Four out of every 5 public schools singled out for restructuring under federal standards last year earned improved standings on a new accountability system that looks beyond standardized test scores.

The state Department of Education on Monday released the first results using its so-called Strive HI system. In addition to test scores, the program credits schools for attendance, graduation and college-going rates, and closing the achievement gap between high-needs students — English-language learners, those economically disadvantaged or with disabilities — and their peers.

It largely replaces federal mandates of the No Child Left Behind law that required schools to meet rising reading and math proficiency targets or face sanctions.

Department officials say the program is designed to help schools better prepare students for success in college and careers.

"The Strive HI system really focuses on a continuum-of-improvement concept," Schools Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe said in an interview. "No Child Left Behind was either ‘met’ or ‘not met’ — that’s it. It didn’t give schools a whole lot of detail about what was working at their schools.

"Our system is built on multiple measures that allow us to have a very comprehensive and detailed look at a bunch of success factors that we believe are the most critical ones for student success, and measure them," he said.

Hawaii and 39 other states have been granted waivers from NCLB provisions in exchange for adopting high standards and an alternative accountability system approved by the U.S. Department of Education.

Here schools are assigned a score out of a possible 400 points that determines where they place on one of five category "steps." Fourteen schools — 13 elementary and a K-8 charter school — earned spots in the top "recognition" category.

Manoa Elementary scored the most points statewide with 387. Ke Kula Niihau o Kekaha, a small charter school on Kauai, posted the lowest, with 17 points.

The bulk of the state’s 286 schools, or about 80 percent, ranked in the second-highest category, "continuous improvement." The remaining 15 percent of schools were designated as "focus" or "priority" schools. No schools were placed in the bottom category, "superintendent’s zone," for the initial ratings.

The overall improved standings are a marked contrast with how schools fared last year under the federal guidelines. During the 2011-12 school year, 51 percent of schools did not meet NCLB prog­ress targets, according to department data.

That year 82 schools were in restructuring mode — the most serious consequence under the law. Now 65 of those schools are in the new "continuous improvement" category.

Overall, Hawaii schools edged up in both reading and math proficiency for the 2012-13 school year, which ended in May. Seventy-two percent of students tested as proficient in reading, up from 71 percent last year. Sixty percent of students tested proficient in math, up from 59 percent.

Meanwhile, over the past two years, the state as a whole narrowed by 12 percent the achievement gap between high-needs students and their less needy peers.

Kalaheo High in Windward Oahu earned the most points among the state’s high schools, thanks in part to narrowing its achievement gap by 56 percent over the last two years.

"That’s something that we’ve been striving for, but to see it as a data point is totally awesome," said Kala­heo Principal Susan Hummel, whose school had been tagged for restructuring.

She credited Kala­heo’s efforts to target lessons and offer extra tutoring for struggling students.

Comparing the Strive HI evaluations to a medical checkup for schools, Deputy Superintendent Nozoe said the federal mandates merely touched the surface by looking only at a school’s test scores. The new system, he said, is a "more comprehensive look at the health of a school and where a school needs to focus its energy to improve."

He added, "For the first time we’ve got the right measures, the right tools to look at it, the right concept."

Under NCLB, which has been in place since 2001, schools that didn’t achieve adequate yearly prog­ress for two consecutive years were subject to varying sanctions. Prog­ress was gauged on the Hawaii State Assessment, which students in grades 3 though 8 and grade 10 take annually.

A school was placed in restructuring after missing targets six years in a row. Restructuring could involve replacing school staff, reopening the school as a charter school or turning over operations to the state or a private company.

Kalaheo’s Hummel said it seemed unfair to evaluate a high school using just 10th-grade scores.

"It was terribly unfair that only sophomores’ reading and math were being evaluated and that’s how the whole school was graded," she said. "Now, with the new Strive HI system, I think it validates everyone’s work. Everyone has an equal responsibility now to make sure students graduate college- and career-ready."

School officials say the performance system provides the needed indicators to help schools continuously improve.

"It’s not just test scores anymore. You can actually figure out where you need to improve and how you’re going to" improve, said Kau-Keaau-Pahoa Complex Area Superintendent Mary Correa. (The complex areas include a high school and its surrounding feeder schools.)

Correa’s Hawaii island schools were considered among the lowest-performing in the state under NCLB.

Last year six of the nine schools in the complex were in restructuring. Eight of the schools have since scored into the "continuous improvement" category.

"To get there we had to move away from a victim mentality to high expectations and set people up for success," Correa said.

Kailua-Kalaheo Complex Area Superintendent Suzanne Mulcahy called the new ratings more meaningful.

"There’s more to it than a score on a test you take each spring," she said. "Rather than just trying to hit one score, now we’re trying to make improvements in many areas."

Despite the statewide strides, not everyone is pleased with the initial ratings.

Some charter schools cited concerns about the high number of charters in the bottom two categories. More than half of the "priority" schools are charters, and 1 in 5 "focus" schools is a charter.

But Tom Hutton, executive director of the Public Charter School Commission, said it’s important to look beyond a school’s raw score.

"Inherently, as with any system you set up like this, the data are very useful for serving children and it’s a good diagnostics tool, but the nuances often get lost in the translation when you assign a grade or category," he said.

He noted the Strive HI system has triggers that can automatically assign schools to focus and priority status, including a low graduation rate or large achievement gap. Each of the 14 charters in the bottom two categories hit a trigger.

For example, Kihei Charter School on Maui was the top-performing charter school in the priority category, scoring 235 points — better than 131 schools that placed in the higher continuous improvement category. But the school is marked a priority school because of its graduation rate.

"These things are triggers for a reason and need to be addressed," Hutton said, "but the takeaway is that the category your school falls in doesn’t tell the whole story."

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