Annual Hawaiʻi Education Association summit will focus on ending state’s teacher shortage

Ending Hawaiʻi’s teacher shortage will be a focus of discussion this week of the Hawaiʻi Education Association, a nonprofit dedicated to strengthen teaching and building an educator pipeline for the next generation, during the organization’s annual summit on Oʻahu.

This year’s summit — titled “Building the Future of Education in Hawaiʻi: Cultivating Tomorrow’s Teachers, Empowering Today’s Educators” — is planned for 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Elizabeth Fuller Hall of the YWCA, located at 1040 Richards St., in downtown Honolulu.

Hawaiʻi Education Association President Joan Lewis said ending the teacher shortage must continue to be a kakou, or shared, effort, with community members, agencies and organizations striving to work together and find solutions.

Panel discussions will focus on collaboration to develop a process to build up and support the next generation of teachers.

Those who will participate on the panels include representatives from the Hawaiʻi Department of Education, Hawaiʻi State Public Charter School Commission, Hawaiʻi Teacher Standards Board, Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association, Hawaiʻi P-20, Hawaiʻi Association of Independent Schools and University of Hawaiʻi system.

“At our summit this year, we will focus attention and support on high school students being recruited to become teachers,” said Lewis. “This aligns with the goals of the US Departments of Labor and Education to strengthen the homegrown pipeline for the teaching profession.”

Many other states face a shortage of licensed teachers.

There is a shortage of up to 52,800 vacant full-time teaching positions in the United States, found a 2022 survey by the Annenberg Institute at Brown University. Hawaiʻi ranks as one of the 10 states with the lowest teacher-to-population ratios.

So this year’s summit also will feature national board certified teacher Carla Warren, senior partner with the National Center for Grow Your Own, who will share information about nationwide trends in teacher cultivation and lessons for Hawaiʻi.

Warren previously served as officer for the Division of Academic Support and Educator Development with the West Virginia Department of Education, leading multiple instructional and educator workforce initiatives.

She developed West Virginia’s Teacher Leader Framework to assist county school systems with codifying their teacher leadership practices.

Warren also was instrumental in designing and implementing the West Virginia Grow Your Own Teacher Pathway and securing U.S. Department of Labor funds to develop that state’s first-in-the-nation teacher pre-apprenticeship program.

Several Hawaiʻi government agencies, including the Departments of Labor and Industrial Relations and Education along with the Hawaiʻi Teacher Standards Board, are following her lead and collaborating to establish an apprenticeship program in the islands, using grant funds from the US Department of Labor.

The Hawaiʻi Education Association is already supporting 12 teachers from eight Hawaiʻi high schools — including Kauaʻi High School in Līhuʻe and Waiākea High School in Hilo on the Big Island, as well as Maui High School in Kahului, Maui, and Farrington, James Campbell, Mililani, Pearl City and Waipahu high schools on Oʻahu — participating in Project Equal Access and the pilot program Educators Rising, a nationally recognized curriculum for high school students aspiring to be educators.

“We’re glad to be supporting the teachers involved in this pilot project by underwriting the cost of airfare for neighbor island teachers to meet together,” Lewis said. “This further supports the teaching profession by augmenting career and technical education classes in the schools for those interested in pursuing teaching, Teaching As A Career clubs in the schools and Education Academies that prepare public school students for careers in education.”