Less Than Half Of Hawaiʻi Teachers Went To High School In-State
Only a third of educators in a recent survey said they felt well-prepared to integrate Hawaiian language, culture and history into their lessons.
More than half of Hawaiʻi educators attended high school outside the state, according to recent survey data published by the Hawaiʻi Teacher Standards Board.
Nearly 5,000 educators, including 3,279 teachers, completed HTSB’s survey, which also asked questions about respondents’ preparedness to work in schools and their experiences working in other states.
Kamehameha Schools Kapālama produced the greatest number of local teachers — 3% of respondents in the survey — followed by Castle, Mililani, Pearl City, Roosevelt, Moanalua and Waiākea High Schools. The six public schools each accounted for 2% of the school employees surveyed.
Most high schools produced less than 1% of educators who responded to the survey.
Hawaiʻi colleges fared better when it came to preparing local school employees, with 58% of survey participants attending a teacher education program in the state. Just over a quarter of respondents attended the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa.
The majority of the survey respondents said they taught in Hawaiʻi public and charter schools, although a small number worked in private schools. The survey also included 17% of respondents who had left the teaching profession or were working in schools outside of Hawaiʻi.
Despite the large number of teachers coming from outside of Hawaiʻi, nearly 65% said they still felt ready to meet the teaching standards set by the state education department. But only a third said they felt well-prepared to integrate Hawaiian language, culture and history into their lessons.
The state education department has recruited hundreds of educators from the Philippines and other countries to help fill teacher vacancies since 2019. International teachers who come to Hawaiʻi on visas can work in schools for up to five years.
The state started the new academic year with the lowest number of teacher vacancies schools have seen in more than five years.
Civil Beat’s education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy. “Data Dive” is supported in part by the Will J. Reid Foundation.
