How should student success be measured?

What kind of help do teachers need to become effective?

And how can system-level changes improve schools?

Those were some of the big-picture questions taken up Saturday at a daylong retreat for Board of Education members and some 30 invited educators, advocates, lawmakers and parents.

Attendees discussed the pace of efforts to increase student achievement and the next steps in education reforms, from how to train and retain teachers to what duties might be taken off principals’ plates to give them more time to lead.

Board of Education Chairman Don Horner, who planned the retreat, said the event was meant for participants to brainstorm, collaborate and come up with the beginnings of a plan for the next two years.

"We want to reflect on where we’ve been … and also focus on where we’re going," Horner told the group in remarks kicking off the meeting. "I do think we’ve got a lot of work to do."

The day centered on three key topics: student achievement, improving the process and staff development. Also discussed were the Department of Education’s strategic plan, Race to the Top reforms and a planned reorganization of top DOE staff.

Organizers said the gathering was not meant to come up with definitive answers to the host of questions facing the department, but compile a list of ideas, propose potential solutions and hear new thoughts about old problems from a range of stakeholders.

"It’s time to really reflect on the work that we’re doing," schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi said at the meeting. She added that the key to reforms is understanding, "What do we mean when we talk about success, and how will we know it when we see it?"

The retreat was held against a backdrop of big changes and difficult times for Hawaii schools, which are working to adopt new, more rigorous nationally standardized learning benchmarks and putting in place reforms as part of the state’s $75 million Race to the Top grant while also struggling with years of budget cuts.

Suzanne Mulcahy, complex area superintendent for Kailua-Kalaheo, said it’s vital that principals, teachers and parents are not only made aware of planned changes, but also are at the table.

"When we embark on drastic, transformational, fast change, people panic. They dig in their heels," she said, adding that reforms are easier when people are brought into discussions and know what to expect from the beginning.

"We can come together," she said.

The retreat, which was open to the public and held downtown in a large conference room at the First Hawaiian Bank tower, was believed to be the first event of its kind for the Board of Education, charged with setting policy for a system that serves 171,000 students.

Horner, First Hawaiian chief executive officer and chairman, planned the event as a way to reflect on the first six months of the appointed BOE, which held its first meeting in April.

Voters approved the switch to a governor-appointed BOE last November, and new BOE members took their seats pledging to help usher in big reforms and bring greater scrutiny of DOE spending.

A few members of the public attended the retreat, including advocates for special education, and several said they were happy to see so many come together to talk about improving schools.

"I hope they actually do something as a result of this (meeting)," said Ivalee Sinclair, chairwoman of the Special Education Advisory Council. She said the key to the discussion is making sure that the definition of student success is broader than just test scores.

There was plenty of discussion about how to more broadly measure student achievement, with some pointing to alternative national tests and others asking whether such things as student portfolios could be used to enrich the definition of a successful student.

BOE member Jim Williams asked, at the retreat, whether there might be a process for allowing teachers to give input when they believe a student who performed poorly on a test is just a poor test taker. "It just bothers me that we’re so reliant on a test to know what a child can do or what a child knows," Williams said.

The retreat came while the department is seeking a waiver to key provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind law, which requires that schools meet annual rising proficiency goals on state tests.

The waiver will allow the DOE to add other measures for evaluating schools and student proficiency as part of a revamped accountability system based on student growth.

Dozens of other states are also seeking the waivers. The U.S. Department of Education is allowing states to be exempted from some of NCLB’s requirements if they meet certain conditions, such as demanding more accountability of teachers and principals.