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The recent vote by Republicans in the House to repeal and replace the “No Child Left Behind” law has made for some strange bedfellows of late. Republicans joined teachers unions to support a repeal of the law, while Democrats stood in unanimous opposition. (The Senate hasn’t voted on this legislation.)

I support the GOP’s efforts because, as Congressman Tip O’Neill used to say: “All politics is local.” Education should be, too.

Yes, there are things that all students should know, but imparting a deep understanding of how to think about and address complex problems starts with a localized approach.

Academically speaking, we already know this about education. In fact, when it comes to education, we know all kinds of stuff – most of which we simply ignore.

The social activist and educator Geoffrey Canada has called education “stupid” for not accepting and adapting to what we already know to be true about children and learning. We know, for example, that kids fall behind in the summer and have to work to catch up in the fall. So why do we act like having a giant educational gap in the summer is something written in scripture?

Hawaii has taken a moderate step toward addressing that particular issue by having schools that start the academic year earlier than in most states. That said, we haven’t done enough to respond to what research has shown to be right, true, and smart in plenty of other areas.

We know some interesting things: kids brains aren’t ready to take in and synthesize information until the latter part of the morning; kids respond better to information after physical activity; teachers work better when they have more opportunities to collaborate and we can create collaborative cultures for teachers and students in schools. Unfortunately, the actions or policies required to make the facts that we know useful are obfuscated by policy, labor, or bureaucratic hurdles.

Eliminating No Child Left Behind is a step toward allowing our schools to become more responsive to the specific needs of communities and students. But in the meantime, there are schools that we should be looking at that are already experimenting with students-responsive and localized approaches to curriculum that are wrapped around research-based structures for scheduling and community building. Unfortunately, those schools are almost invariably charter schools.

Not all charter schools are good. If you look at national statistics, charter schools are no more successful than public schools, and they are possibly worse. But the whole idea of charters is that they are individualistic, and when high-performing charters like Lighthouse or Richmond LPS are compared to public schools in similar neighborhoods, there isn’t a public school model that can come close to imparting the level of personal development or college readiness that their students gain.

Some of these schools have become “proof-point” schools, which is to say schools that provide a model for improvement for local public schools.

Starting a charter school isn’t a personal goal of mine, but I’m excited about the prospect of Hawaii having a prospective proof-point school.

The School for Examining the Essential Question of Sustainability is a research-based, teacher-led 6th and 7th grade school that applies what education researchers and child-development experts already know to be true. The school day there starts later than most, beginning with an all-hands physical education class designed to foster interpersonal relationships and a culture of teamwork between students and teachers.

Teachers teach two block-scheduled classes each day; one core class and the other a collaborative, project-based course that works toward answering the essential question of sustainability in Hawaii. Since teachers only teach one core class and the other is part of a collaborative investigation, collaboration among the staff is a daily activity.

In exchange for the generous amount of time they have to develop their courses, teachers also make up the school administration. There are only two, full-time non-teaching positions in the school; one is the School Leader and founder, Buffy Cushman-Patz. Even the title “School Leader” reflects the focus and priority that Buffy puts on instruction and community over hierarchy, viewing herself as the “instructional leader,” rather than as the head administrator.

Buffy has had to make personal sacrifices and she has faced obstacles that were just short of insurmountable, and she did that knowing that her only real reward will be the knowledge that she created something good for the students of Hawaii.

We should support her efforts because this is what innovation in education looks like.

Simply loosening the requirements on charter school applicants isn’t going to fix things, but facilitating the creation of great schools that build on great ideas that have already been proven to work should be a focus of a smart education system.

Eliminating ham-fisted federal polices like No Child Left Behind will help to create an atmosphere that allows schools to be more responsive locally. But local municipalities also have to find their pioneers and support them in leading us to the education system of tomorrow.