We study the impact of a bonus policy implemented by Hawai'i Public Schools starting in fall 2020 that raised the salaries of all special education teachers in the state by $10,000. We estimate that the introduction of this policy reduced the proportion of vacant special education teaching positions by 32%, or 1.2 percentage points, and the…

Background: School systems have struggled to staff special education positions for decades (Billingsley, 1993; Cowan et al., 2016; Mason-Williams et al., 2020), but recent data suggest special education staffing challenges are now a crisis. As of October 2023, 21% of schools, and 30% of high-poverty schools, reported at least one special educator…

This qualitative case study explored how three expert secondary special education teachers in Hawaii constructed their perceived roles and successfully negotiated their job demands. There is a strong connection between role problems and special education teachers leaving the profession. The special education teacher shortage has a direct impact on…

Teacher shortages have been steadily increasing across the nation, particularly in the field of special education. According to analyses conducted by the Center on Personnel Studies in Special Education (COPSSE), reasons for this include the fact that veteran special education teachers are retiring at a faster rate than new teachers are being…

The 2007 Hawai'i State Legislature passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 56 S.D. 1 "Requesting the Hawaii Educational Policy Center to Report on the Retention and Change in Assignment of Teachers Within the Department of Education." The resolution requested a report on the effectiveness and current status of teacher preparation and…

This report presents the Hawaii edition of the National Council on Teacher Quality's 2008 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook." The 2008 "Yearbook" focuses on how state policies impact the retention of effective new teachers. This policy evaluation is broken down into three areas that encompass 15 goals. Broadly, these goals examine…

For five years running, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has tracked states' teacher policies, preparing a detailed and thorough compendium of teacher policy in the United States on topics related to teacher preparation, licensure, evaluation, career advancement, tenure, compensation, pensions and dismissal. The 2011 State Teacher…