teach for america-hawai‘i strategic direction: 2016-2026

Teach For America-Hawai‘i Strategic Direction: 2016-2026

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Background ....................................................................................................................................... 3

Our Vision, Mission, & Values ............................................................................................................. 4

10 Year Overview, Guiding Principle & Key Outcomes ........................................................................ 6

10 Year Key Outcomes | What we envision to be true, with indicators of success ............................... 7

Connected Community .................................................................................................................................................. 7

School Impact ................................................................................................................................................................ 8

Leadership Force ............................................................................................................................................................ 9

5 Year Points of Progress | 5 areas we commit to making concrete progress on in 5 years ................. 11

3 Year Regional Strategies | Regional strategies we will pursue for the next 3 years .......................... 12

Revolutionize local recruitment & grow Native Hawaiian and 2nd generation corps members ................................ 12

Evolve our program to catalyze transformational teaching and foster authentic leadership ..................................... 13

Expand opportunities for alumni to engage with Teach For America Hawai‘i and our partners ................................ 13

Advance our commitment to diversity ........................................................................................................................ 14

Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 15

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BACKGROUND As we look forward to the next 10 years, we ground our work in the voices of our stakeholders. To shape our direction, we conducted focus groups and meetings with students, parents, principals, corps members, alumni, funders, and other partners and stakeholders in our communities. In total, we gathered reflections from over 200 people on O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island and what we heard uniformly affirmed that Teach For America is making a positive contribution to our community. We also heard meaningful and constructive feedback on places where we can continue to grow and evolve as we look ahead to the next 10 years. On the supportive side, we heard students and parents express gratitude for their hard working and caring TFA teachers who hold high expectations and encourage and support our keiki to reach their dreams. We heard principals celebrate our teachers for their energy and passion, innovative ideas, and willingness to “go anywhere” and “do anything,” including participating and leading instructional leadership teams, co-curricular activities, and community initiatives that impact the classroom and the broader school community. We heard community members celebrate the increased number of kama‘āina and Native Hawaiian teachers we are bringing into education in Hawai‘i, as well as our increased focus on culture and community in our teacher training. We heard corps members and alumni speak about their deep love of and commitment to Hawai‘i and our keiki and how their TFA experience has forever shaped their views on education, excellence, and equity. On the critical side, we heard from our students and principals that we need to retain our teachers longer -- though effectiveness is on par with other teachers, the potential that our teachers may leave after 2 or 3 years holds some principals back from fully investing in them, and impacts students who count on our teachers to be there for them as they pursue their paths to college. We heard from partners that we need to leverage the leadership of our alumni and do more in the space of broader systemic change. We heard from nearly all constituents that we need to do better at publicly sharing who we are, what we’ve learned and how we’ve evolved, and the ways we’re contributing to positive momentum in Hawai‘i public schools. Our corps members and alumni want to feel more connected to each other, other educators, and the broader movement toward educational equity, and want to be proud to say they are a part of the Teach For America ‘ohana. These were the clearest themes that emerged from our many discussions. Not surprisingly in a community as diverse as ours, we also heard other wide-ranging perspectives, opinions, and ideas around what we might focus on over the next 10 years. We heard some people say that we should offer more training to non-TFA teachers, while others said we should focus more on providing direct opportunities to students. Some people want us to expand our recruitment and support to non-core content areas, while others want us to expand our reach to early childhood. Some are eager for us to provide summer school in Hawai‘i, while others think we are positioned best for community

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organizing, advocacy, and policy. Some of our teachers want us to focus more attention on foundations of teaching and content pedagogy, while others want us to focus more on dismantling systems of oppression. We love all these ideas, and suspect we will find ourselves doing some of them as part of our broader strategies. But, we also know that clarity of focus and prioritization is needed in order for us to do our best work and we cannot possibly take on everything, nor should we, as there are other people, organizations, and partners – including, but not limited to, our alumni - who are and will take on meaningful work in this space. While these have not emerged as our primary focus areas, we will always welcome, appreciate, and encourage all of these views and perspectives, as we deeply believe that diverse and sometimes divergent views will push us to be better and enable us to more rapidly learn and evolve to best meet the needs of our keiki and community. We have used the primary themes of feedback to shape our understanding of our unique role and our key areas of focus that we will pursue in order to maximize our contribution to educational equity in Hawai‘i over the next ten years. Our strategic direction is grounded in our vision, mission, and values and includes three key outcomes and indicators of success, as well as five points of progress that we commit to making progress on in the next five years as we pursue our broader key outcomes.

