BOE Approves HIDOE’s Student-Centered Strategic Plan

After receiving 13 progress updates over the past 11 months, the Hawaii Board of Education voted unanimously on Tuesday, Dec. 6, to adopt the update and extension of the Strategic Plan—with amendments.

The plan will be used to guide the Hawai‘i State Department of Education from 2017 to 2020, with implementation starting in the 2017-18 school year.

“I’m proud of the hard work put into this plan, which is based on valuable and collective feedback gathered over the past eight months,” said HIDOE Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi.

“Hawai‘i’s public school students are at the heart of this plan,” said Matayoshi. “Our priority is to ensure that all of our decisions revolve around making sure we are supporting their college and career goals. The department is tasked with serving all of Hawai‘i’s children no matter their background, and this plan was drafted with each and every one of their needs in mind.”

The plan was adjusted to meet new shifts in federal accountability and current needs towards supporting student achievement. The Every Student Succeeds Act law provides states with more flexibility and Hawai‘i will take advantage of this by using the newly adopted Strategic Plan to guide the preparation of the state’s ESSA plan. ESSA is a reauthorization of federal elementary and secondary education law, replacing the prior reauthorization known as No Child Left Behind.

Some of the notable shifts in the updated plan are:

• Student success is the foremost focus.
• A commitment to closing the opportunity and achievement gaps to attain equity and excellence in our public education system.
• A shared direction for public education with flexibility in implementation in our diverse communities given a variety of strengths, opportunities, and needs.
• A focused set of statewide indicators to track our progress with three-year targets.

The department is finalizing the Strategic Plan as amended by the board.

About the Strategic Plan

Starting in spring 2016, HIDOE conducted two community outreach phases, which garnered more than 1,200 participants at 108 focus groups statewide; 2,573 online survey responses; and hundreds of attendees at HIDOE and BOE hosted community meetings on Hawai‘i Island, Maui, Moloka‘i, O‘ahu and Kaua‘i. The draft plan was viewed more than 4,000 times.

For more information and to view the Strategic Plan, visit www.hawaiipublicschools.org.