With a lot of people coming and going from the continental United States, a significant military presence, and a high cost of living, teacher turnover has long plagued Hawai’i schools. While nationally nearly half of new teachers leave the classroom in the first five years, Hawai’i was losing them in just three. Determined to stem the tide, state leaders implemented a robust induction program based on NTC’s research-based model. Hawai’i’s bold investment is now a beacon for states facing similar challenges.
We spoke with Keri Shimomoto and Kristen Brummel, educational specialists with the Hawai’i Teacher Induction Center, about the evolution of the state’s program and the key components that contribute to both its stability and coherence and its ability to remain dynamic, responsive, and reflective of the rich cultural context of Hawai’i.
After serving as an induction coordinator and mentor in the Honolulu District since 2001, Keri Shimomoto was asked to spearhead a comprehensive statewide induction and mentoring effort for the Hawai’i State Department of Education (HIDOE) in 2010 and has helped lead the state’s induction programming ever since.
Kristen Brummel credits a new teacher course led by Keri early in her teaching career as life-changing. After being named Hawai’i State Teacher of the Year in 2011, she became a mentor herself. Kristen has also served as an induction program coordinator at the local level before joining the Hawai’i Teacher Induction Center last year.
When Keri first started doing this work, she recalled that a few induction programs existed, but new teacher support was not universally available. Her first formal mentor training came through a department partnership with the University of Hawai’i to support new emergency-hire special education teachers. New Teacher Center (NTC) provided the professional learning for participating mentors, which Keri described as “some of the best professional development I experienced as a teacher.” She said the experience helped her and her colleagues to “level up” their shared vision for quality mentoring as the cornerstone of teacher induction.
Over the next few years, NTC also provided programmatic consultation, conducting focus groups across the state to assess existing induction practices. “We found there were pockets of really good support for new teachers here and there, but there was a real need for consistency,” Keri said. Based on NTC’s recommendations for building a more coherent, statewide approach, the department began applying for grants and conducting small pilots. Eventually, the state spelled out its vision for new teacher support in a successful federal Race to the Top grant application, and in 2011, opened New Teacher Center Hawai’i. “We wanted to go for the gold standard,” Keri said, “to use the New Teacher Center’s model and contextualize it for our state.”
Those early years marked the beginning of a rich partnership that has fostered the growth of a state induction program now seen by Hawai’i’s education leadership as the “heartbeat of the department.” Hallmarks of this exemplary state model include stable infrastructure and funding, the guiding ethos of Nā Hopena A‘o, and an active commitment to sustain relevant, responsive, and continuously improving teacher support.
Policy and infrastructure that says Hawai’i is serious about induction
New teachers in Hawai’i receive two years of intensive mentoring with ongoing new teacher-focused professional learning options through year three (and up to year five). This level of support is the result of policy initiatives, permanently funded induction positions to ensure comprehensive training for mentors at every level of the system, and local guidance and expectations for new teacher support programs that are spelled out in the Hawai’i Teacher Induction Program Standards.
Formalizing and institutionalizing high-quality induction as a state priority involved advocating with the Board of Education and the Hawai’i State Teachers Association. Keri said the resulting policy was critical: “We are able to say ‘We want to help teachers to get better, faster. It’s going to be better for your students, and we want to retain teachers. Also, it’s board policy, so it is an expectation, and we have the support of the teacher union to do this work.’”
Another critical piece was funding. “One of our goals,” Keri continued, “was to build a permanent induction system for beginning teachers. The only way to do that was to make sure we had permanent public funding for it, so we didn’t have to keep relying on grants and chasing after funds. It took some time to establish our existing office, but now there are 10 of us in positions that are publicly, permanently funded by the legislature and the governor. Teacher induction is in our general budget. That was a huge step.”
These state-level funded positions include two full-release special education mentors and five induction “state office teachers” responsible for working with local induction staff. Every superintendent of Hawai’i’s 15 “complex areas” (how the state refers to geographical districts) must designate an induction program coordinator who meets regularly with state staff. These coordinators also participate in Hawai’i’s Professional Learning Network (modeled on NTC’s National Program Leader Network) for quarterly professional learning designed to build induction leadership capacity. Local coordinators manage their complex area programs, including designing and facilitating professional learning for mentors serving in schools as well as for beginning teachers. “We felt it was really important to centralize and standardize the mentor training following the NTC model because we wanted to make sure that we were providing rigorous mentoring focused on improving instruction for all students, not just ‘buddy’ mentoring,” Keri said.
To sustain a high level of consistency, according to NTC program lead Vera-Lisa Roberts, state and local staff continue to participate in ongoing mentor training. They also continue to mentor at least one beginning teacher to keep their mentoring skills and perspectives fresh.
Another key piece of the program is the length and intentionality of the support for new teachers. The state coordinates beginning teacher summer academies and quarterly new teacher professional learning communities (PLCs) that are facilitated in each complex area. This is in addition to two years of intensive support paired with a trained mentor and engaging in 180 minutes of mentoring interactions a month. After the two years, some principals may request that teachers continue mentoring for a third year or teachers can request the support themselves. Otherwise, new teachers participate in specialized professional learning in years three, four, and sometimes, five. “We know that we still can lose teachers after that second year, third year, even fourth year, so we’ve created an extended system of support for those teachers once they no longer work so closely with their mentor,” said Keri.
