Partnership creates council to oversee education efforts
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
Calling it a vision for "seamless education" from birth through college and beyond, the Good Beginnings Alliance, Department of Education and University of Hawai'i yesterday signed an agreement to create a comprehensive partnership to streamline, improve and advance Hawai'i's public education system.
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Called "United For Learning: The Hawai'i P-20 Initiative," it will create a P-20 Council to oversee a heightened and coordinated commitment to public education.
"We are united by our common hope," said UH President Evan Dobelle.
Among other things, it hopes to create a cadre of 250 new teachers each year; provide support systems to retain those already in the classroom; expand the DOE system of learning centers; expand preschools to underserved children; and better prepare all children for an increasingly challenging future.
The estimated additional state cost through 2006 would be around $14.2 million.
"We are united by our common hope," said UH President Evan Dobelle during a ceremony yesterday at Princess Ka'iulani Elementary School in Kalihi. "We are united because we have been attempting individual solutions for a problem that does not recognize the boundaries we've drawn."
"Whatever the background or existing conditions, the objective is the same for all students," said DOE Superintendent Pat Hamamoto. "To enter school for the first time ready to learn."
John Friedman, immediate past president of the Hawai'i Parent Teacher Student Association, applauded the partnership, but emphasized that a crucial component of any improvement has to be universally available preschool education. And that means subsidies or additional federal money is needed, he said.
"Everything hinges on helping our youngest children," said Friedman. "It makes sure children are ready to achieve and gives them a leg up on the years ahead."
Of the 30,000 3- and 4-year-olds in Hawai'i, about 8,000 have had little or no preschool experience by the time they start kindergarten. Around 7,500 of them are from low-income families.
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"Why should this concern us?" asked Elisabeth Chun, executive director of the Good Beginnings Alliance. Because, she said, children who are "provided with a rich history of early learning will display improved cognitive abilities, language skills and memory skills."
"Whatever the background or existing conditions, the objective is the same for all students," said DOE Superintendent Pat Hamamoto. "To enter school for the first time ready to learn."
Good Beginnings recently received a $916,000 grant to put toward this purpose, said Chun, and it will be used for the new initiative. The nonprofit group is designated in state statutes to promote and coordinate policies and programs that place priority on a child's first five years.
The first step in the initiative will be the creation of the council to bring together all parties to guide the process and oversee progress. The council would include Kamehameha Schools, which has already announced its own new outreach programs to expand early education.
It's this council that will help chart a specific vision, smooth kinks in the new working relationships and oversee aligning curriculum and databases to track outcomes.
Mitch D'Olier, representing the Hawai'i Business Roundtable, emphasized that the business community is solidly behind the partnership and will lend assistance and support where it can. It has already launched a series of its own initiatives, including mentorships through the Principals' Leadership Academy financed by Hawai'i foundations; and collaborations such as the "Adopt-A-School" and "Just For Kids" programs.
For his part, Dobelle sees UH extending outreach to the high schools in any number of ways. He also suggested offering something he called "middle college" — a collegiate-style safety net with cultural arts education for young people now dropping out of high school because of problems with math or science.
Other specific suggestions the council will look at include:
- Provide an additional 50 tuition waivers for teacher education candidates going into shortage fields in fall 2003; forgivable loans for another 50 candidates; plus financial support for licensed providers in early childhood education.
- Create a program of small grants to pay for innovative projects that address P-20 issues.
- Seek an additional $5 million from the Legislature to increase UH's capacity to train K-12 teachers, with the goal of adding 250 a year. Money will be sought in 2004.
- Seek another $5 million from the Legislature to support preschools to prepare children for kindergarten.
- Restore money for professional development schools, and put no budget restrictions on teacher education programs at UH.
- Reduce teacher attrition rate by 50 percent over the next decade with addition of a support system.
- Establish an "academic ladder" to enable classroom paraprofessionals to transition smoothly into programs for associate and baccalaureate degrees, including allowing credit for prior learning.
For younger children, Hamamoto said parents can already help by knowing what their child's school expects. Even before children start school, she said parents can get them ready by reading to them daily and providing enriching experiences in and outside the home.
Chun said kindergarten teachers indicate that about half of Hawai'i children entering their classrooms aren't ready, with some as much as two years behind.