VISION, MISSION & VALUES Our Vision – “One Day” in Hawai‘i |Teach For America’s vision is: “One Day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.” In Hawai‘i this means our DOE’s vision – “Hawai‘i’s students are educated, healthy, and joyful lifelong learners who contribute positively to our community and global society” – is a reality for all students in Hawai‘i, with no gaps along race or socio-economic lines. Our keiki in Hawai‘i graduate from high school prepared for success in college and career. They are on a path to be learners and leaders in the 21st century, who contribute to their communities, locally and globally, and honor and perpetuate the history, values, and cultural diversity that makes our islands unique. Our Mission – the Unique Role We Play | Teach For America’s mission is “to enlist, develop, and mobilize as many as possible of our nation’s most promising future leaders to grow and strengthen the movement for educational equity and excellence.” In Hawai‘i, we are especially looking to enlist individuals who are deeply committed to our community, including but not limited to our kama‘āina, Native Hawaiian, and Hawai‘i public school graduates; who embody our regional values of kuleana, ‘ohana, and aloha; and who are driven by a social justice orientation to creating a more fair and just community for all our keiki. We seek to develop innovative learners and leaders who work in partnership with students, families, and communities to empower students to achieve academically, grow personally, and active their own leadership; and who make a life-long commitment to address educational inequity through classroom teaching, school and district leadership, public policy making, and other wide ranging roles and fields that collectively contribute to a robust ecosystem of opportunities for our keiki.

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Our Values | As we work towards educational equity for our keiki in Hawai‘i, we are guided and grounded by three core Hawaiian values and our five organizational values:

Kuleana - why we do this work. Kuleana is privilege and responsibility. We are each privileged to have had the education and opportunities that we have had and we are honored to have the responsibility to help ensure children in Hawai‘i have these same educational and life opportunities; we are privileged to do this work here in Hawai‘i; and we feel ownership, empowerment, accountability, and hope for our work.

‘Ohana – who we do this work with. ‘Ohana is who we choose to call family because we share a common bond and enrich each of our lives. We do this work in partnership and trust with our students and families, with our schools, with our communities, with our corps members and alumni, and with each other as colleagues on staff. While we are diverse in our strengths, experiences, and perspectives, we are united in our common work and belief in our children in Hawai‘i.

Aloha – how we do this work. Aloha is kindness (akahai), unity (lōkahi), pleasantness (‘olu ‘olu), humility (ha ‘aha ‘a), and patient perseverance (ahonui). We welcome and embrace our differences, we are generous and gentle with each other and ourselves; we approach our work with love and joy; and we operate with a spirit of aloha with all whom we work

Transformational Change - We seek to expand educational opportunity in ways that are life-changing for children and transforming for our country. Given our deep belief in children and communities, the magnitude of educational inequity and its consequences, and our optimism about the solvability of the problem, we act with high standards, urgency, and a long-term view.

Leadership - We strive to develop and become the leaders necessary to realize educational excellence and equity. We establish bold visions and invest others in working towards them. We work in purposeful, strategic, and resourceful ways, define broadly what is within our control to solve, and learn and improve constantly. We operate with a sense of possibility, persevere in the face of challenges, ensure alignment between our actions and beliefs, and assume personal responsibility for results.

Team - We value and care about each other, operate with a generosity of spirit, and have fun in the process of working together. To maximize our collective impact, we inspire, challenge, and support each other to be our best and sustain our effort.

Diversity - We act on our belief that the movement to ensure educational equity will succeed only if it is diverse in every respect. In particular, we value the perspective and credibility that individuals who share the racial and economic backgrounds of the students with whom we work can bring to our organization, classrooms, and the long-term effort for change.

Respect & Humility - We value the strengths, experiences, and perspectives of others, and we recognize our own limitations. We are committed to partnering effectively with families, schools, and communities to ensure that our work advances the broader good for all children.

