What is the measure of a school? The Star-Advertiser seemed quick to call for schools to be ranked (“Public should know how schools rank,” Our View, May 31). It’s clear that the position lacks context.

Schools are not defined by a single measure, whether a single test score or composite measure that sums up multiple measures into a single score or label.

The Department of Education (DOE) and Board of Education (BOE) took a bold step in breaking the paradigm of rating, ranking and classifying schools with labels that suggest the quality of our schools. The new Strive HI performance system takes an approach that supports student learning and school improvement in line with the new Strategic Plan and flexibilities in federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

Each fall, the DOE issues a Strive HI report of our schools’ performance and progress from the previous year. Like a student’s report card, it is a snapshot of our schools’ progress. Previous versions of Strive HI improved upon No Child Left Behind because it considered additional measures of school success beyond test scores. However, school leaders and community members spent too much time trying to understand and argue about the calculation of the composite performance index and whether the weights assigned to each measure fairly reflected school quality in our school context.

The new Strive HI system is an opportunity for schools to include locally selected measures of student success based on schools’ priorities. It incorporates feedback from principals and other community members to recognize the diverse demographics of our school communities. It removes the punitive ranking and classification system of schools and now focuses on data that is helpful to the conversations regarding areas of strength, opportunity and need.

As principal of Waipahu High School, I am accountable to our nearly 2,500 students whose high school experience and preparation for their futures depend on educational opportunities and a healthy learning environment. I am accountable to the community and families who entrust their children to us and partner with our school so that our students become responsible and productive community members who contribute to supporting their families. I am accountable to the 197 teachers and staff who apply their expertise each day to making Waipahu’s learning environment a positive place where students thrive. I am accountable to my peers, especially those in the Waipahu Complex, who work with me to make sure that students’ experience from kindergarten through high school graduation is seamless and empowers them to achieve their aspirations for the future. I also have an annual formal evaluation and regular check-ins with my complex area superintendent.

The goal of school accountability is to provide transparency about a school’s status and progress and to empower stakeholders to action to improve learning in a way that is meaningful to students in their communities.

Ranking schools across these communities reveals nothing, except to spotlight the growing inequities of society.

If you’re interested in fighting these growing inequities, however, schools are the very best place to do it. With data provided by our accountability system, Strive HI, schools can make thoughtful decisions to ensure the potential of every child is realized. They can pivot toward, or away from, instructional or behavioral supports based on the results. And we can transparently provide that to the public so they can understand the context in which schools are making these important decisions.

Time and again, media say that the only way to “understand” what’s going on is to rank schools — when it’s just the opposite. It’s a superficial label that has no inherent value.

Keith Hayashi is Hawaii’s interim schools superintendent; appointed interim deputy superintendent in March, he has served as Waipahu High School principal and as complex area superintendent for Pearl City-Waipahu.