Most Hawaii public school principals say they still lack the needed support and flexibility to act in the best interests of their schools and students, according to survey results released this week by the Education Institute of Hawaii that mirror widespread concerns raised in a similar survey conducted last year.

Principals say the Department of Education’s leadership too often imposes one-size-fits-all reforms that have dampened school morale, citing as examples the implementation of a common set of learning standards across all schools and high-stakes teacher evaluations.

The anonymous survey was conducted via personal email addresses from Feb. 28 to March 15 by the education think tank, the mission of which is to empower principals, teachers, parents and communities to better serve students. Although the published responses are anonymous, each respondent was required to identify herself or himself in order to participate.

A total of 144 principals responded, representing 56 percent of the principals leading the state’s 256 public schools. The Education Institute of Hawaii, with a board of directors that includes former DOE executives and educators, found, in part:

» Only 1 in 6 school leaders consider schools "empowered to an appropriate degree."

» Eighty-one percent of principals say they are made to feel like compliance officers rather than leaders.

» Eighty-seven percent of principals say school-level personnel should be able to control the means by which statewide standards and policies are achieved.

» Forty-seven percent of principals say they cannot express concerns or critiques about DOE policies and practices without fear of reprisal, retaliation, or of being unfairly evaluated.

The Department of Education acknowledges that schools have been asked to adapt to multiple reforms simultaneously, many of them tied to the state’s federal Race to the Top grant.

"Making systemic progress for our students and educators have come with a lot of growing pains," DOE spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said by email. "However, we see that children are learning and achieving more and at a higher level of learning. Our focus is to learn from these growing pains, overcome them and continue to do what’s right for our students’ future."

Dela Cruz said the department solicits feedback from school leaders year-round about student achievement goals and workload issues to help inform decisions and make needed adjustments.

Education Institute of Hawaii President Roberta Mayor, a former educator and executive in the Hawaii and California public school systems, says principals need more decision-making power.

"School principals really have a very important and difficult job. They’re trying to do what’s right for kids, they’re trying to work with their personnel and also need to marshal their financial resources to try to provide the best education for students," said Mayor, who served as superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District, by telephone Wednesday.

"But they don’t always have the authority that goes with the responsibility. They’re not able to make the kinds of decisions about how best to utilize their resources," she added. "I think if they had the ability to do that to a greater extent, they would feel more empowered."

Ray L’Heureux, vice president of the Education Institute of Hawaii and a former DOE assistant superintendent, says Hawaii’s public school system is too centralized.

"Principals need more leeway to make decisions that are the best fit for their schools and communities," L’Heureux said in a phone interview Wednesday. "We need pathways to get to that point, but with a school district as large as ours — ninth largest in the country — and a central office that, in my opinion, is dysfunctional, it’s going to be tough to get there."

He and Mayor say the point of the survey is to increase public awareness to help effect positive changes.

"The data that we can help collect is important to help inform the leadership," Mayor said. "We do expect to do other surveys of teachers, parents and other stakeholders because our kids are important and we feel that we need to raise the level of awareness and transparency as far as what’s happening in the school system."

The survey has attracted skepticism from some who contend some of the questions may have been designed to elicit negative responses.

"The work of public school leaders today is incredibly hard," said Alex Harris, senior program officer for education for the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, which invests $3 million to $4 million annually into public education, mostly for school leadership initiatives. "There is no silver bullet. Criticism of the system needs to be accompanied by concrete solutions that focus on what is best for students. If the Institute gets to that point, we hope productive conversation with the Department of Education can ensue."