Pat Hamamoto, Superintendent of the Hawaii State Department of Education, and Donna Ikeda, Chairperson of the State Board of Education, has recognized BYU-Hawaii "for all that you do to support public education" with one of its inaugural 2007 Partnership in Education Awards.
Hamamoto [on the left in the picture below] and Ikeda [on the right] presented Dr. John Bailey [pictured at upper left], Dean of the School of Education, with the award at a recent BOE meeting.
"This is the first year that the DOE has offered one of these awards, and we're one of 89 groups that they recognized," Bailey said, "but we're only one of two universities. Basically it came because of our work with the Windward [DOE] District. Lea Albert, the Windward District Complex Area Superintendent, recommended us."
Bailey explained BYUH usually partners with the DOE on four levels:
- "We put our pre-service teachers out into the schools to do their practica."
- "We have our faculty go work with their teachers, giving in-service workshops.
- "We've had a three-year math project going with teachers in the Windward District."
- "We work with their peer assistance group in helping newly hired teachers. If any of our newly hired students need attention, we go out and work with them.
"Each year we put about 150 of our students into the close-by public schools to do small practica. Then when we get to the professional year, we're putting 60 of them out for student teaching," Bailey continued.
"The other thing the district has been working on is schools that are restructuring; so we've tried to assist with that, in terms of giving faculty and staff workshops on restructuring issues. We've worked a little bit with Waiahole, Kahaluu and Hauula schools."
Bailey also noted some international BYU-Hawaii students do their professional practica in home countries. "That's another initiative we've been working on. We're up to about five who have completed student teaching in Hong Kong and become licensed. We also have two students who are doing their final year in the Philippines, and we're setting up for Thailand in the near future," he said.
"When I came in '97, basically 95% of our students were from Hawaii or the U.S. mainland, but now our international students are increasing. The numbers are picking up."
"We want to retain the good name we have in Hawaii and the mainland, but we want to add to that on the international side. We want to recruit more students. We want them to teach back in their home countries." He added those international students who have done their practica back home said it's "prepared them to be employed. We're learning how to do it better."
"We have another program, alternative licensure, for those teachers hired under emergency regulations but they aren't qualified. The principals recommend them to us, and we go supervise, so they get a 'short path' to certification. They don't have to do all the course work, if they seem like they have an understanding, and demonstrate it by their [teaching] behavior as we observe them. That program helps the schools as well."
Bailey added quite a few Windward DOE teachers have also participated in the School of Education's "fifth year" professional certification program.
"Working with the DOE is a great opportunity for us. They allow our students to come," he said. "On the other hand, we typically have students with good character and good behavior. They're reliable, and they're willing to learn. So, it's a mutually satisfying arrangement."