Starting next school year, all public school teachers in their first two years of the profession will be required to undergo "intensive mentoring" aimed at building their instructional skills, addressing weaknesses, providing emotional support and offering tips on everything from how to keep a cool head to how to communicate with parents.

Officials say the initiative will include sit-downs with mentors weekly and regular assessments — which will not be shared with administrators — to see whether a teacher is progressing.

The effort, expected to cost about $12 million over the next three years, is part of statewide education reforms and is seen as a proactive way to improve the skills of novice teachers, decrease the number of new teachers who leave the profession and tackle the problems that arise when a teacher improperly handles student behavioral issues.

The mentoring program, which has been in the works for years and is seen as key to boosting new teacher effectiveness, comes in the wake of an embarrassing episode for the Department of Education earlier this year, when a Kailua High School shop teacher swung a hammer in class because he was frustrated, hitting one of his students in the head. The story got national headlines and resulted in a misdemeanor assault conviction for the veteran teacher, who was fired. The student hit in the head received four stitches.

DOE OFFICIALS emphasize that misconduct among teachers overall is rare, but also say it is often preventable with the right training early in a teacher’s career.

"Classroom management is probably one of the biggest challenges for beginning teachers," said Keri Shimomoto, the DOE’s new teacher induction educational specialist, who is helping to coordinate the kickoff of the revamped mentoring requirements for new teachers.

"By having a mentor with you from the beginning of the school year, you can discuss (issues like), ‘How do you handle disruptive students?’" Shimomoto said. "If a mentor can help a teacher with that, that’s a proactive way to avoid the problems you hear about."

In the 2009-10 school year, the most recent year for which data were available, seven teachers were suspended without pay for using excessive force or manhandling students who were being disruptive. An additional four teachers were suspended for other misconduct, while one teacher was fired for breaking a student privacy law.

Information on how long the teachers had been in the classroom was unavailable.

Some examples of teacher disciplinary cases, provided through a Star-Advertiser records request, include:

» A Kapaa Elementary School teacher got a 21-day suspension for using "excessive force" to try to control a misbehaving student, including grabbing the student’s ankles.

» A Kapunahala Elementary School special education teacher received an 18-day suspension for using "excessive physical force" more than once to discipline students.

» An elementary school teacher at the Ke Kula o Ehunuikaimalino Hawaiian immersion campus restricted students’ movement in seats to try to control them and threw tennis balls at students to get their attention. He got a 10-day suspension.

It’s not clear how the number of incidents involving teachers improperly handling student misbehavior compares to previous years. Overall, though, the 12 teachers who were suspended or fired for any misconduct issue in the 2009-10 school year amounted to less than half the total for the year before, when 21 were suspended and three were fired.

In the 2007-08 school year, meanwhile, there were 15 suspensions and eight terminations for a total of 23 cases of misconduct, according to the DOE figures.

Wil Okabe, president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, pointed out that the teachers suspended or terminated for misconduct represent a tiny fraction of the 12,500 teachers in Hawaii public schools. But he added that cases involving teacher misconduct reflect on everyone, and that no one wants to work beside an ineffective teacher.

IT’S DIFFICULT to say how Hawaii’s statistics compare to other states when it comes to teacher misconduct because data issued by states and school districts vary widely, and there is no nationally required reporting on disciplinary actions against teachers.

Okabe said the beginning teacher mentoring program is a positive step toward improving the assistance and training opportunities that new teachers have and starting a "comprehensive process of sustained support" for teachers.

"We’re trying to work together within the system so we can improve the quality of teaching," he said.

Anne Watkins, senior director of the New Teacher Center, said teacher induction programs are key to making sure new teachers know the standards of their profession.

She called Hawaii’s new mentoring standards "cutting-edge."

The center, a California-based nonprofit that works with school districts around the country, including Hawaii, said mentoring should be tailored to each teacher and aimed at helping new teachers figure out what they need to do to "make it through that day."

Once classroom management becomes second nature, she said, then mentors can introduce tools and tips for improving instruction and differentiating teaching for all kinds of students at all different levels.

"You can’t do a one-size-fits-all for kids," Watkins said. "With mentoring, it’s the same. It’s tailored to the goals of that teacher."

The state pledged to beef up its new teacher mentoring programs as part of reforms under a $75 million federal Race to the Top grant. The new teacher induction program is also meant to push the DOE closer to complying with a 2005 state law that requires every teacher get high-quality instructional mentoring during their first two years on the job.

Until now, each of the 15 school complex areas statewide has been charged with ensuring their beginning teachers are mentored, which has resulted in teachers in some areas getting comprehensive mentorship while teachers in other areas get spotty help.

A 2008 study of teacher induction efforts in the islands, commissioned by the department, said the lack of statewide mentoring requirements for new teachers had contributed to a "patchwork of programs and efforts, some better conceived" than others.

The department said mentoring for beginning teachers is vital to boosting student achievement. New teachers need extra support, mentoring and guidance to keep them in the classroom — and to help them become more effective, DOE officials say.

"The research shows we lose a lot of new teachers in the first three years of their profession," said Joan Funamura, school renewal specialist and new teacher inductions program coordinator for the Farrington-Kaiser-Kalani complex area. She said mentors "accelerate the new teachers’ effectiveness" and offer emotional help for beginning teachers often overwhelmed in their first years on the job.

Nearly one-third of Hawaii’s public school teachers are in their first three years of the profession. And half leave the profession within five years, in line with national statistics.

