About the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board

In 1995 the State Legislature created the independent Hawaii Teacher Standards Board (HTSB) to set licensing standards for Hawaii public school teachers. New teachers must meet these standards to maintain employment

View the teacher standards

In 2002, the Legislature transferred responsibility for teacher relicensing to the HTSB. Teachers must renew their teaching license every five years to maintain employment. The rules and procedures for relicensing currently await approval by the Governor.

View relicensing rules

HTSB Board members

By statute, the thirteen-member Board is comprised of classroom teachers, school administrators, the Dean of the UH College of Education and the Chair of the Board of Education. The Governor appoints the teacher and administrator representatives to three-year terms while the Dean and BOE Chair serve by virtue of their office.

The Board currently employs Executive Director Sharon Mahoe and a staff of seven.

More about the Board and its members

Vision

The HTSB envisions a highly esteemed public education system with rigorous professional teacher standards that foster student success.

Mission

Our mission is to collaboratively set high teacher licensing and credentialing standards to:

provide every child with qualified teachers;

promote professionalism and teaching excellence;

build public confidence in the teaching profession; and

provide more accountability to the public

HTSB Accomplishments

Development of Teacher Standards

Development of Standards for School Counselors and Librarians

Introduction of Performance Assessments

Development of Teacher Standards

The appointment of Board Members in 1996 immediately immersed the Board in researching national efforts in the field of teacher licensing. The work of organizations like INTASC (Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium), NCATE (National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education), and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards greatly influenced the development of Hawaii's teacher performance standards.

In July 1998 Governor Benjamin Cayetano approved the first set of Teacher Performance and Licensing Standards in Hawaii. This was the result of in-depth research, a statewide teacher survey about the standards, statewide public hearings about the standards and several revisions of the standards based on input received from teachers, teacher educators and the public.

Development of Standards for School Counselors and Librarians

Based on specific input from school counselors and librarians, the Board convened two working groups to adapt the teacher performance standards for school counselors and librarians. The two working groups spent most of school year 1998-99 researching, discussing and rewriting the teacher standards to more appropriately represent the work of counselors and librarians.

School year 1999-2000 opened with the statewide distribution of the draft standards to all school counselors and librarians. This year will be spent gathering input via surveys and public hearings and revising the drafts based on input received.

Introduction of Performance Assessments

In collaboration with INTASC (Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium), HTSB sponsored a training session in February 1999 for teachers, teacher educators, school administrators, curriculum resource teachers and specialists, personnel specialists, teacher and administrator union leaders, and legislative and BOE policymakers.

INTASC performance assessments are conducted via an assessment portfolio developed by beginning teachers during a 2-3 year induction period with a mentor. The 4-day session sought to teach participants:

what performance standards are;

what standards mean;

how to objectively document and collect evidence for standards;

how to interpret evidence; and

how to make judgments about teacher performances.

Participants enthusiastically saw the value of the training and agreed to continue to meet so that the impact of the training is not lost. Follow-up training is scheduled for spring 2000 and additional Level I training sessions in math, science and English/language arts will also be offered. If you want to be considered for training, please contact the HTSB Office.