Mountain View's previously struggling charter school, Waters of Life (Na Wai Ola), made a big splash this week at the 2011 Hawaii Charter Schools Conference.

On Tuesday, the Hawaii Public Charter School Network recognized Waters of Life as the Most Improved Charter School of the Year, while also lauding its science teacher, Amanda Benevides, as the Charter School Teacher of the Year.

Joe Nathan, who helped write the nation's first charter school law, urged Hawaii educators Tuesday to celebrate the expansion and successes of the charter movement even as they grapple with growing pains.

"We will not make progress without agitation," said Nathan, keynote speaker at the 10th Annual Hawaii Charter Schools Conference in Kaneohe. "We will not make progress without mistakes. We can acknowledge them, we can learn from them and we can move on." Login for more...

Hawaii's recommendations to revamp the state charter school system would go a long way toward correcting accountability problems, four national experts told legislators at a briefing Wednesday.

But there's still room for improvement, they say, including finding a way to make sure charter schools get the same funding as regular public schools.

Hālau Kū Māna has been recently highlighted in the media and newspapers for its misrepresentation of data. HKM has in no way misreported or misrepresented its academic performance data in the 2009-10 self-evaluation report to the Charter School Review Panel (CSRP) and Charter School Administrative Office (CSAO). HKM recognizes that sound and viable organizations are accountable and transparent, in this spirit, HKM has provided a copy of the information that was provided to the auditor’s for its stakeholders and the general public.

RESPONSE TO MEDIA

Hawaii's 2011 legislative session was packed with debate over hot educational issues. And the new session, which begins January 18, promises to pick up where the drama left off.