Administrators from Hawaiian-focused charter schools are building their leadership skills in a new master’s degree program at Chaminade University that was designed to fill an educational gap in the local charter school movement.

"There is such great passion for teaching at the charter schools, but there is little to no training for administrators of those charter schools," said Henry Halenani Gomes, director of Chaminade’s Office of Native Hawaiian Partnerships, who helped get the program launched earlier this year.

"As the charter school movement gets larger, it became imperative that the faculty and the administration of every charter school be versed in their responsibilities, not just on the teaching side but on the operational side as well," he said.

The master’s degree in educational leadership for charter school administrators was developed through a partnership with Kanu o ka Aina Learning Ohana and the Hawaii Association for Independent Schools, with support from Kamehameha Schools.

"We made it unique to Hawaii specifically for culture-based leadership in the charter world, which has its own challenges and opportunities," said Taffi Wise, executive director of the Learning Ohana, who enrolled in the degree program herself after pursuing the idea for years with strategic adviser Will Hancock.

Chaminade and the University of Hawaii already had master’s programs in education administration, but they are not geared toward charters, said Phil Bossert, director of the Institute for 21st Century Teaching & Learning at the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools. Employees of 10 charter schools on Hawaii island, Oahu and Kauai signed up for the new degree.

"We were planning on only taking 20 students, but we ended up taking 23," Bossert said.

Hawaii’s 32 charter campuses are public schools supported by tax dollars, but have their own governing boards and control over their curriculum. They face unique operational challenges, from finding facilities to marketing their schools.

"This program is directly related to the issues that administrators are confronted with on a daily basis, the whole gamut," said Haunani Seward, who is in the first group of master’s candidates.

"What I really enjoy about it is that the instructors, for the most part, come with a charter school background," said Seward, director of Ke Kula Niihau o Kekaha, a bilingual school on Kauai. "In different ways, they’ve been connected to charters, so they don’t come in with just theoretical knowledge, but it’s very practical."

Seward added, "I come from an educational background, which makes sense. In a charter environment, you have to have the financial knowledge as well."

The degree program stretches over two years, with students taking a course or two at a time, ranging from education law to financial management to community relations. Most of it is online, but each course begins and ends with a two-day gathering at one of the charter schools, so participants can learn from each other’s experiences. Hawaiian values are woven throughout.

"What we’re doing is allowing them to further their cultural awareness and at the same time pick up the necessary skills to be an effective administrator," said Joe Peters, Chaminade’s dean of education.

The first candidates were recruited from charters that have a Hawaiian-focused curriculum or mostly Hawaiian student body, and began their studies in January. A grant from Kamehameha Schools and support from Chaminade kept the total tuition at just $3,500 for each participant. The second group, to begin next year, is expected to draw from all charter schools, with tuition projected at $10,500.

"There are very few highly qualified administrators who have retired from the Department of Education and now want to take on a charter school," Seward noted. "I think this master’s program is helping us grow our own."