2 Maui Schools Get Strive HI Performance Result Adjustment

Strive HI Goals: An example of a school’s goals and annual targets. Image courtesy Hawaiʻi Department of Education.

By Wendy Osher

The Hawaiʻi State Department of Education today issued adjustments to Strive HI Performance System results for nine schools, including two in Maui County saying, “the revisions were made after further analysis of the system’s criteria.”

The Kīhei Charter School moved up one step from Priority to Focus after the correct calculations for the school’s graduation rate were factored in.  DOE officials say the earlier report had incorrectly classified schools based on only two years of graduation data, when rules require that three years of data assessment be utilized.

The new data also was adjusted for Kualapuʻu Elementary on Molokaʻi where chronic absenteeism was factored in, but ultimately did not change the school’s status or index score. DOE officials explained that the department incorporated new chronic absenteeism data for elementary charter schools that had been previously excluded from the initial data.

The adjustment in data affected nine different schools across the state, and resulted in a shift from Focus to Continuous Improvement status for at least one school, later identified as Kua O Ka Lā Charter School.

In earlier reports, Maunaloa Elementary school on Molokaʻi was listed as the only school in Maui County to earn High Performance Classification. The adjustments did not change this accomplishment for the Molokaʻi school, which earned 343 points out of a total of 400, under the state’s new Strive HI Performance System.

“The department continues to fine tune its process to ensure schools receive timely, accurate information to assist with their improvement efforts,” said Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi in a press release statement today. “We appreciate schools’ patience and collaboration during the transition to the new Strive HI Performance System, which provides us all with more comprehensive information to understand schools’ performance and progress.”

Under the DOE’s new accountability and improvement system, schools earn points based on achievement, growth, readiness and achievement gap measures. Schools were classified into one of five steps including:  Recognition, Continuous Improvement, Focus, Priority and Superintendent’s Zone.

Earlier this week, the DOE recognized 14 top performing schools for their “exceptional achievement,” issuing awards ranging from $20,000 to $95,000, officials said.