The state is proposing to overhaul its accountability system for schools, putting less weight on the results of a single annual test and instead using multiple measures — from the year-to-year academic growth of students to graduation rates — to determine how schools are progressing.

The system, subject to federal approval, would not only identify schools that are faltering, but also spotlight those that are soaring.

"Reward" schools could potentially receive greater freedom or other incentives.

Low-performing schools would be dubbed "priority" or "focus" schools and get extra help. Priority schools not making big gains after two years will face the greatest consequences, which in the most severe cases could include being closed down.

Schools Superintendent Kathryn Mata­yo­shi said the new accountability system will provide parents and schools with a better idea of how students are served — and where improvements are needed.

"We want to have a better definition of success for schools, not the one-dimensional test view of success," she said in an interview with the Star-Advertiser. "There will be multiple ways to view a school. We’ll be looking for ways to have a better picture of how a school is doing."

She added, "It’s a huge sea change."

The new system is detailed in the state’s application for a federal waiver to key provisions of the No Child Left Behind law, which requires that regular and charter public schools meet rising "adequate yearly prog­ress" goals for student proficiency in reading and math.

Those that don’t meet AYP face sanctions.

Under NCLB, schools can be labeled failing if they miss AYP benchmarks by even one student — something the DOE says isn’t fair. Hawaii, like many states, is also critical of the law’s requirement that all students be at grade-level proficiency in math and reading by 2014.

The state is set to submit its NCLB waiver request Sept. 6.

If approved, Hawaii’s waiver would be for the 2013-14 school year.

Several advocacy groups praised the state’s proposed schools accountability system, saying it would pinpoint the biggest problems at schools and highlight where students are seeing gains.

"I definitely think it’s a move in the right direction," said Lynn Finnegan, executive director of the Hawaii Charter Schools Network, an advocacy group. "It’s a fairer way of looking at schools."

Kanoe Naone, chief executive officer of INPEACE (the Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture), said the proposed system can help schools spotlight the academic growth of students, rather than focusing on whether a student met the acceptable score on a test.

Naone also applauded the DOE for reaching out to different community organizations for input on the new accountability system — and for asking for help in implementing it.

"I would say, absolutely, take the time to have the conversations with the people who the system isn’t necessarily working for in order to inform the solutions," she said.

Some 33 states have already been awarded NCLB waivers by the Obama administration in exchange for adopting rigorous college- and career-ready standards and making other changes aimed at improving schools. (Hawaii is already moving forward on those reforms.)

It’s unclear when Hawaii will get word on whether its waiver request is approved, but the state is operating under the assumption it will be.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has billed the waiver program as a way of addressing some of the biggest concerns with NCLB, which is overdue for congressional reauthorization and has been widely criticized for labeling too many schools making prog­ress as failing.

Under the 2001 law, some of Hawaii’s top public schools — and nearly all of its high schools — face sanctions for failing to meet annual proficiency targets, a situation that has frustrated educators and left parents confused.

The revamped accountability system, DOE officials said, will be a major shift for schools and communities now accustomed to the world of high-stakes testing under NCLB. Mata­yo­shi said the changes will undoubtedly require "a good bit of educating" once approved.

While test scores will still be a big part of rating how schools are readying students, they will no longer be the sole measure.

Mata­yo­shi said the changes are likely to be welcomed by most.

"People have been wanting to look beyond AYP for a lot of years," she said.

Phillip Lovell, vice president of federal advocacy for the Washington, D.C-based Alliance of Excellent Education, said the waiver process is giving states a "substantial opportunity." He added, "It’s really incumbent on the states to use that flexibility in good faith."

States have approached the school accountability portion of the waivers in vastly different ways, and several have been criticized for appearing to make it too easy for schools to be considered highly rated.

He said some states have put so many indicators into their accountability system that a particularly worrisome number — like a very low graduation rate — can be masked by other gains and won’t necessarily preclude a school from being dubbed high-performing.

Hawaii’s system appears to avoid that problem, he said.

That’s at least partly because the state’s proposed accountability system weights indicators differently, depending on the school level.

Graduation rates and college-readiness tests, for example, will be weighted more heavily in high school "performance indexes," while math and reading proficiency and student growth will be bigger indicators for rating elementary schools.

"Our thinking is that the kind of skills and behaviors that an elementary school needs to be focused on are very different than the skills a high school should be focused on," said Alexander Harris, portfolio manager in the DOE’s Office of Strategic Reform.

Differential weighting, he said, "honors the different roles of schools."