The Pacific East CC is supporting the Hawaiʻi State Public Charter School Commission (HSPCSC) and state education partners to align the state’s accountability system with the innovative, mission-driven assessment practices already underway in Hawaiʻi schools. Through a landscape scan, evidence synthesis, and cohort development, the project will build the policy framework and capacity needed to recognize and scale high-quality assessment models that more fully capture student learning and career readiness.
The High Leverage Problem
Hawaiʻi currently lacks a coherent, evidence-informed, policy-enabled framework to recognize, support, and scale the high-quality assessment models that currently exist in individual public, private, and charter schools across the state.
Background
Innovative assessment practices already taking place in Hawaiʻi’s public and charter schools have produced pockets of genuine excellence in teaching and student outcomes. Yet the statewide system has no framework to recognize, support, or build on these models at scale. This gap creates a fundamental disconnect where schools drive academic success through innovative practice, while statewide accountability structures measure, resource, and reward only traditional standardized test results.
The consequences of this gap are significant:
- Students are assessed in ways that underrepresent their actual learning.
- Schools operate in isolation, without clear quality criteria or guidance on alignment with state and federal requirements.
- Policymakers lack the evidence and infrastructure to transform isolated innovations into a coherent statewide strategy.
How will Hawaiʻi and the Pacific East CC Address this HLP?
HSPCSC and Pacific East CC will work together to develop a systemwide assessment model suited to the diverse needs and contexts of Hawaiʻi’s schools — and to the requirements of ESSA — through the compilation, analysis, and selection of high-quality innovative assessment practices.
The work will begin with a comprehensive landscape scan of existing innovative assessment models in Hawaiʻi. This process will produce the shared knowledge base, quality criteria, and practical guidance that HSDOE can use to codify and scale innovative practices statewide in support of its broader vision for high standards and rigorous, student-centered assessment.
What will the project achieve?
The project will produce a Hawaiʻi-focused assessment system that achieves the following:
- Aligns with HSPCSC’s goals for student achievement and postsecondary readiness
- Measures what students can do, not only what they know
- Is contextually engaging and relevant for Hawaiʻi’s students
- Creates equitable opportunities for all students to demonstrate their knowledge and abilities
- Serves as a model for deeper learning and place-based instruction
- Provides educators with meaningful, actionable end-of-year feedback to reinforce high-quality instruction and improve student outcomes
What will the project’s achievements lead to?
This assessment framework will offer schools clear guidance and validation while providing policymakers with the accountability structures they need to act. The result will be improved learning experiences and academic outcomes for thousands of Hawaiʻi students while positioning the state as a national leader in assessment innovation.
Key HLP leaders
Hawaiʻi leadership:
- Ed Noh, EdD, executive director, Hawaiʻi State Public Charter School Commission
- Kuʻuleianuhea Awo-Chun, director of education and culture based learning, Office of Hawaiʻian Affairs
Contact
- Kapono Ciotti, co-project director, Pacific East Comprehensive Center [email protected]
- Ben Cronkright, Pacific East Comprehensive Center [email protected] | (240) 223-9203
HLP resources
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