Better Teacher Better Classrooms

Abstract

Within the State of Hawaii Department of Education there are more than 1,000 teachers deemed by the United States Department of Education as “Non-Highly Qualified”(NHQ). The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires every classroom teacher in nine educational categories to be deemed Highly Qualified (HQ). The problem at this time is that not all districts and teachers have an understanding of what the requirements are for a teacher to be HQ. These teachers rely on a face-to-face meeting with district staff to understand the requirements. This instructional design project focused on the construction of online modules that will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the current system that aids teachers with the HQ process. The pilot module was developed for new teachers to the Central Maui Schools and will be further developed to address veterans and out-of-state teachers. Data was collected from participants in order to measure their understanding of the law, as well as how to determined their Highly Qualified Status. The results showed ninety two percent of teachers understand the Law after completing the modules and ninety five percent of them were able to determine their Highly Qualified Status.