Called to Account New Directions in School Accountability

From Education Week, January 7, 2016

The 20th annual edition of Education Week’s Quality Counts continues the tradition of tracking key indicators and grading the states on their performance and outcomes. This year’s installment examines how new state and federal strategies are transforming the assessment of school performance and reshaping the consequences for poor results. As the newly enacted Every Student Succeeds Act – the long-awaited successor to the federal No Child Left Behind Act – raises fresh questions about the future direction of accountability, Education Week journalists explore options for holding schools to high standards while simultaneously improving student achievement.

To complement the report’s journalism, the Education Week Research Center conducted an original analysis of student achievement in the No Child Left Behind era, which highlights results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress from 2003 to 2015. The analysis examines overall achievement, poverty-based gaps, and trends over time.

To offer a comprehensive perspective on state performance, the 2016 State Highlights Reports provide summative grades focused on educational outcomes. The 2016 summative grades are based on three key indices making up Quality Counts’ State of the States framework: the Chance-for-Success Index; K-12 Achievement Index; and school finance. Results for all three of these categories have been updated for this year’s report.

Overall findings show that some states consistently perform strongly or poorly across the full range of graded categories. However, most states post a strong showing in at least one area. This suggests that a deeper reading of the results presented in this State Highlights Report will provide a more nuanced perspective on the educational condition of the nation and the states.

Hawaii Overall Grade: C Rank: 25

Chance for success Grade: C+ Rank: 26 

K-12 achievement Grade: D+ Rank: 32

PDF: Full Report

Ed Week: Hawaii Earns a C on State Report Card, Ranks 25th in Nation

Ed Week: QUALITY COUNTS 2016: REPORT AND RANKINGS