Dive Brief:

• Hawaii's Department of Education is considering delaying the use of its test-based teacher evaluation system due to concerns over fairness.
• Officials within the department have said it could be as many as two years before teacher pay is tied to tests, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser 
• Like many states, Hawaii tried this past school year to use spring exam scores to determine which teachers were eligible for raises, or would receive tenure or be fired.

Dive Insight:

The decision to push back test-based accountability systems is due largely to the fact that the tests students are taking are new. The thinking is that students and teachers need time to familiarize themselves with the exam before anyone can be held accountable to the results. What will be interesting is what will happen in many states once districts have had time to get familiar with an exam. The current delay argument works, but many people feel test-based accountability is unfair in general, regardless of the test or how long it has been in use.