“Gold Standard” Support for Hawaii’s
Novice Teachers
News Release from Hawaii DoE
The Hawaii State Department of Education today
released its new Hawaii Teacher Induction Program Standards, an important
deliverable of the state’s Race to the Top plan that will provide greater
support for novice teachers.
“Teachers are the single most important factor in
determining student success,” said Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi. “Our goal
is to have every beginning teacher working with a highly skilled instructional
mentor to improve their craft. This critical investment in induction will help
us to retain quality teachers and offer leadership roles to veteran teachers.”
Hawaii’s comprehensive three-year induction program
will engage beginning teachers in a system of support to accelerate teacher
effectiveness and student learning. The program will also build collaborative
learning communities for all educators and provide excellent teachers the
opportunity to develop into educational leaders. Currently, approximately
3,600, or 33 percent, of Hawaii’s teacher workforce are novices with zero to
three years in the profession. For many novices, the learning curve is steep.
High quality induction and mentoring programs help
beginning teachers to accelerate their development into effective veteran
teachers. Thus, the implementation of teacher induction standards comes at a
critical time as states across the country are coping with an increasing exodus
of educators from the classroom. According to the DOE Office of Human Resources,
56 percent of Hawaii’s public school teachers left the profession within their
first five years of teaching at an annual cost between $4 million and $29
million to the DOE.
Until recently, all fifteen complex area
superintendents have been responsible for developing and running complex area
induction and mentoring programs. A 2008 University of California at Santa Cruz
study by Dr. Lisa Johnson titled, “Teacher Induction in the State of Hawaii:
Current Efforts, Best Practices and Future Steps,” concluded “there is a
patchwork of programs and efforts, some better conceived and some more effective
than others” in Hawaii’s public school system. As part of its Race to the Top
plan, the new induction standards represent the DOE’s effort to replicate the
best components of current complex area programs and establish a common, high
bar for quality.
Some examples of the new induction standards
include:
- All teachers in their first two years must be
provided with intensive mentoring, with services available for teachers in their
third year as requested.
- The ratio of beginning teachers to mentors cannot
exceed 15:1.
- All beginning teachers will have a professional
growth plan that addresses specific skills and content gaps.
- All mentors will receive extensive research-based
training in how to be an effective instructional coach.
A Farrington-Kaiser-Kalani complex area induction
program participant shared, “[t]he most beneficial aspect was having a senior
teacher meet with me every week face-to-face to discuss the challenges I'd been
having and getting immediate and quick feedback from her. I really appreciated
the times she was able to come in to observe me and give me feedback about how
my lesson went.”
Complex area superintendents must ensure current
complex induction programs align to the new standards. Complex areas will
receive a total of $3 million in federal Title II monies to support plan
execution. An additional $3 million of federal Race to the Top funds will go
towards mentor training and program quality monitoring.
By the end of school year 2012-13, a consistent
system-wide induction and mentoring program tailored to the unique needs of
schools and complex areas will accelerate teacher efficacy and increase student
learning and growth.
Visit www.hawaiidoereform.org to learn more
about the Hawaii Teacher Induction Program Standards.
-DOE-
Hawaii Teacher Induction Program Standards:
LINK