This commentary is part of a series of articles prepared by Voices of Educators, a nonprofit coalition designed to foster debate and public policy change within Hawai'i's public education system, in partnership with The Advertiser. It appears in Focus on the first Sunday of the month.

Our recent Voices of Educators dialogue about the future of education in Hawai'i and the changes we must make now to achieve our goals reminded me of an incident that occurred a few years ago when I was principal at McKinley High School.

One morning just before the beginning of the school day, the unleashing of a barrage of expletives by a female student caught my attention. I learned that she had come to school, ready to learn, but when she arrived at her classroom her teacher was absent. Her outburst, the result of her disappointment, made me realize just how much students want to learn and how frustrating it can be when they are denied the opportunity.

We have a responsibility, if not a moral obligation, to provide the skills, knowledge, attitudes and values that will enable our students to graduate prepared for success in college, careers and citizenship. By understanding and meeting their inherent need to learn, we will also equip our students with the intellectual, emotional and social capital to meet the demands of the 21st century.

The foundation for Hawai'i's long-term economic recovery and its future as a sustainable and healthy community rests squarely on our ability to transform our public schools and universities into 21st-century institutions of learning.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made it clear that America's schools must be reformed with documented results and the highest levels of transparency and accountability. To support these expectations, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides unprecedented funding for education reform.

In Hawai'i, we are developing a blueprint for education reform that is sustainable and will improve student learning and school outcomes even at a time when our public schools are facing unprecedented fiscal challenges. School reform includes making sure every student has a qualified teacher, improving the quality of assessments, and increasing support for struggling schools.

We are also setting higher expectations for graduation, better aligning K-12 education to post-secondary expectations, and developing a database that will enable us to better track individual student progress.

Let's look at the high school diploma. The traditional high school diploma represents time spent in school and the accumulation of credits for courses taken. It serves as evidence that a student had completed 13 years of schooling, that's all. In Hawai'i, as in most states, the diploma has not been aligned with, or linked to, admissions requirements for post-secondary education or the world of work. That means a high school diploma does not necessarily mean a student is college or career ready.

In today's world, a diploma must serve as a student's "passport" to a higher education, a living wage, boundless opportunities, and a multitude of choices, providing access and the opportunity for achievement in a highly competitive global marketplace. Experts tell us that about 90 percent of tomorrow's fastest-growing jobs will require some form of post-secondary education.

In response to these new conditions, the Department recently launched the "Step Up" campaign, a statewide movement aimed at better preparing Hawai'i's public high school students for college and careers.

Last year, the Board of Education increased the rigor and requirements of its BOE Recognition Diploma (referred to as the BOE "Step Up" Diploma) for students graduating in 2013. The goal is to have 75 percent of freshmen statewide pledge to earn this diploma and to develop partnerships with 100 local businesses and community organizations in supporting a more rigorous curriculum for high school students.

However, we also know that college is not the choice for every student. So, we must do more to ensure our graduates are also career ready. We are in the preliminary discussions to develop a Career and Technical Education Pathway Program that will align the high school curriculum with apprenticeship programs, workforce certification, or other post-secondary programs.

We envision developing partnerships with industry, community colleges, and other institutions of higher learning that provide seamless transitions for our graduates. Program completers would receive a certificate of study to complement their high school diploma and recognize the student's completion of knowledge and skill sets that will ultimately lead to better job prospects.

Another piece of the reform strategy is developing a data system to track each student from the day they enter preschool through elementary school, on to middle school, high school and finally to college and work. This longitudinal system will enable us to spot students who are falling behind so we can intervene early in the process and reduce remediation.

College and career goals can be matched with student course selections and strengths. All key partners in a student's education —teachers, counselors and administrators — will be able to access the student's complete history with a few keystrokes. We will be able to track our graduates into college and careers, enabling us to better evaluate our effectiveness.

On the day we launched "Step Up," as I watched freshmen at Waialua High and Intermediate School sign their "Step Up" pledges, I could not help but flash back to that young McKinley High School student and her eager anticipation of learning.

While we work to meet Hawai'i's demand for skilled and educated workers for the 21st century, we as educators must also be ever conscious of our responsibility and obligation to meet our students' aspirations and their expectations of us as educators.

Voices of Educators is comprised of some of Hawai'i's top education experts, including: Liz Chun, executive director of Good Beginnings Alliance; Patricia Hamamoto, superintendent of the Department of Education; Christine Sorensen, dean of the University of Hawai'i's College of Education; Donald B. Young, Hawai'i Educational Policy Center; Wil Okabe from the Hawai'i State Teachers Association; Sharon Mahoe of the Hawai'i Teacher Standards Board; Francine Honda, HGEA Unit 6 president; and Robert Witt of the Hawai'i Association of Independent Schools. Visit their Web site at www.hawaii.edu/voice