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10 YEAR OVERVIEW, GUIDING PRINCIPLE & KEY OUTCOMES Overview | In pursuit of our long term vision for “One Day,” we envision the following to be true of Teach For America Hawaiì in ten years (by the close of the 2025-26 school year):

In ten years … Teach For America Hawaiì is a diverse and thriving community of 500 strong, contributing to the movement for educational equity in Hawai‘i. We work in true collaboration with our DOE and communities, and are known and valued for our unique role as a developer of diverse leaders who help to drive change in education in many different ways, but always in ways that contribute to opportunities for our keiki. 50% of our teaching corps is kama‘āina (from Hawaiì), including a growing number of second generation corps members. The majority of our corps members stay in Hawai‘i beyond their corps commitment, with 50% of each corps continuing to teach in our public schools after 5 years, helping our keiki graduate with pride and choice in college and career. They are contributing to significant impact as long-term classroom teachers and they are growing the pipeline of leaders for our community. 25 alumni will be in administrative roles in Hawaiì schools, including at least 5 school leaders, and many more alumni will be contributing to the education landscape as leaders in policy and advocacy, non-profit work, and social entrepreneurs. Our program is supported by a sustainable funding base of deeply committed diverse stakeholders and our people feel connected to each other and our community and see themselves in this work for the long term.

To maximize our contribution, we will focus on three key long term outcomes and one guiding principle that we believe are critical to our ability to contribute to catalytic and consequential change in Hawai‘i over the next 10 years:

Guiding Principle: Sustainability

Key Outcome 1: Connected Community

Key Outcome 2: School Impact

Key Outcome 3: Diverse Leaders

TFA Hawai‘i is a connected and thriving community of diverse leaders who collectively advocate for our keiki, especially those in rural, low-income schools, and work in synergy with our communities in pursuit of educational equity for all of our state’s keiki

TFA Hawai‘i is consistently contributing to strong impact in schools and helping our keiki graduate with pride and choice in college and career

TFA Hawai‘i contributes diverse, innovative leaders, who are grounded in local context and communities, to our education ecosystem in Hawai‘i and sectors that shape it.

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Guiding Principle: Sustainability | As we look ahead to the next ten years, we are guided by the principle of sustainability. Through the lens of our regional values, kuleana calls us to develop a sustainable model of funding and leverage our limited resources (both financial and people) in strategic and sustainable ways; ‘ohana calls us to develop authentic relationships and interconnected, culturally responsive programming that leads to sustainable impact in our communities; aloha calls us to foster a strong community that fuels and sustains our people for the long term. Our principle of sustainability implies a number of strategic choices in how we aspire to maximize our impact in the next 10 years. In our first 10 years, we grew our geographical footprint and increased the number of incoming corps members; in our next 10 years, we will focus on strengthening our impact through the quality of our teachers and the engagement and leadership of our alumni contributing to long term impact in our community. In our first 10 years, we created, piloted, and evolved our own rigorous and innovative programming; in our next 10 years we will focus on developing systems and structures that hold institutional knowledge, facilitate learning, and leverage the strength and wisdom of our diverse communities.

Key Outcome #1: TFA Hawai‘i is a connected and thriving community of diverse leaders who collectively advocate for our keiki, especially those in rural, low-income schools, and work in synergy with our communities in pursuit of educational equity for all of our state’s keiki

Why this: With over 300 people directly associated with TFA in our Hawai‘i community (corps members, alumni, staff, and board) today, we have tremendous potential as a community of people who share a set of values and a commitment to the movement for educational equity. In our first decade, we focused primarily on cultivating individual teachers and accelerating impact of classrooms. In our next decade, we will focus on the power of the collective to spark new ideas and catalyze change. To do this, we must strengthen the culture and connectedness of our network to each other and to our broader community in Hawai‘i. Internally, we need to ensure our community is clear, convicted, and proud of who we are and how we contribute to the broader movement for educational equity and excellence in Hawai‘i. We need to foster connections and facilitate learning across our network. Externally, we know that great progress is fueled by partnerships, and this is particularly important in Hawai‘i, where we have one statewide education system and where community is central to our culture. We need to continue to connect the members of our community with partner organizations and work to find organizational synergies that further collective impact. While we are by definition “alternative” and bring diverse people and perspectives to the table, we do so as a respected and trusted partner within the broader strategy for public education in Hawai‘i.

What this looks like in 10 years: We envision Teach For America as a community of people who bring unique and diverse perspectives to their work, are passionate advocates for our kids in Hawai‘i, and are proud to share that they are part of Teach For America. This pride will stem from clarity on who we are and the value we are contributing to the education landscape. Our community will know one another and the work we are doing and actively seek opportunities to support, collaborate, and share ideas and initiatives with each other and the broader Hawai‘i community. In ten years, we will be deeply integrated in our communities; people from our TFA community will be leading in community organizations and people from the community will be leading our TFA teachers.

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We are equal advocates of each other; when we are absent, partners proactively seek out our perspective as valued contributors to the conversation. While we work as one collective, we are known and valued for our unique role as a developer of diverse leaders who help to drive change in education in many different ways, but always in ways that contribute to opportunities for our keiki.

Indicators: While indicators are inherently imperfect and do not capture our full vision, we believe the following will be true if we have been successful in achieving this key outcome:

For corps members, our corps strength index (CSI) will increase to 75% (compared to 8% currently and 39% at EOY 2014-15), with no gaps on key dimensions of diversity.

For alumni, our net promoter score (NPS) will increase to 50% (compared to -1.1% for alumni currently and 7% in FY15), with no gaps on key dimensions of diversity.

For staff, our great places to work (GPTW) survey response for the question: “Taking everything into account, I would say this is a great place to work” must meet or exceed 90% when considering our region and organization (compared to 90% for region and 83% for org currently), with no gaps on key dimensions of diversity.

60% of alumni access, engage in, or lead an opportunity with or for members of the TFA community

100+ TFA affiliated corps members, alumni, and/or staff are actively involved in a community organization

Key Outcome #2: TFA Hawai‘i is consistently contributing to strong impact in schools and helping our keiki graduate with pride and choice in college and career

Why this: This priority keeps students and schools at the heart of what we do. We continue to believe that schools are the key unit of change, and we can add value by providing effective and innovative teachers and vision driven school leaders. Choice in career and college means readiness of each student that allows for options, and a personal understanding of what these options are and what they will mean for their long term future. By 2018, 65% of all jobs available in the state will require at least some postsecondary training or education.1 In order for our keiki to have true choice, we need to ensure they graduate with the academic skills necessary for success in college, career, and beyond. Just as essential, our students need to leave our schools with a strong sense of pride in their cultural and personal identities to become leaders in their communities and the broader world.

In our first decade, we built a strong core program and piloted a number of innovations aimed at broadening our focus beyond student achievement. In our next decade, we need to leverage our learnings to create a cohesive and robust continuum of development that cultivates the authentic leadership of our teachers and supports them to have a consistent strong impact. In addition, as our alumni mature, we believe there is significant opportunity for our alumni to step into administration and other leadership roles and we need to ensure we are providing the supports and opportunities our alumni need to be successful in leading transformational change at the school and system level.

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Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce,

http://www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pdfs/State-LevelAnalysis-web.pdf



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What this looks like in 10 Years: Our students will be personally prepared and confident to become leaders in our communities and our state and academically competitive with the top students across the country. We will have a growing number of “homegrown” leaders making the changes necessary to reverse the systemic inequities present today in a way that respects and uplifts our unique cultural heritage and values. Our impact occurs both at the individual teacher classroom level and also at the school-wide level. An increased number of our teachers remain as long-term teacher leaders contributing to impactful change at the school level. Our alumni are leading schools that are providing our keiki with world-class educational opportunities that set them up for options in life. Internally at Teach For America, our program model is cohesive, responsive to our local context, and provides space for learning, innovation, and leadership.


Our students: o In TFA classrooms using ACT, 60% of students will meet ACT college readiness

benchmarks (60% aligns with highest performing public schools). o In TFA elementary classrooms and middle school ELA and Math, 60% of students will

meet or exceed proficiency in ELA/Math using state proficiency targets used to calculate Strive HI.

o Students in secondary classrooms that do not administer ACT and are not ELA or Math will demonstrate an average of 80% mastery on assessments aligned to national bar for excellence.

o Students in every TFA class take a student survey (adapted from a nationally-recommended student survey such as “Panorama Student Survey for TFA”) aligned to four broader outcomes (knowledge and skill growth, personal growth, social, political and cultural consciousness, and access) and average a score of a 4/5.

