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David Miyashiro, HawaiiKidsCAN Executive Director, Speaks to State Board to Support Integrity of School Year, Fair Compensation for Teachers in High Need Roles and High-Dosage Tutoring.
Integrity of School Year
Hawaii State Board of Education
Student Achievement Committee
Margaret Cox, Committee Chairperson
Kili Namauʻu, Committee Vice Chairperson
Aloha Chair Cox, Vice Chair Namauʻu, and Members of the Committee,
Per Discussion Item A, HawaiiKidsCAN strongly opposes the Hawaii DOE’s
request for a general waiver to waive the requirements of HRS 302A-251 for the current
school year.
Founded in 2017, HawaiiKidsCAN is a local nonprofit organization committed to
ensuring that Hawaii has an excellent and equitable education system that reflects the
true voices of our communities and, in turn, has a transformational impact on our
children and our state. We strongly believe that all students should have access to
excellent educational opportunities, regardless of family income levels and
circumstances.
It is deeply disappointing that the Hawaii DOE is seriously considering abandoning 9
days of vital instruction time, as it is irrefutable that students have been suffering
unprecedented learning loss and social emotional challenges during the COVID-19
pandemic. In fact, HawaiiKidsCAN has testified going back to July 2020 that the Hawaii
DOE should take a proactive approach in planning and negotiations, including but not
limited to making up for lost instructional days by eliminating the spring break and
institute days, or extending the school year by three weeks. There may be other creative
approaches to deploy, including partnerships with community organizations to help
make up lost learning by using weekends. It is unclear from the Hawaii DOE’s memo to
the BOE if all options have been exhausted in the last 7 months, so we would urge the
question of this waiver to be deferred until such conditions are met, including the
upcoming spring break.
We were also disappointed that the Hawaii DOE request for a general waiver did not
include specific references to bold interventions to make up more school time for kids.
School districts in Atlanta, Hartford, and Nebraska are among those looking at bold strategies to combat learning loss, including night school, spring break bootcamps,
mandatory summer school, and longer school days. It is unclear if the Hawaii DOE is
willing to put all ideas and options on the table for discussion before requesting the
waiver, but we would urge the continuation of this discussion. While we recognize the
financial challenges facing the public school system, accepting the waiver at this time is
conceding defeat to a lost school year to many of our kids.
Mahalo for your consideration,
David Miyashiro
Founding Executive Director
HawaiiKidsCAN
Fair Compensation for Teachers in High Need Roles
Hawaii State Board of Education
Special Meeting
Catherine Payne, Chairperson
Kenneth Uemura, Vice Chairperson
Aloha Chair Payne, Vice Chair Uemura, and Members of the Board,
Per Action Item A, HawaiiKidsCAN strongly supports the Chair Payne’s
recommendation that the Board direct Superintendent Kishimoto to rescind her
February 9, 2021 memorandum and to refrain from taking action on any teacher pay
differentials without prior Board approval.
Founded in 2017, HawaiiKidsCAN is a local nonprofit organization committed to
ensuring that Hawaii has an excellent and equitable education system that reflects the
true voices of our communities and, in turn, has a transformational impact on our
children and our state. We strongly believe that all students should have access to
excellent educational opportunities, regardless of family income levels and
circumstances.
HawaiiKidsCAN has been very supportive of the differentials from before they were
announced, as they represent a smart and strategic approach to addressing one of the
system’s biggest needs. Our poll from Solutions Pacific in February 2019 showed that
81% of likely Hawaii voters agreed that public schools should be able to pay some
teachers more than others if they work with students with special needs or learning
disabilities. We also confirmed in our February 2020 analysis of teacher compensation
that the differentials were in alignment with national best practices and research.
The Hawaii DOE’s own analysis has shown the differentials have been a clear success.
This should be cause for celebration and continued commitment, especially in light of
statistics showing that the students served by these positions are suffering the most
during the COVID-19 pandemic. This isn’t the time to take the focus off, nor do we want
to unintentionally further drive teachers away from these positions due to uncertainty
about the sustainability of future differentials.
Mahalo for your consideration,
David Miyashiro
Founding Executive Director
HawaiiKidsCAN
High-Dosage Tutoring
Hawaii State Board of Education
General Business Meeting
Catherine Payne, Chairperson
Kenneth Uemura, Vice Chairperson
Aloha Chair Payne, Uemura, and Members of the Board,
Per Action Item B, HawaiiKidsCAN would like to offer comments regarding the Hawaii DOE’s proposed plan for the use of federal ESSER II funds.
Founded in 2017, HawaiiKidsCAN is a local nonprofit organization committed to ensuring that Hawaii has an excellent and equitable education system that reflects the true voices of our communities and, in turn, has a transformational impact on our children and our state. We strongly believe that all students should have access to excellent educational opportunities, regardless of family income levels and circumstances.
Given the difficult financial situation facing our state and public school system, we recognize that every dollar spent must deliver strong impact, taking into account a number of priorities including health and safety, learning loss, and social-emotional needs. Protecting vulnerable students must remain a top priority, which is why HawaiiKidsCAN supports the continuance of the pay differentials for classroom teachers in special education, hard-to-staff geographical locations, and Hawaiian language programs.
As such, HawaiiKidsCAN supports and appreciates the child-centered strategies outlined by the Hawaii DOE to mitigate learning loss. The data in the BOE metrics clearly cry out for aggressive intervention, as the trajectory of many of key metrics suggest this is becoming a “lost” or unrecoverable school year. While we believe maintaining resources at the school level is also incredibly important, we feel that specialized learning loss strategies such Accelerated Personalized Learning Program, Summer Learning Programs, and closing the digital device gap may have strong impact through a targeted approach to support tens of thousands of high-need students. It is unclear if these specific students would receive the same level of intervention if the $65 million currently earmarked to address learning loss were used to maintain resources at the school level.
We do find, however, that additional clarity is needed on the planned launch of the Accelerated Personalized Learning Program. What is the planned workforce to support this program, and how does it lean on the assets of Hawaii’s trained educators and high quality nonprofit organizations? What are the qualifications to become a tutor? What is the anticipated success rate for this program in terms of restoring students back to a track of academic success? How quickly can the program get deployed? Research shows that tutoring yields positive effects on learning whether in person or virtual, in school or after school, although best results are embedded within the school day, at least 3x a week with a consistent tutor. Developing a local tutoring initiative not only will address learning loss and provide much-needed individualized support but also serves as a kind of economic stimulus if people in Hawaii are serving as the tutors. This could be a great opportunity to support students pursuing postsecondary degrees who need financial support by providing the opportunity for them to work as paid tutors. The Hawaii DOE and BOE could consider making tutoring a permanent intervention and keeping the pipeline open so as many people can do it as possible. Tutoring is often seen as an advantage available to affluent families or students looking to get ahead, so expanding this privilege to students most in need could be a powerful driver of equity beyond the pandemic.
Mahalo for your consideration,
David Miyashiro
Founding Executive Director
HawaiiKidsCAN