Hawaii not left behind

HONOLULU—Earlier this year, the State of Hawaii, in the midst of having the shortest school year in the nation due to furloughs, was not among the finalists selected for phase 1 of the Race to the Top competition—a $4.35 billion nation-wide effort to dramatically re-shape America’s educational system.

For phase 2 of the competition, Hawaii is among 18 states and the District of the Columbia, out of a total of 36 applicants, to be selected as a finalist. More than $3 billion is available in this second round of funding.

The Race to the Top is designed to provide incentives to states to find ways to begin making the changes that business, political, community, and education leaders feel are needed to boost student achievement.

The only states prohibited from applying in phase 2 are those that received awards in phase 1. In the first phase of competition supporting state-based reforms, Delaware and Tennessee won grants based on their comprehensive plans to reform their schools and the statewide support for those plans.

Hawaii’s phase 2 application seeks $75 million over a four?year period.

States competing for Race to the Top funds were asked to document past education reform successes, as well as outline plans to: extend reforms using college and career-ready standards and assessments; build a workforce of highly effective educators; create educational data systems to support student achievement; and turn around their lowest-performing schools.

Hawaii’s plan in its phase 2 application intends to:

• Raise overall K?12 student achievement. By 2014, Hawaii’s goal is to increase its Hawaii State Assessment (HSA) scores to 90 percent in reading and to 82 percent in mathematics. By 2018, students will be proficient in reading and mathematics. Additionally, Hawaii students’ National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores will meet or exceed the national median score by the year 2018.

• Ensure college? and career?readiness: By 2018, the overall high school graduation rate will increase from 80 percent to 90 percent and all graduating students will be earning the new “college? and career?ready” high school diploma, which requires that students meet STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) competencies.

• Increase higher education enrollment and completion rates: By 2018, the college?going rate of Hawaii’s high school graduates will increase from 51 percent to the national median of 62 percent. Through the Hawaii Graduation Initiative, UH also plans to increase the number of college graduates by 25 percent annually by the year 2015.

• Ensure equity and effectiveness by closing achievement gaps: By 2014, the gap between groups and all students in state assessment scores, graduation rates, and college enrollment rates will be reduced by 50 percent. By 2018, the gaps will be eliminated.

• Increase STEM proficiency statewide and highly effective STEM instruction in Title I schools: All new teacher hires in Title I (high?poverty) schools for STEM subject areas and other hard?to?staff subjects will be highly qualified/highly effective by 2011.

The 19 finalists for phase 2 are: Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.

Hawaii spokespeople, along with the rest of the finalists chosen, will travel to Washington during the week of August 9 to present their plans to the peer reviewers who scored their applications. After the states’ presentations and an extended question-and-answer period, the peer reviewers will finalize their scores and comments.

The Department intends to announce the winners of the competition in September.

The executive summary of Hawaii’s application can be viewed here.

For more information on the Race to the Top program, visit http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html.