But that C- ranked Hawaii 7th in the nation for education policies and laws. The grade came from StudentsFirst — a national organization dedicated to reforming public education and headed by former chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public schools Michelle Rhee. The State Policy Report Cards, published Monday, evaluated each state’s education policies in an effort to reveal what different school districts are doing to improve the country’s education system “so that it serves all students well and puts each and every one of them on a path toward success.” 

Here’s an overview of Hawaii’s report card:

Hawaii is making progress on strengthening its education policies. Hawaii has improved its ability to attract and identify excellent teachers, but it must do more to ensure these teachers are retained. The state has adopted better educator evaluations, and effectiveness now informs tenure decisions and compensation structures. Unfortunately, seniority is still required to drive layoff and placement decisions, meaning that effective teachers are always at risk. Hawaii empowers parents with access to public charter schools, but it should provide meaningful information about school and classroom performance to better inform parents and enable charters to access facilities more easily. Finally, Hawaii should no longer lock teachers into the existing outdated pension system and should instead offer a more attractive, portable retirement option.

Check out the Aloha State’s full report card here. 

— Alia Wong