Through a federal grant and partnership between the Hawai’i Department of Education and Gonzaga University, 17 Kaua’i teachers have earned special education teaching certifications and 15 are set to receive a master’s degree through the “Teacher Recruitment Grant Project.” In
Through a federal grant and partnership between the Hawai’i Department of Education and Gonzaga University, 17 Kaua’i teachers have earned special education teaching certifications and 15 are set to receive a master’s degree through the “Teacher Recruitment Grant Project.”
In 1998, the Spokane, Wash. school and Hawai’i DOE partnered to offer a pilot program to train Leeward O’ahu teachers in special education. The State Teacher Recruitment Grant was awarded in 2000, and 50 teachers statewide have earned special education certificates that will allow them to teach at just about any school in Hawai’i and in other states as well.
With the grant, eight Gonzaga professors came to Hawai’i, two Hawai’i professors were hired by Gonzaga and 17 Kaua’i teachers earned certificates to teach special education. Of those 17, 15 completed the optional master’s degree program, which took another year. Fred Rivera, a Kapa’a High school teacher, and Terilyn Colacino, Waimea Canyon Elementary, are two of the Kaua’i teachers getting their master’s degrees. A graduation ceremony is scheduled for this Sunday on O’ahu.
The costs of the grant program are $770,808 for tuition, books and travel scholarships. About half the money came from the federal grant, the other half from Gonzaga and Hawai’i DOE, according to information from Gonzaga University. Students had to pay a minimal part of the course costs and regular tuition for the optional master’s degree program offered through Gonzaga, according to Fred Rivera.
To combat the state’s teacher shortage, the Department of Education uses the RISE (Respecialization In Special Education) certification program for currently uncertified teachers.
In schools outside RISE may be accepted as a special education certification, but because the Department of Education doesn’t have a listing of those institutions that do, student teachers must assume RISE is only used in Hawai’i, said a resource teacher at the DOE.
Fred Rivera teaches a self-contained class of 9-12 graders at Kapa’a High School. For his master’s program thesis, he is discussing pidgin in Hawai’i classrooms. He received responses from 1,100 DOE personnel on their opinions on the issue to get some insight on how the public school system works in the state.
“We have a lot of kids in special ed because of pidgin, because of their inability to speak and understand standard English,” Rivera said. Pidgin is a statewide issue, and the majority of kids born in Hawai’i grow up speaking pidgin, Rivera added.
“It is my opinion that pidgin-speaking children get shortchanged,” Rivera said. The majority of special education kids have a specific learning disability, emotional or behavioral problems, and a lot of that stems from the kids speaking pidgin from a young age, Rivera said. The DOE doesn’t bridge the gap for those students, as they do for kids who enter school knowing only how to speak Filipino, Spanish or other foreign languages, Rivera said.
“We turn off a lot of local kids to education because they start off behind, and they stay behind because they don’t understand standard English,” he added.
“I love my job because I have an opportunity to make a difference, and Gonzaga has given me the skills to make that difference,” Rivera said.
Rivera said he chose Gonzaga because it was starting earlier than the RISE program; he said he knows people in RISE and thinks they are both good programs. But in the end, he said he knew he was getting a top-quality education. The professors were so helpful and available, outstanding. The grant ends this year; unless Hawai’i receives another similar grant, the program will end.
It’s an important program for those who want to continue their education without having to leave the island or the state, Rivera said.
The Teacher Recruitment Grant Project took two years, the same amount of time as RISE, but Terilyn Colacino said that no other state will recognize the RISE program if she were to ever move to the Mainland to teach.
Year one involves an overview of characteristics of special education students, special education laws and teaching methods. Year two involves specialized classes dealing with lesson plans and implementation, according to the HIDOE Web site. Students took two or three classes each semester at Kapa’a High School, usually four-day weeks for five hours a day.
“(Gonzaga) actually sent us the best teachers in each field. We got the cream of the crop in that field … I’ve talked with a few of my friends who were in the RISE program and they said that some of their instructors aren’t even certified teachers,” Colacino noted.
“We all consider ourselves really lucky to be in this program,” she added.
Colacino said her main objective is to teach to students’ needs and interest levels. “Teachers need to become entertainers if we expect to stimulate and motivate students to learn.”
Colacino’s thesis is “Motivating 7th and 8th Grade Students to Learn how to Research using Technology: Playstation 2, Internet and PowerPoint.”
“Technology is so important now, and our kids aren’t being prepared for the future.”
At Waimea Canyon School, where she teaches intermediate school kids with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, the elementary level is very technologically-based. The (kids) have gotten practice using technology to express their ideas, but when they move on to 7th and 8th grade they don’t get a chance to use technology, Colacino said.
“The teachers who I work with in regular education use ‘old-style’ teaching methods. The state is actually asking teachers to get away from lecture and start integrating student experience in teaching, by integrating different media,” Colacino said.
Kids with ADD/ADHD, in the regular education system, are often labeled as slow learners and left behind because they usually learn better using hands-on methods, instead of lectures and traditional teaching, Colacino said she learned through research.
Teachers must adapt lesson plans to these kids, and using technology is a great resource. “The great thing about technology is that there’s so many levels to it,” she added.
“After my three years with Gonzaga, I now have students enjoying learning and their behaviors are improving — after using these strategies, they’re motivated to learn and improve who they are. It’s so exciting,” she said.
June 23 is the date for a graduation and celebration for the student teachers completing the Teacher Recruitment Grant Project. Of the 50 teachers statewide, 15 teachers from Kaua’i are participating. The celebration will be held June 23, Sunday, at 10:30 a.m. at Ko’olau Golf Club in Kaneohe, O’ahu.
For more information regarding the Gonzaga/HIDOE grant, access http://doe.k12.hi.us/teacherrecruitment.
