{"id":20823,"date":"2026-07-02T14:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T00:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/?p=20823"},"modified":"2026-07-02T14:21:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T00:21:58","slug":"2026-record-j-1-visa-teacher-cohort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/2026-record-j-1-visa-teacher-cohort\/","title":{"rendered":"Record J-1 visa teacher cohort helps close teacher vacancy gaps, bridge cultures\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

HONOLULU \u2014 The latest cohort of the J-1 Visa Teacher Program represents the largest group for the Hawai\u02bbi State Department of Education (HIDOE). At the start of the new school year, 237 teachers will join the approximately 365 current J-1 visa teachers in classrooms across the state, teaching a variety of subjects in elementary and secondary schools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At orientation, teachers wore colored lei representing the islands they will serve and Superintendent Keith Hayashi welcomed the new teachers to the state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere in Hawai\u02bbi, we\u2019re committed to preparing students to be globally competitive and locally committed. The J-1 program brings that vision to life. Our students learn from educators with experiences from around the world while remaining grounded in the values, culture and communities that make Hawai\u02bbi special,\u201d Hayashi said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Urbaniak, human resources officer with the Hawai\u02bbi State Department of Education has led the J-1 program since its inception. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat makes Hawai\u02bbi unique is that so many of our students come from all around the world. So as part of our globally competitive and locally committed model, we want to make sure that we’re introducing our students to educators and adults who are passionate about learning and teaching, as well as sharing their culture with our students \u2014 which is the whole point of the program,\u201d Urbaniak said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since HIDOE began the J-1 visa teacher program in the 2020-21 school year, the initiative has helped stem Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s teacher vacancies. In past years, the Department would work to recruit and fill more than 1,000 open teacher positions across the state. For the past two school years, there have been fewer than 100 openings at the start of the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many states are also experiencing high teacher vacancies and have recruited educators from around the globe on the J-1 visa. On this visa, foreign teachers are allowed to work for three years, with an option to extend for an additional two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The J-1 teacher exchange program is not meant to replace locally grown teachers, but rather fill hard-to-find vacancies in STEM subjects and in rural schools. These experienced, dedicated and highly trained teachers ensure that classes can be sustained and programs can be expanded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe absolutely prioritize our local graduates and those on-island to work in our schools. As you know, we are in need of thousands of teachers every year. And so with that being said, we try to find the best and the brightest from all around the world, locally, from the continental United States,\u201d said Urbaniak. \u201cAnd if we still do need more educators, we also look to this program to help us to fill some of those pukas in our state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many teachers in this Hawai\u02bbi cohort have exceeded the J-1 teacher visa standards set by the U.S. Department of State. Teachers must receive their degree from an internationally recognized teacher program with a minimum two years of teaching experience. In this cohort, 98% of the teachers hold a master\u2019s degree or higher, and the average teaching tenure is 10 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past five years of the program, the retention rate of teachers staying in Hawai\u02bbi for the minimum three years is 90%. The success of the program speaks to HIDOE\u2019s onboarding process and the similarities between Hawai\u02bbi and the teachers\u2019 home cultures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFinding folks that I believe embrace a lot of our local culture here, that sense of place and belonging and really kind of connected well with our H\u0100 framework, our N\u0101 Hopena \u02bbAo<\/a>. For those educators they are very excited to work in a remote area. We have educators working from N\u0101\u02bb\u0101lehu all the way up to Hanalei, and everywhere in between,\u201d Urbaniak explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During orientation, teachers attended sessions with HIDOE\u2019s Office of Hawaiian Education. They were taught oli, the Hawaiian alphabet and diacritics, and local and Hawaiian customs and culture. Additionally, many cultures represented in the cohort reflect similar Hawai\u02bbi values such as strong connections to family, sense of place and \u02bb\u0101ina.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vince Manlangit, an incoming teacher from the Philippines who will be teaching at K\u0101laheo Elementary said, \u201cKaua\u02bbi Island is very rich when it comes to nature. And since I love science the most, I want my students to connect with nature and just explore what is earth and what is on earth, and how it feels to love earth and love science.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lucy Njeru, originally from Kenya, will be a math teacher at Leilehua High and cannot wait to show off her cultural attire, the \u201ckitenge.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing from Kenya means that I have so much to share with them, while at the same time learning from them. So I’m looking forward to that, and also meeting my learners, especially in mathematics,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After doing further research and reading comments about his school, Manlangit concluded, \u201cThe comments were very welcoming and told me that K\u0101laheo Elementary School is the greatest school on that island.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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HONOLULU \u2014 The latest cohort of the J-1 Visa Teacher Program represents the largest group for the Hawai\u02bbi State Department of Education (HIDOE). At the start of the new school year, 237 teachers will join the approximately 365 current J-1 visa teachers in classrooms across the state, teaching a variety of subjects in elementary and […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":20827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"856,888,893,1022,1619,1622","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","wp_popup_display_lightbox":0,"wp_popup_suppress":"","wp_popup_trigger":"","wp_popup_trigger_amount":0,"wp_popup_disable_on_mobile":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-news","category-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":34,"label":"Featured \u2013 News"},{"value":21,"label":"News"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026-06-29-J-1-Teachers-Group-P2981550-EDIT-1024x681.jpg",1024,681,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Stanley Lee","author_link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/author\/stanley-leek12-hi-us\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":34,"name":"Featured \u2013 News","slug":"featured-news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":34,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":34,"category_count":1,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Featured \u2013 News","category_nicename":"featured-news","category_parent":0},{"term_id":21,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":21,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":335,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":21,"category_count":335,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-10 22:26:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"post_status","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}