The state also offers PLCs specifically for new teachers in years 2-4 led by veteran teacher leaders. According to Kristen, this is designed to leverage the expertise of exceptional teachers to share effective instructional practices with beginning teachers. “When teachers lead professional learning, they create a ripple effect. Their expertise inspires new teachers, ultimately benefiting all students. It creates a model of leadership that inspires new teachers to follow in those footsteps and become leaders themselves,” she said.
PLCs also provide opportunities for new teachers to collaborate with peers, an important working condition that research says improves job satisfaction and teacher retention. As a professional learning model, staff report that PLCs allow them to provide ongoing professional learning while staying flexible and adapting to how teachers want to engage. Kristen adds: “Building a network is crucial for new teachers. It fosters the understanding that resources and support can come from a diverse range of people and places. Additionally, collaborating with colleagues facing similar challenges provides invaluable guidance and camaraderie.”
Nā Hopena A‘o or HĀ
A more recent area of focus — and defining characteristic of Hawai’i’s induction approach — is captured in the HIDOEʻs Nā Hopena A‘o or HĀ. According to the state’s website, HĀ is a “department-wide framework to develop the skills, behaviors, and dispositions that are reminiscent of Hawaiʻi’s unique context and to honor the qualities and values of the indigenous language and culture of Hawaiʻi. The outcomes include a sense of Belonging, Responsibility, Excellence, Aloha, Total Wellbeing and Hawai‘i, that, when taken together, become the core BREATH that can be drawn on for strength and stability throughout school and beyond.”
NTC Program Consultant Vera-Lisa had a lot to say about the alignment of HĀ and NTC’s relational, student-centered approach to creating optimal learning environments. “It’s about culture and identity and teacher and student well-being, and it stems from beliefs about students and people and relationships. There are so many connections to the science and optimal learning environments. It also reflects how we co-design with our partners. Across very different islands, it’s a very similar vision, everyone is working towards one goal.”
Keri agreed: “These are Hawaiian values that I’ve always felt really align well with NTC’s core values. NTC’s work with teachers and students always starts from a place of competence. Getting to know and honoring everyone’s gifts and building from there.”
“These are Hawaiian values that I’ve always felt really align well with NTC’s core values. NTC’s work with teachers and students always starts from a place of competence. Getting to know and honoring everyone’s gifts and building from there.”
And because so many teachers come to Hawai’i from the continental United States, the cultural aspect of induction that HĀ brings is essential to set new teachers up for success to create authentic relationships with students, families, and colleagues. “These are values that are important in the communities. It will help to enculturate new teachers, encouraging them to immerse themselves in the community, the school, and the community of the school,” Vera-Lisa added. “Teachers from the mainland might not know that kids leave their shoes at the door, the importance of ancestors, grandparents coming into the classroom. HĀ helps bring teachers new to this context into the community.”
Commitment to collaboration, growth and, teacher leadership
Leveraging cross-departmental expertise and collaboration between the induction center and other state-level staff to address high-priority needs has been instrumental in growing the induction community across the department, Keri observed. “Our director always says we’re trying to ‘melt the walls’ between state offices because it is everyone’s responsibility to support new teachers.”
For example, joint work with the state special education office has resulted in specifically adapted mentor forums that reflect up-to-date special education law, policy, and practice. The induction office also advocated for 15 permanently funded positions (one for each complex area) for dedicated special education mentors to provide just-in-time support that meets the unique needs of new special education teachers and their students.
An annual statewide survey of mentors and new teachers also helps induction staff identify the departments and expertise needed to engage to meet teacher and student needs. Some examples include collaboration to develop PLC content/curricula focused on trauma-informed instruction and social and emotional learning. Support for multilingual learners repeatedly surfaces as an area of significant need. “For the last three to four years, when we ask mentors and beginning teachers where they would like more training and support, multilingual learners are consistently in the top three. So, we partnered with the Castle Foundation, our state English Learner office, and NTC for training for induction coordinators and mentors. Now, we are looking at ways we can include this content in mentor forums for all mentors.”
Kristen highlighted another feature that makes Hawai’i’s program special: a “focus on continuous growth and exceptional support for beginning teachers and mentors as well as Complex Area Induction Program Coordinators.”
Vera-Lisa agreed, saying, “The Hawai’i team is always asking, ‘How can we make it better? How can we make the experience better for the mentors, better for the teachers, better for the kids? We need another lever to make it better.’”
To this end, the NTC team has been working with Hawai’i induction staff to provide “in-field coaching,” which involves coaching for coaches based on observations of their interactions with teachers — a core component of the NTC model. “Our mentors are passionate about making a difference and eager to grow their mentoring skills, and we’re committed to investing in them,” said Kristen.
The induction program also provides opportunities to foster teacher leadership development, which induction staff actively track. “We have over 500 mentors mentoring every year, and we train about 200 new mentors every year, which is really helping to build leadership capacity. How many of our mentors actually move into more formal leadership positions like principal, vice principal? It’s no accident that our induction program sits within HIDOE’s Leadership Institute. We do really contribute, from the very beginning of the pipeline, to building leadership from our new teachers to our mentors to our induction program leaders,” Keri said.