​​ ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Click image to view the issue.​  ​​​Supt's Corner​ This spring, HIDOE led an intensive effort to review our students’ progress and engage our community in defining student success and reflecting on lessons learned to inform our review and extension of the Strategic Plan for public education and our state’s plan for the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). In Phase 1 of the Strategic Plan process, more than 1,400 educators, students and community members completed an online survey, and more than 1,100 participants shared their mana‘o at 108 diverse focus groups statewide. We’ve also met with our principals to discuss ESSA. Several themes emerged from the feedback on the Strategic Plan including the importance of: a well-rounded education that considers the “whole child” and personalizes learning for students based on their aspirations and strengths, high quality, rigorous hands-on learning opportunities that have real-world applications, valuing Hawai‘i’s unique strengths and assets, and coordination of community partners and resources to support innovation and clear goals for student success. A full report of the findings of the Strategic Plan survey and focus groups will be shared in August. Join our social media campaign, #HIQualityEd, which is ongoing. Our Strategic Plan addresses all aspects of Hawai‘i’s public school system. ESSA is an important support for achieving our Strategic Plan objectives but also comes with important and sometimes stringent requirements. Title I is the largest ESSA program, with about $50 million to support Hawai‘i’s economically challenged students — it requires testing statewide in many grades, reporting of test results for students, rating schools’ performance, and identification of low performing schools. Our Strategic Plan will guide our ESSA planning to ensure that our state take advantage of the law’s intent for increased state-driven flexibility while focusing on achieving Hawai‘i’s goals. HIDOE is analyzing the emerging ESSA regulations and participating in the national conversation about opportunities and requirements. We are working with the Board of Education, the Governor’s ESSA task force and our congressional delegation to ensure Hawai‘i’s voice is heard on how the emerging regulations appear to tie our hands and inhibit the promised flexibility of the law.   Kathryn MatayoshiSuperintendent ​​​​​​​​​​​​​