteeism. De Lima said the chronic absenteeism goal statewide should be reduced from 13 percent — the national average — to 9 percent, which is what’s needed to reduce the achievement gap.
De Lima’s amendment was approved, along with others, including one that inserts verbiage to recognize “both of Hawaii’s official languages” and highlight the importance of multiculturalism and multilingualism.
“There will be challenges (in implementing the plan),” De Lima said during the meeting. “But we must not lose vision that we’re doing all this to improve student achievement in our schools, especially for students who are struggling.”
The full plan can be found at tinyurl.com/HawaiiStrategicPlan.
Email Kirsten Johnson at kjohnson@hawaiitribune-herald.com.