Say “Aloha” to the U.S. Department of Education’s new deputy assistant secretary for policy and programs in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Ronn Nozoe, who is currently Hawaii’s deputy superintendent.

During his tenure in Hawaii, Nozoe helped implement the state’s $75 million Race to the Top grant, which went through its own turnaround of sorts. The grant was initially on “high risk status,” but Hawaii was then able to right the ship—and by some measures (such as improvement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP) it finished near the head of the pack.

Nozoe will be working closely with Deborah Delisle, the assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, and the former Ohio state chief. He’ll be a political appointee, but he doesn’t need Senate confirmation. Nozoe’s last day with the Hawaii school system will be April 24, according to the Associated Press, which first reported his appointment.

The rural Naalehu Elementary School on the Big Island of Hawaii used Race to the Top grants to counter rural isolation and poverty.

--Marco Garcia/AP for Education Week