Hawaii's students will be taught by well-trained and highly qualified teachers who are graduates of Hawaii's schools.

Our mission is to homegrow our own teachers by giving high school students the opportunity to experience teaching through a challenging curriculum with hands-on, real-world teaching experiences. Specifically, the program aims to:

1. Provide opportunities for students to gain the knowledge, practical skills, attitudes, and traits to become certified and licensed teachers.
2. Develop Partnerships with local colleges and universities to enroll students in teacher training programs.
3. Support the state in alleviating the critical teacher shortage that exists by home-growing teachers who will teach in their local communities.

The Teacher Shortage Problem

On average, 1500 new teachers are hired by the DOE each year to meet the teacher vacancies across the state, as shown in the graph below: