'Diverse Providers' in Action: School Restructuring in Hawaii. Education Outlook. No. 8

What to do about persistently low-performing schools is a pressing challenge for policymakers and educators across the nation. Schools that fail to make "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) for five consecutive years under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) must be "restructured." The 3,500 schools in the United States currently in restructuring are pursuing a variety of different strategies, but little research has been done on their implementation or effectiveness. The state of Hawaii has chosen to partner with outside organizations in forty-four of its ninety-two restructuring schools--a much greater level than mainland states--and its unusual procurement and accountability frameworks for managing these partnerships offer unique insights to states considering a similar approach. This Outlook looks at the support mechanisms that Hawaii has put in place to facilitate partnerships with these "diverse providers" and at how restructuring schools may have benefited from those arrangements. (Contains 4 figures and 11 notes.)