Hawaii Lawmakers Skeptical of Education Department Promises
Eight years after the Hawaii Legislature mandated performance contracts for the state’s 280-plus public school principals, principals still don’t have them.
Why, then, should lawmakers believe the Department of Education is capable of enforcing performance evaluations for 12,500 teachers?
That’s what Rep. Mark Takai wanted to know at a hearing last week on that would allow the department to establish a performance management system for teachers and education officers.
The measure has of Department of Education officials, education advocates and Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who promised in his State of the State speech last month to use “all management, administrative, legislative and legal tools we have at our disposal to implement an evaluation system that not only measures, but achieves student growth; turns around low-performing schools; and supports teachers in increasing their effectiveness.”
But why the rush, after eight years of inertia on performance evaluations for principals, Takai wanted to know.
The answer: Hawaii’s $75 million Race to the Top grant, which depends on implementing teacher and principal evaluations, as well as merit pay based on the results of the evaluations.
All good goals, Takai and Rep. Mark Nakashima said, but what about outcomes? The department has a track record of struggling to follow through on mandates and promises.
“We passed the bill in 2004 mandating it, and eight years later we sit here without a concrete performance contract,” Takai told Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi and Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe. “If we pass this bill, is it going to take you guys eight years to implement it?”
Nakashima echoed Takai’s concerns and pointed out that the current proposal expands on the earlier requirements, implying they will be even more difficult to meet than the original ones.
Matayoshi, who was appointed superintendent in the fall of 2010, said she can’t speak for the first six years of the mandate, but it is her understanding that there was “some solid pilot activity” that she is ready to build on in order to meet the grant goals.
She stuck to the message she’s been sharing ever since Hawaii won the competitive education reform grant, which is that now is the time for education reform in Hawaii.
“Clearly the requirement from the federal government has added an additional weight,” she told the joint education and labor committee. “That’s not to say that the Legislature is not a very big weight for us, but now we have this added requirement.”
Takai was not entirely satisfied, especially because the Hawaii State Teachers Association has serious reservations about the proposal.
“I struggle because of that example,” he said. “It troubles me that we have a law on the books and it’s not being followed. I go back to this bill in front of us: Even if it passes, will it happen? There’s disagreement right in front of us. I’m not confident in how we’re going to get to where we need to go.”