Our teachers: 95% of TFA teachers will be rated proficient (or higher) on all Danielson metrics; Median Student Growth Percentile (SGP) in corps member classrooms is 67%2

Our school leaders: schools led by TFA principals will improve at least 10 points on Strive HI index yearly, until classified as a recognition school

Our corps members and alumni: will grow their convictions, insights, and capabilities as measured by our Corps and Alumni Learning Index (CALI) to 80% (compared to 52% current for CMs and 60% EOY 2014-15 and 50% for alumni)

Key Outcome #3: TFA Hawai‘i contributes diverse, innovative leaders, who are grounded in local context and communities, to our education ecosystem in Hawai‘i and sectors that shape it

Why this: To reach One Day in our lifetimes, the movement for educational equity will require a significant force of people contributing to change, and we are poised to help contribute talent to this important movement. We must continue to bring in a new generation of leaders to contribute their unique perspectives to learning and leading in the 21st century; and, as we embark on our second decade in Hawai‘i, we envision many of these new leaders to be our second-generation students. In

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Requires DOE data. Half of the students will have individual student growth percentiles greater than 67.

https://www.act.org/solutions/college-career-readiness/college-readiness-benchmarks/


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addition, we are at a pivotal moment in Hawai‘i, where we have, and will forever more have, more alumni than corps members. Our alumni represent a critical force of leadership and it is essential that we retain many more of our alumni in Hawai‘i and foster their leadership so they may continue to leverage their experiences and conviction to influence educational inequity in Hawai‘i. In our first decade we focused our resources and investments on our corps members and core program. In our next decade we will expand our program continuum to early recruitment in college through our alumni network and distribute resources throughout our continuum to facilitate the development of diverse leaders for Hawai‘i.

What this looks like in 10 Years: We envision a leadership force over 500 strong, contributing to the movement for educational equity in Hawai‘i. Given the nature of our work, we believe that our community in Hawai‘i needs to include a significant proportion of people from the communities where we work. At the same time, we value the overall diversity of our ‘ohana and the unique differences of the individuals in our community, and come together around our shared commitment to our keiki. In 10 years, we envision 50% of our teaching corps will be kama‘āina, including a growing number of second generation corps members and 50% of our teaching corps will bring additional diverse perspectives to our keiki and communities. The majority of our alumni will stay in Hawai‘i beyond their corps commitment and will contribute to impact in low income communities through leadership in education and sectors that shape it, including a large force of teachers, school and system leaders, as well as leaders in policy and advocacy, non-profit work, and social entrepreneurs.


Our new corps members will be 50% kama‘āina, 20% Native Hawaiian, and 20% second generation corps members (i.e. teachers who were taught by TFA teachers)

We will have 300+ teachers in Hawai‘i public schools, a third of whom have taught for 5+ years

We will have 25 alumni in administrative roles, including at least 5 school leaders

We will have 5 alumni working in politics, policy and/or actively involved in advocacy

We will have 5 alumni who are social entrepreneurs who launch innovations that impact education and/or sectors that shape it

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5 YEAR POINTS OF PROGRESS

Through focus on these key long term outcomes, we commit to making concrete progress in these five areas, and set the following ambitious goals, by the school year ending 2021:

Local Recruitment

Student Achievement

Teacher Retention

School Leadership

Culture of our Community

Our 2021 corps will be •40% kama‘āina •10% native Hawaiian •5% second generation corps members

•In classrooms using

ACT, 40% of students

will meet ACT college

readiness

benchmarks

•In elementary

classrooms and

middle school

ELA/Math, 40% of

students will meet or

exceed proficiency

using state

proficiency targets

used in Strive HI

•In all other

classrooms, students

will demonstrate an

average of 75%

mastery on

assessments aligned

to national bar for

excellence.

