The Birth of Academy 21:

Change Leadership for 21st Century Education.

In 2004, Hawai‘i Department of Education Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto built the first bridge between Hawai‘i public schools and the Harvard Change Leadership Group (CLG), an initiative at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education that was pioneering new, leadership-based approaches to education reform. This relationship grew steadily through a partnership of stakeholders deeply committed to the future of Hawai‘i’s public schools and the students they serve.  The Hawaiian Educational Council spearheaded the creation of the Hawai‘i Change Leadership Project (HCLP), which began as a nonprofit project in 2005.

After almost five years of extensive design, pilot and demonstration work, the Hawai‘i Change Leadership Project has closed its first phase and reopened as Academy 21, a nonprofit that has merged the program offerings and curricula of HCLP and other leadership in education programs to continue to contribute to education reform in Hawai‘i. Academy 21 builds on the momentum, discoveries, and lessons learned from the classroom level to the policy level and guides school-based collaborations to positively transform education.

Our reinvention team members are poised to support change leadership in Hawai‘i. Please feel free to contact us at any time about our process, what Academy 21 offers, and how you can become a participant by visiting our Reach Us page.

Karen Aka, Chief Academic Officer

Billi Smith, Leadership Learning Coach

Moana Leong, Virtual Assistant