It’s time to empower our schools
More and more people are coming to the realization that Hawaii’s public school system is dysfunctional. The Department of Education has adopted an obsolete organizational model of command and control that has not kept up with how society has evolved and is not consistent with contemporary management principles.
The central office of the Department of Education controls schools by issuing commands, and principals and teachers must comply with the mandates. At every school, however, the principal and teachers know much more than those in the central office about their students and how best to educate them.
Principals and teachers often view the mandates as irrelevant to student learning. Yet they have to comply with the seemingly endless stream of mandates, which detracts from fulfilling their educational responsibilities. It’s no surprise that their morale is at an all-time low. No wonder Hawaii consistently ranks in the bottom 10 among all state school systems. Good people are working in a bad system.
School empowerment consists of organizing principles that are designed to change the culture of educational institutions, such as Hawaii’s Department of Education, by putting student learning at the center of all activities.
School empowerment aligns the roles and responsibilities of all employees so that they are accountable in their own way for student learning.
School empowerment recognizes that at every school the principal and teachers know their students best, and they can best design the most effective educational program for them. Individual schools are given the majority of the responsibility for student learning. At each school, the principal is an educational leader who encourages and facilitates collaboration among teachers, other school staff and other stakeholders. Through collaborative efforts they determine the educational philosophy of the school, the curriculum, instructional methods and how ancillary services support student learning.
School empowerment envisions a decentralized structure in which the role of the central office and its district offices is changed from one of command and control to that of support for the individual schools. As a group, the individual schools determine what they need from the central office.
School empowerment aligns resources with responsibilities. Most of the total budget for education is distributed equitably to the individual schools because that’s where learning takes place.
School empowerment consists of a set of principles that must be woven into the fabric of the organization. It is not a template that can be easily laid down. The process takes time and requires substantial effort by many people.
Ultimately, however, school empowerment holds the promise of achieving excellence in education for Hawaii’s children. They deserve nothing less.
For more information about school empowerment, visit the website of the Education Institute of Hawaii at .edthinktankhawaii.org.
John Kawamoto
Honolulu
Engineer training to serve Ige well
It is reassuring to know that our new governor, David Ige, is an engineer. I know for a fact that engineers, myself included, are problem solvers. With enough time and funding, there is not a problem engineers can’t solve. Engineers are responsible for the many innovations and technological achievements that make our life easier.
For example, most of us travel by air. We may not realize or even think about it now but engineers have worked hard for many years to make flying as safe and comfortable as possible.
The electricity that powers our homes and cities is made possible by engineers who designed and built the electrical generating plants and the transmission lines that bring electricity to us.
The amazing highway and freeway system that connect our communities and crisscross our nation were also designed and built by engineers.
It is not easy to become an engineer. It begins with the dreaded algebra and physics courses in high school. Universities complain that students who enter engineering schools are inadequately prepared. Most are required to take preparatory courses, which may take up to a year to finish, before they can actually start their engineering studies. Industries complain that universities are not producing enough engineers. Year after year, there are many more job openings than engineering graduates to fill them despite the fact engineering graduates are offered the highest starting salary compared to other college graduates.
Now that Ige is in office, we should expect him to put his engineering background to use in order to solve our state’s problems. What better way to start than by updating technology at the state’s Department of Taxation, for example, in order to track unpaid taxes that are being missed as reported in Tuesday’s West Hawaii Today.
Nestorio Domingo
Kailua-Kona