•67% of CMs staying

beyond 2 years (using

3 year average)

•250 TFA teachers in

Hawai‘i public schools

•15 alumni in VP roles

•1 principal

•Hawai‘i has an

alternative route to

administration

•50% Corps Strength

Index (CSI)

•25% alumni Net

Promoter Score

(NPS)

*In setting student achievement measures, we considered that 30%-50% of TFA teachers will be in Special Education settings




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3 YEAR REGIONAL STRATEGIES

In our first three years we will focus on the guiding principle of cultivating a “movement culture” and four primary regional strategies to set us up to achieve our ten year key outcomes.

Guiding Principle: Movement Culture| As part of our organization aim to evolve from a network of remarkable individuals to a connected and thriving community, our work in Hawai‘i is guided by the principle of cultivating a movement culture. Internally, this refers to a culture shared by our community of corps members, alumni, and staff where diverse visions and philosophies have room to flourish, but all are grounded in shared values, beliefs, and commitment to educational equity in Hawai‘i. Movement culture is grounded in an understanding of self and place and is established through shared experiences, cross-corps collaboration, and effective communication. It is perpetuated through highlighting and celebrating impact, and from a deepening understanding of our unique contribution towards the broader movement towards educational equity. Increased conviction among our internal community further supports the development and growth of external partnerships. We will work more synergistically with, and alongside, other groups and organizations, when we are clear about the value we bring to the broader community. The movement culture of Teach For America Hawai‘i ensures that our organization operates internally and is viewed externally as a cohesive and supportive unit that mobilizes diverse leaders to have wide-reaching, long-lasting impacts in schools and communities.

Strategy 1 | Revolutionize local recruitment, with a focus on increasing our pipeline of Native Hawaiian and 2nd generation corps members

Given our unique role in enlisting people to grow and strengthen the movement for educational equity and excellence, and our deep commitment to support our local keiki to be the future leaders of their community, it is critical that we rally a new generation of local leaders to join this effort. As the economy has improved, and the current and coming generations have and will continue to evolve, we must be nimble in our recruitment strategy and think outside the box in how we revolutionize our local recruitment efforts and grow the pipeline of local leaders. We must expand the scope of our recruitment efforts to cultivate and develop our underclassmen, especially our students from the schools we teach, so they can become the future leaders of their schools and communities. As part of this strategy, we will specifically prioritize the sharing of stories in order for prospective candidates to more clearly see that they can have an impact on critical work in our local community. We aspire for all corps members and alumni to tell their story of impact and serve as recruitment ambassadors in our broader community.

We believe this strategy will accelerate our progress toward all three key outcomes. Local corps members and alumni bring a valuable perspective, as well as connections to our broader community in Hawai`i which enrich our ‘ohana (Key Outcome 1). We further aspire to have a growing number of homegrown leaders, who are deeply grounded in our local context and community, making the changes necessary to reverse systemic inequities in ways that respects and uplifts our unique cultural heritage and values (Key Outcomes 2 & 3).

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Strategy 2 | Evolve our program to catalyze transformational teaching and foster authentic leadership

In the last five years, we’ve piloted numerous programmatic approaches to test new ideas and initiatives and ensure our program is responsive to our local communities. Now, it is imperative that we apply our learnings and evolve our teacher preparation program to ensure that our program remains at the vanguard of transformational learning and leadership. This is particularly important as we welcome a new generation of leaders and learners to this work. We have learned that our programming is most effective when it includes choice, differentiation, and room for adaptation along the way. We commit to continuing differentiated programming and development opportunities for our teachers, putting them at the center of leading their own development. We further commit to continuing culture and community programming to deepen our teachers’ connection to place and understanding of their role as educators within the context of Hawai‘i’s culture and community. Finally, we commit to engaging many more of our alumni in continued programming and connecting them with opportunities that foster their passions and motivations and allow them to continue to develop in their roles over time.

We believe this strategy will accelerate progress toward all three key outcomes. Most directly, we expect this strategy will enable our teachers to be more effective leading to consistent, strong impact in schools (Key Outcome 2). In addition, clearly articulating our evolved program will help ensure that our internal community has a shared understanding of our work and how we contribute to the broader movement (Key Outcome 1). We also believe this will allow our teachers to develop their authentic leadership and personal theory of change to support them in being influential leaders inside and outside of the classroom (Key Outcome 3).

