Happy New Year! This time of year often signifies new beginnings and a fresh start. It's also an opportune time to reflect on and celebrate accomplishments while setting goals for the year ahead.

As we reach the mid-way point of this school year and enter second semester, I want to acknowledge the hard work of our entire system in getting us to this point.

It was so encouraging to see that in the first full school year of in-person learning following the pandemic, our students showed gains across core subjects and other key indicators on our Strive HI results. Our students' proficiency level on Smarter Balanced English language arts was the highest among 10 states reporting 2021-22 scores, and was near the highest-performing states in mathematics.

These gains were further validated by the latest results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), or "Nation’s Report Card," which showed our fourth-graders outperformed their peers in reading and math amid national pandemic learning declines.

This achievement is to the credit of our resilient students and dedicated educators. A lot more work lies in the journey ahead, but I’m confident we can maintain this positive trajectory. We have about 90 school days left in the 2022-23 school year. Let's continue working together – ne‘epapa – to make the best possible impact for students. Here's to wishing you all the very best for a happy, healthy and successful 2023!