The new teacher induction program is modeled after robust mentoring programs in Honolulu and Maui districts, where new teachers already get two years of mentoring. But the new initiative will also require monitoring to track the outcomes of mentor partnerships and to determine if the support is having a positive effect.

Takashi Ohno, a third-grade teacher at Fern Elementary on Middle Street, received mentoring last year and the year before. Ohno, now in his third year as a teacher, said the experience helped him figure out ways to better manage his classroom.

He also worked with his mentor, Sherrie Ideue, to come up with goals that were customized for him and his school, where there is a high percentage of low-income kids.

Ohno said he sat down with Ideue at least once a week to talk about how he was progressing along with strategies for getting through to students.

"There was no one else I felt more comfortable" going to, he said, adding he sometimes sent Ideue texts with questions on classroom management or ideas about instruction techniques.

Ideue, who is mentoring 15 new teachers this year, said the process is meant to be "reflective," and get teachers thinking about potential solutions to problems they face in the classroom. Sometimes, she said, the mentoring also requires some counseling for new teachers to help them understand that they’re not alone and that bad days happen.

The new teacher induction initiative is being launched next school year with federal funds for additional training and planning. Officials plan to use $3 million in Race to the Top dollars for startup costs through 2014, and $3 million annually in federal funds that go to the district for teacher training and to help teachers become highly qualified.

Last year, Hawaii was one of 10 winners (nine states and the District of Columbia) of a second round of Race grants, aimed at boosting student achievement, improving teacher effectiveness and turning around poor-performing schools. The mentoring program is designed to be coupled with other efforts — including new performance-based evaluations and new training for teachers — to help improve instruction.

Complex area superintendents said some of the new requirements of the mentoring program might be difficult to meet because of existing staffing shortages. The DOE said, starting next year, a classroom teacher will be allowed to mentor only one beginning teacher, while full-time mentors will be able to have a maximum of 15 teachers.

Some complexes have had higher mentor-to-teacher ratios.

The DOE is also requiring that complex areas develop a defined process for mentor selection, offer new training for mentors and for beginning teachers, and collect annual data to assess the implementation and outcomes of mentoring programs.

At Fern Elementary on a recent afternoon, Ohno thumbed through a notebook of logs, performance reports and plans from his two years with his mentor. Ohno said he feels he is a much better teacher thanks to his time with Ideue, a veteran teacher herself.

Ideue got her first teaching job 18 years ago, as a science teacher at Dole Middle.

Her mentor was a colleague who would check in from time to time to make sure she wasn’t planning to quit. (She came pretty close a few times and there were plenty of tears shed in that first year, she said.) Back then, she said, new teachers either learned fast or left.

"I don’t ever want to have a teacher go through what I went through," she said.

Teacher suspension and termination data

In the 2009-10 school year, 11 teachers were suspended and one was fired for misconduct. The figure is less than half the total seen in the previous two years.

» Disciplinary action: Termination
» School: Kahaluu Elementary
» Offense: The teacher "disclosed confidential student education record information." Department of Education officials would not release more details about the incident because of federal student privacy laws.

» Disciplinary action: 30-day suspension
» School: Waimanalo Elementary and Intermediate
» Offense: The teacher tried to help her students in selecting answers on the Hawaii State Assessment, the annual high-stakes test that determines whether students are meeting proficiency standards for reading and math.

» Disciplinary action: 21-day suspension
» School: Kapaa Elementary
» Offense: The teacher tried to control a classroom situation by grabbing a student’s ankles. The department said the teacher used "excessive force."

» Disciplinary action: 18-day suspension
» School: Kapunahala Elementary
» Offense: The teacher used "physical force" to seat a student and grabbed a student by the wrist and arms. "On more than one occasion, the teacher used excessive physical force in disciplining students in school," the DOE said.

» Disciplinary action: 10-day suspension
» School: Ke Kula o Ehunuikaimalino (Hawaiian immersion)
» Offense: The teacher "restricted students’ movement" in seats to control behavior, and threw tennis balls in class to gain students’ attention. He failed to adhere to the "profile of an effective teacher," the department said.

» Disciplinary action: 10-day suspension
» School: Kaahumanu Elementary
» Offense: The teacher threw a marker during class that struck a student.

» Disciplinary action: Five-day suspension
» School: Wheeler Elementary
» Offense: The teacher neglected warnings to keep communications with other employees professional, and issued "excessive electronic, text and handwritten communication" regarding non-work-related subjects to other employees.

» Disciplinary action: Five-day suspension
» School: Konawaena Elementary
» Offense: The teacher "demonstrated threatening actions" to a student and restricted the "misbehaving student’s movement" in a seat, then directed other students to help her in placing the student outside the class in view of others.

» Disciplinary action: Four-day suspension
» School: Wheeler Middle
» Offense: The teacher "implied a fellow teacher could work in the adult entertainment industry," violating the DOE’s nondiscrimination policy.

» Disciplinary action: Two-day suspension
» School: Aliamanu Middle
» Offense: Teacher swore at another teacher and directed a "vulgar gesture" toward a co-worker. The conduct violated the DOE’s "safe workplace" policy.

» Disciplinary action: Two-day suspension
» School: Palisades Elementary
» Offense: The teacher yelled at and manhandled a student.

» Disciplinary action: Two-day suspension
» School: Highlands Intermediate
» Offense: The teacher "demonstrated inappropriate … interventions and strategies with students," failing to adhere to the "profile of an effective teacher."

Source: Department of Education