Educators Rising is a national network aimed at inspiring and supporting high school and college students interested in education-related careers. The organization provides resources, training, and hands-on teaching experiences to help prepare future educators. Key components include:

1. Curriculum and Training: Offering comprehensive curricula and professional development for students and educators.
2. Membership Network: Creating a community for aspiring educators to connect, collaborate, and support each other.
3. Conferences and Competitions: Hosting events to showcase skills and provide networking opportunities.
4. Pathway Programs: Facilitating clear pathways from high school through college to career in education.

The goal is to cultivate a robust and skilled educator workforce by beginning the training and inspiration process early.

As part of the PEA grant, the College of Education at UH Mānoa is partnering with Hawaii Teacher Standards Board (HTSB) and the Hawaii Department of Education (HIDOE) to allows local schools an opportunity to pilot the EdRising curriculum for SY 2024-2025. Select schools across various islands in the state will be provided with funding from PEA and HTSB to cover curriculum, local in-person training, and stipends so that each participating school and teacher lead can implement the program and share insight and feedback as a collective. Our goal is to pilot various aspects of the EdRising curriculum within the context of the varying needs at each school in hopes to offer more opportunities in the future statewide.

Initial Onboarding Training – August 2024

At the start of the 2024-2025 school year, an in-person onboarding training was hosted at the UH Mānoa campus by the PEA team. All educational stakeholders, partners, and teachers from each partner school were provided stipends and travel to attend and receive training on how to navigate and use the EdRising curriculum. Particpants also had opportunity to network, collaborate, and share updates on their school’s teacher education pathways and offerings.

Quarterly EdRising Community Network Meetings

To facilitate and promote continued support and networking opportunities across the various schools and teacher educators, PEA hosts quarterly meetings to provide an open venue for participants to share updates, needs, and celebrate successes related to pilot initiatives and efforts to promote the teacher pathways. Quarterly meetings are hosted virtually and a Google Classroom was also developed to provide an asynchronous forum for continued collaboration and resource sharing.

Hawaii Education Association (HEA) Educator Summit

In partnership with the Hawaii Education Association (HEA),the EdRising pilot teachers and team attended the 2025 HEA Educator Summit, Building the Future of Education in Hawaii: Cultivating Tomorrow’s Teachers and Empowering Today’s Educators, on Wednesday, January 8, 2025 at the YWCA. This summit focused on engaging high school students in pursuing teaching careers, while also exploring strategies for retaining and developing the existing workforce to become “master teachers” to strengthen the education profession.

The summit included two expert panels who shared their knowledge, experience, and expertise related to how we can collectively recruit and retain good teachers. Finally, the summit ended wtih keynote speaker, Dr. Carla Warren, Senior Partner with the National Center for Grow Your Own. Dr. Warren developed the first pre-apprenticeship for high school students in the country under the new Department of Labor’s Registered Apprenticeship Program in Teaching (RAP-T).

First Pilot Virtual EdRising Competition

The objective of the first year of the pilot was to host a pilot EdRising competition for the current high school students enrolled across the various teacher pathways. This pilot competition will provide the students with three completion categories to compete in, which were voted on and selected by the teacher pathway lead teachers:

• CHILDREN’S LITERATURE PRE-K COMPETITION
• ETHICAL DILEMMA COMPETITION
• JOB INTERVIEW COMPETITION

The Hawaii EdRising competition was held virtually on March 27, 2025.

Congratulations to our EdRising Competition winners, placing in the Top 3 for each competition category!

In an effort to provide additional experience and opportunities for highschoolers who are considering a career in education, PEA is providing 150 Parapro Assessment vouchers to seniors enrolled in the EdRising pilot program. These vouchers would cover the cost for students to take the Parapro Assessment, allowing them to obtain employment in the Hawaii DOE as an Educational Assistant after graduation.

Parapro Voucher Eligibility Criteria:

• Must be a senior
• Must be an EdRising student member

Application

Eligible students must apply to receive their parapro voucher: <link coming soon>