The Hawaii Department of Education has launched a neat website that allows users to compare how different kinds of students are performing and improving academically. 

On the department’s “Hawaii Growth Model” data visualization website users can interact with various datasets to home in on region, individual schools and diverse student groups using two yardsticks: proficiency and growth. The tool generates bubble charts that plot how select sets of students are faring in comparison to their peers. This overview explains how to navigate the site. 

The website, which until now was only available to those within the DOE, is part of a larger effort to make information about school performance more transparent. 

“The ability to visualize growth data in context with how a school or Complex is performing in relation to others over time is critical to building understanding and collaborative action,” said DOE Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe in a statement. 

One caveat: the Growth Model only uses data from the state’s standardized test, which is only administered in math and reading and among select grade levels. 

Photo: A sample scatter plot showing achievement and growth among schools in the Kalihi and Aina Haina areas. (Screenshot courtesy of growthmodel.hawaiipublicschools.org.)

— Alia Wong