For many of the principals, the movement to personalize their schools was driven by their focus on students and also informed by data. For example, James Campbell High School, once known as the lowest performing school in
Hawaii, has been steadily improving for the past six years under the leadership of Gail Awakuni. “I looked at our data,” Awakuni said. “We had a failing school and we had students who were not achieving, and this is the same data for over 45 years. We couldn’t continue the same way; we have to do something.” Awakuni looked at research of what was needed and said, “Let’s just go for it and do it.”