DOE chief must manage change

The transition Christina Kishimoto faces as she takes the helm at the state Department of Education is especially momentous, more so than other changing-of-the-guard passages Hawaii’s statewide public-school district has witnessed.

Kishimoto will need, and should get, support from the educational community, given her stated goal, to make Hawaii’s school system No. 1.

There’s nothing wrong with aggressive goalsetting — this state has dubbed its performance system “Strive HI,” after all. But the proof will be in her ability to tailor this aim to Hawaii’s particular challenges, and show real progress.

Effective Aug. 1, Kishimoto becomes DOE superintendent but came through last week on a get-acquainted, go-house-hunting visit before heading back to Gilbert, Ariz., to finish up heading schools there.

The new chief surely recognizes the added layers of complexity in her new post. Many more schools, many more students, new cultures — not only the demographic variances, but the agency culture as well.

There is an administrative bureaucracy, and required coordination with an appointed Board of Education.

There are labor unions with a rock-solid footing. Kishimoto must learn to negotiate with the powerful Hawaii State Teachers Association; uncommonly, the teachers’ union shares the labor-relations landscape with the Hawaii Government Employees Association. Not many school districts have unionized principals as well as faculty members.

The physical plant of schools is changing, too. In a city where more housing is anticipated in a dense urban configuration, “vertical schools” may be the shape of the future.

All that said, a new top executive with a fresh perspective could benefit Hawaii’s public schools. The hope — and the challenge — is that Kishimoto will find a way to apply unified guidance to a department with some competing views.

She’s being brought in as part of Gov. David Ige’s aim to recast the department as a more campus-focused system, one that would give more discretion over school programs to principals. It’s been a cornerstone of the governor’s platform since he was elected, and he wants to be re-elected next year, so pressure to deliver is intensifying.

He convened a group that developed a “Blueprint for Public Education.” A “final draft” posted online identifies three focus areas: student success, educator and staff success and system success.

There’s not much time penciled in for hitting its “aspirational targets,” though. For example, the blueprint asserts that “the learning achievement gaps will begin closing in 2017 and will close by 2020.”

Kishimoto will have to hit the ground running. In addition, the DOE has devised a strategic plan, which on the whole is aligned with the governor’s blueprint. And, she announced at a news conference Wednesday, her contribution will be an implementation plan.

That is something the public wants to see. Already administrative changes are in the works for schools, and Hawaii’s families want to see how they will be carried out in the pursuit of the “student-centered school system” Kishimoto touts.

The DOE has decided to de-emphasize school rankings; officials have promised to maintain the standards and share the achievement data behind those rankings, and Kishimoto will have to honor that pledge.

Further, there will be fewer standardized tests for students to take — one element of the strategic plan adopted by the DOE and BOE. It’s been a point of controversy driven by the high premium placed on assessments, enforced under the old federal No Child Left Behind mandates.

Intense pressure to “teach to the test” became a common, and justifiable, complaint from some teachers. Finally, states have been given more flexibility in the reauthorization of the federal education law, dubbed the Every Student Succeeds Act.

The requirement for the school year that just finished was for up to six standardized tests, depending on grade level. Additional, optional assessments could drive up that total as high as 10 tests in elementary and middle school.

It’s reasonable to conclude that this was excessive. What isn’t clear — and what Kishimoto will need to oversee — is the plan for how to make the most of the now-freed time that used to go into testing and preparation. Ideas on best practices for creative classroom learning opportunities should be welcome guidance to teachers, and should be part of an implementation plan.

Public education is continuing a process of reform that made great advances under Kishimoto’s predecessor, Kathryn Matayoshi. The metrics are impressive. The graduation rates are rising; Hawaii’s gains in reading and math scores were the second highest nationally.

There is still ample room for improvement, of course, and Kishimoto does have the advantage of a strengthened foundation. The hope is that the “student-centered school system” builds on that progress.