Hawaii Education Institute

Programs: The mamoru and aiko takitani foundation (takitani foundation) provided a $100,000 grant so that the hawaii education institute (eih) could send a delegation of approximately 25 carefully chosen people to observe the governance structures of large school systems in los angeles, california, clark county, nevada, and edmonton, canada; hold pre-trip meetings to prepare members of the delegation for a productive trip; and hold a post-trip conference in hawaii. Members of the delegation included hawaii state board of education members, assistant superintendents and other senior administrators in the state office of the hawaii state department of education, complex area superintendents, school principals, teachers, parent-advocates, school community council members, an official of the teachers union, and several members of the eih board. In deciding who to invite on the trip, eih selected individuals within the above-mentioned categories who had earned the trust and respect of their peers for being knowledgeable, open-minded, and dedicated to ideas that have the potential to improve the quality of educational opportunity provided to the children in hawaii's public schools. Eih sought input from many when putting together the list of people to be invited to join the delegation, giving special weight to recommendations from the chairman of the hawaii state board of education and the superintendent of the hawaii department of education. Members of the delegation attended preparatory meetings prior to the trip to discuss what they wanted to accomplish and how best to do so. During the trip, they stayed in the same hotels and ate all their meals together so they could readily discuss the substance of what they were observing. They held debriefing sessions each evening, the last of which lasted five hours. No time was set aside for personal activities during the trip. Upon returning to hawaii, members of the travel delegation met in two additional sessions and eventually agreed on a joint statement that appeared as a commentary in the honolulu star-advertiser on october 30, 2014. The total cost of the trip was $62,134. 06. The follow-up eih school empowerment conference, which cost a total of $34,163. 97, enabled 300 registrants to better understand the concept of school empowerment, and various forms in which it has been tried in various other large school systems. It took place on november 28-29, 2014, in the cafeteria of moanalua high school. Attendees included members of the state legislature and board of education, as well as teachers, principals, other doe administrator, union officials, parents, community leaders, and other interested members of the public. First lady dawn ige delivered the opening remarks and eih president/board chair randall roth described eih and its mission. The keynote speakers were the eight most interesting and dynamic experts and authorities that the travel delegation encountered during the empowerment trip. All conference attendees received a conference booklet with descriptions of the speakers and their presentations, a copy of the travel delegation published statement on school empowerment, and a copy of a book, "10 lessons from new york city schools. " eih also provided lunch and refreshments for all the attendees on both days of the conference. Other accomplishments are described in eih's annual report at http://www. Edthinktankhawaii. Org/.