A Teacher Retention Initiative for O‘ahu’s Leeward Coast
June 2007 to December 2008
Funded by the Kamehameha Schools
The Program
INPEACE’s Kūkuluao is a teacher development and support model aimed at
- encouraging area residents to become teachers in their home communities and
- supporting current teachers working in their home communities.
The goals of
Kūkuluao are:
- to increase the number of teaching positions in public schools on the Leeward Coast of O‘ahu held by teachers from those communities
- to decrease the need to recruit and hire teachers from out of state who are unfamiliar with Hawai‘i and its culture
This initiative focuses on developing and supporting teachers from our communities to teach in our schools. Kūkuluao, means literally to build light (enlightenment.) The project will seek enlightenment and information from developing, new, and experienced Leeward Coast teachers to identify their needs for support.
Kūkuluao will support kama'aina pre-service teachers while they complete their teacher education programs and newly hired teachers employed in schools in their communities. It will also recognize and encourage experienced teachers who work in the schools to continue to do so.
Kūkuluao will ask teachers about their experiences and challenges in order to be guided by their
mana‘o.
Teachers advance along a career path that begins with
recruitment into college and progresses into
teacher preparation, then
induction (initial employment as a classroom teacher), and finally
retention (long term employment as a classroom teacher.)
Kūkuluao will provide support along this path.
Recruitment:
-
INPEACE currently provides recruitment efforts to the Coast through the Ka Lama Education Academy (KLEA).
- Kūkuluao will collaborate with KLEA to prepare residents to qualify to take courses at the community college level and assist them with financial support to register for and pass PRAXIS I entrance examinations.
Teacher Preparation:
-
Kūkuluao will conduct focus group discussions with pre-service teacher education students in the UHM COE Ka Lama o ke Kaiāulu Cohort VI to identify needs and design a program of support to assist them as they are enrolled in practicum experiences in Leeward Coast elementary schools. This will also extend to Leeward Coast residents who will enter the UH West O‘ahu Teacher Education Program.
Induction:
-
Kūkuluao will conduct focus group discussions with first year teachers from the Ka Lama o ke Kaiaulu V cohort who are teaching in Waianae schools, to design an induction program that will be implemented in fall 2008. The induction program may include such things as stipends for classroom set-up, supplies, and equipment, as well as a mentoring program for these new teachers.
Retention:
-
Ka Lama o ke Kaiāulu graduates teaching on the Coast with three years or more experience have a wealth of information to mentor novice teachers and to inform efforts to retain them as teachers on the Coast. We will obtain feedback from these teachers to design a retention program for their continuing professional development and graduate study.