Strategy 3 | Expand opportunities for alumni to engage with Teach For America Hawai‘i and our partners

Over the past decade, we’ve focused on our core program for corps members in their two-year commitment. Now that we have more alumni than corps members, we must focus on engaging and fostering the continued development of our alumni and will work to expand opportunities for their learning and leadership. As part of this strategy, we will specifically focus on continuing to deepen our partnerships with individuals and organizations in our community, as we believe that collective impact will accelerate catalytic and consequential change in Hawai‘i. We see mutually beneficial opportunities for our alumni to engage with partner organizations to better understand the education ecosystem, further activate their individual passions and motivations, and continue to learn and develop their authentic leadership.

We believe this strategy will accelerate progress toward all three key outcomes. We envision a connected and thriving community where alumni are actively serving on community and organization boards, mentoring corps members, and connecting them to individuals, organizations and opportunities in the broader community. (Key Outcome 1). Given the critical role of school leadership in the success of our schools, we will focus on developing partnerships that will create more opportunities for alumni interested in school leadership, including potentially alternative avenues to develop as school leaders. (Key Outcome 2). Finally, we believe that strengthening partnerships with school and district leaders are critical to help to advance impact in schools and provide alumni opportunities to further develop their leadership skills (Key Outcomes 2 and 3).

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Regional Strategy 4 | Advance our Commitment to Diversity

Teach For America is a core values driven organization and as such, each region is challenged to further define and live out their context-specific commitment to our diversity core value. Given the ever-changing corps composition as well as our unique geographical and cultural context, we have a responsibility to get clear on our orientation towards diversity, equity, and inclusiveness (DEI) in Hawai‘i. We must define what it looks like for the diversity core value to live out in our work with staff, with corps members, and with our alumni. This includes deepening our understanding of systemic oppression in Hawai‘i and its impact on education and building strong DEI skills and mindsets through investigating our identities, power, and position in order to lead across lines of difference and in diverse contexts. We must constantly strive to operate in ways that are inclusive and equitable. We believe this strategy will accelerate progress toward all three key outcomes. We believe we will be better able to create a “connected and thriving community of diverse leaders” if we are also creating safe spaces for identity development and culturally-responsive leadership development. (Key Outcome 1). We believe that our teachers will have more potential for a transformational impact if they have a deep understanding of how their identity intersects with that of their students, as well as the culture, history, and context of our local community. Further, we expect greater student impact where teachers are able to create a safe classroom space for students to reflect on their identities, deepen their connection to culture and community, and grow their understanding and awareness of systemic inequity. (Key Outcome 2). Finally, we believe this is a critical lever in fostering a diverse leadership force for our education ecosystem and the sectors that shape it. (Key Outcome 3).

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SUMMARY

TEN YEAR KEY OUTCOMES

Guiding Principle: Sustainability

Key Outcome 1: Connected Community

Key Outcome 2: School Impact

Key Outcome 3: Diverse Leaders

TFA Hawai‘i is a connected and thriving community of diverse leaders who collectively advocate for our keiki, especially those in rural, low-income schools, and work in synergy with our communities in pursuit of educational equity for all of our state’s keiki

TFA Hawai‘i is consistently contributing to strong impact in schools and helping our keiki graduate with pride and choice in college and career

TFA Hawai‘i contributes diverse, innovative leaders, who are grounded in local context and communities, to our education ecosystem in Hawai‘i and sectors that shape it.

FIVE YEAR POINTS OF PROGRESS

Local Recruitment

Student Achievement

Teacher Retention

School Leadership

Culture of our Community

Concrete, ambitious goals set in each of these five areas

THREE YEAR STRATEGIES

Guiding Principle: Movement culture

Revolutionize local recruitment, with a focus on Native Hawaiian and 2nd generation corps members

Evolve our program to catalyze transformational teaching and foster authentic leadership

Expand opportunities for alumni to engage with Teach For America Hawai‘i and our partners

Advance our commitment to diversity

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One Day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.

www.hawaii.teachforamerica.org

teach for america-hawai‘i strategic direction: 2016-2026

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