U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Tuesday lauded Hawaii’s public school system for progress made in the third year of its four-year $75 million Race to the Top grant, calling Hawaii a model for other states.
The praise marks a sharp turnaround from a year ago, when Hawaii’s grant was still partially flagged for the state’s slow progress in achieving goals in its aggressive reform plan.
Hawaii won the Race money in 2010 after pledging sweeping education reforms, including plans to turn around its lowest-performing schools, boost student achievement and improve teacher and principal effectiveness.
The U.S. Department of Education had placed Hawaii’s prize on "high-risk" status in December 2011, citing concerns about whether the state’s promised reforms could be met. Officials warned at the time that Hawaii’s "unsatisfactory performance" could jeopardize its funding. The warning label was partially lifted in February 2013 and completely removed last summer.
"When we originally gave (Hawaii) the Race to the Top grant, lots of folks really doubted our judgment there, thought there was no way they could be successful," Duncan told reporters Tuesday on a conference call. "They absolutely initially struggled. There were conversations whether we were going to have to start to pull money back or withhold money, and they’ve just shown amazing leadership and in a relatively short amount of time made huge progress both on system-level changes" and student achievement, he said.
Hawaii has spent $56.4 million as of December.
Year 3 progress reports for the 11 states and the District of Columbia that won Race grants totaling nearly $4 billion in 2010 were released Tuesday evening.
"We have seen the first 12 grant winners lay the groundwork for long-term sustainable progress," Duncan said.
He cited Hawaii as one of four states "that saw particularly encouraging progress in putting into action their Race to the Top plans" during the 2012-13 school year. (The others were Delaware, North Carolina and Tennessee.)
"In fact, we’re starting to see the investment made three years ago enter the classroom," he added.
Hawaii’s progress report credits the state for taking "key steps toward ensuring that all of the state’s educators are equipped with the resources they need and students are prepared to be successful in college and careers."
In the area of student achievement, the report highlighted Hawaii’s 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress scores. Overall, Hawaii’s public school fourth- and eighth-graders made gains in reading and math, outpacing or matching the year-over-year growth in national averages for the same subjects.
The report also praised Hawaii for increasing its college-going rate but noted that the state fell short of its graduation rate target.
In the area of improving teacher quality, the report credited the state for rolling out performance-based teacher evaluations — progress that previously was stymied because the state couldn’t secure a new contract with the teachers union. Under teachers’ 2013-17 contract, ratified last spring, personnel consequences — including pay raises, tenure and termination — will be tied to the evaluations starting next fall.
"The third-year report is a testament to the remarkable efforts of our educators in meeting elevated expectations," Schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi said in a statement. "As we head into the final months of the grant, we continue our commitment to put into place systems and practices that will keep our students successful in college, careers and community long after the grant ends. Race to the Top was an important step in the transformation of our public school system and we are staying the course."
The report also cited potential challenges in the final year of Hawaii’s grant.
In the area of better preparing students for college and careers, Hawaii is shifting to new curricula aligned to the Common Core standards — nationally crafted academic standards adopted by 45 states and D.C. But the report raised concerns that while the state has approved a Common Core-aligned curriculum for language arts, it has yet to find one for math lessons.
The report said the state also needs to work on building better data systems and improving teacher effectiveness, recruitment and quality.
"We are already tackling these challenges and are holding ourselves accountable," Matayoshi said.
Of the dozen 2010 grant winners, Hawaii is the only state that has not requested a so-called no-cost extension — essentially an extra year to meet pledged reforms — according to Ann Whalen, who oversees Race to the Top implementation for the U.S. DOE.
