Key Features
The B.Ed. in Elementary Education is: standards-driven; its curriculum is aligned with professional, state, and institutional standards.
It is field based; teacher candidates engage in 240 hours of field experiences and 450 hours of student teaching experiences in schools under the guidance of mentor teachers who have been handpicked by school principals.
It is content-focused; HPU faculty, who are content area experts, teach in the program.
It is technology-rich, featuring web-enhanced courses and an electronic portfolio assessment system.
Finally, it is assessment-oriented, requiring continual classroom observations and candidate performance evaluations, along with key embedded assessments, a professional portfolio, and nationally-normed tests of content knowledge.
Admission to Candidacy
To be admitted to candidacy, students must:
- declare Education as their major
- completion of pre-requisite coursework for the major
- have a cumulative GPA of 2.0
- receive a passing score on the PRAXIS I Pre-Professional Skills Test (PPST) in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics
- pass an admissions interview with education faculty
- pass a criminal background check
Curriculum
The B.Ed. in Elementary Education lower division requirements include courses in foundations and teaching. Its upper division requirements include courses in child and adolescent development; Hawaiian language, culture, and history; mathematics concepts; research and writing; and service learning. Major requirements include content-specific curriculum and field experience courses.
The capstone requirement includes a semester-long, full-time student teaching experience
