As Hawaii Department of Education Superintendent Dr. Christina Kishimoto heads into her fourth year in that seat, it appears the state's graduation rate, which had been on the upswing, is going down, the Honolulu Civil Beat reported earlier this month.
Almost 18% of Hawaii’s high school students and 38% of the state's high school seniors are not on track to graduate, the Honolulu Civil Beat reported.
Those students aren't earning enough credits, "a troubling sign many students have fallen behind during the pandemic", the Honolulu Civil Beat said in its news report that cited "new official data."
The news report referred to a high school graduation metric from data collected by the state Department of Education (DOE) Office of Strategy, Innovation and Performance. The DOE did not respond to a request for comment, the Honolulu Civil Beat reported.
Kishimoto became Hawai'i's education department superintendent in July 2017, having previously been head of school districts in Connecticut and Arizona.
In April of last year, the DOE board unanimously voted to modify graduation and standardized assessment requirements for the Class of 2020. At that point 90% of Hawaii's high school seniors had been on track to graduate, up significantly from the 85% graduation rate in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic.
In May of last year, Hawai'i's Board of Education gave Kishimoto received an overall "effective" rating.
Thousands of Hawaiian students have had a difficult time accessing online courses. Almost 3,300 students, about 2%, don't have access to a device that can be used to effective distance learn and almost 4,200 students, or 2.6%, don't have enough internet access, according to DOE metrics.
Student cumulative withdrawals through the second quarter of the current school year were up significant, 6,835 compared to the 5,832 during the same period in the 2019-20 school year, according to the same metrics. Meanwhile, actual graduation ceremonies might not actually happen in Hawaii this year. Last month, the state's DOE announced that large in-person gatherings are cancelled through June 1 and schools were encouraged to consider plans for alternative commencement formats.
Those formats would include virtual, drive-thru and drive-in ceremonies that could be combined with limited, in-person ceremonies "should they be approved," the Jan. 12 announcement said.
"There are still a lot of unknowns at this point," Kishimoto said in the announcement. "We continue to prioritize the health and safety of our students, staff and school communities and are working closely with the Department of Health on a vaccination plan for our HIDOE employees. Our hope is that as more employees gain access to the vaccine, we will be able to provide greater opportunities for safe, in-person activities."