Aloha, HIDOE Community – 

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Ho‘oha‘aheo Newsletter.

Career academy recognitions
Hawai‘i public schools had another proud showing at this year's National Career Academy Coalition (NCAC) conference in Chicago – a testament to the strength and quality of our college and career academies at preparing our graduates to be globally competitive and locally committed.

NCAC recognizes academies that show exemplary performance in the National Standard of Practice through a review and accreditation process. Academies can earn a rating of: model with distinction, model, certified or in progress. To reach the model with distinction level – the highest level of recognition – a school’s career academy must meet or exceed proficiency in all 10 NSOP criteria.

Congratulations to our outstanding high schools that were recognized this week in Chicago! 

2024 NCAC Model Academies with Distinction:

• Kapolei High School Freshmen Academy 
• Waipahu High School Academy of Industrial & Engineering
• Waipahu High School Academy of Professional & Public Service

2024 NCAC Model Academies:

• Kapolei High School Public and Human Service Academy
• Kapolei High School Health Careers Academy 
• Kea‘au High School Freshmen Academy
• President William McKinley High School McKinley Business Academy
• Waimea High School Freshmen Academy

Next year Hawai‘i will be the proud host of the NCAC 2025 Annual Conference!

King Kamehameha III Elementary update
About 100 staff and community members attended a community meeting yesterday at the school’s temporary campus to learn more about the two sites under consideration to rebuild a permanent location, Ku‘ia and Pulelehua.

The meeting opened with an informational presentation on both sites by Hāna-Lahainaluna-Lāna‘i-Molokai Complex Area Superintendent Rebecca Winkie, who oversees Lahaina schools. Attendees were then able to ask questions before dividing into smaller groups for further discussion and to share their feedback in writing. Volunteer scribes recorded the feedback, which will be compiled into a final report that will be published next month. A recording of the meeting can be viewed here. We are also collecting feedback through this form until Dec. 3. 

Students shadow city workers
Student academy ambassadors from Castle High School had the opportunity to shadow top City and County of Honolulu officials in various departments on Monday. Students learned what day-to-day operations are like in these departments, asked city officials questions, learned about local government and different career opportunities in the Nā Alakaʻi Aʻo Mau (Learning Leaders) event organized by HIDOE’s Workforce Development Branch and City and County of Honolulu. Mahalo to the City and County of Honolulu for hosting our students in this immersive lesson in city government!

Family Thinking on AI (Artificial Intelligence)

Many of us are concerned about the rapid growth of AI and the possible risks it brings regarding privacy, safety, cheating, bias, misinformation, reduced human interaction, equity, and over-reliance on technology. But AI is here, growing influentially, and there are enormous positives for us to consider along with concerns to manage.

It is exciting to see students and teachers light up as they find new ways of learning using “generative AI” also known as GenAI. Hundreds of our talented teachers recently participated in the “Schools of the Future” conference sponsored by the HIDOE, Hawai'i Association of Independent Schools, and the Hawai‘i Community Foundation. Many teachers are finding that AI is sparking learning and creativity in their students already. 

We are near the beginning of a major shift in learning, making, and working. Understanding the benefits and concerns of GenAI is important for us as parents in order to guide our children in using GenAI responsibly and effectively.

GenAI is fun. That helps to engage our children and us! Moreover, GenAI can spur learning and critical thinking, help us find information, and generate new “content” from existing knowledge, images, and data using learned patterns (algorithms). 

Our prompts and questions get better. We think more critically as we interact with GenAI. When we ask and do not get exactly what we want, we alter our prompt and learn through trial and error. GenAI can be like a brilliant, patient tutor who lets us ask all day without getting annoyed and without the questioner having to be embarrassed.

Learning and critical thinking are aided by GenAI as it provides diverse perspectives on topics, encouraging students to evaluate and synthesize information. It can generate thought-provoking questions that prompt deeper analysis and offer explanations of complex topics.

Finding facts, data, background — “information retrieval”  is easy with GenAI which excels at finding and synthesizing information, quickly summarizing various sources. 

Creating images, text, audio, and code feels almost like magic, but it is actually more of a science, based on existing resources, knowledge and patterns. But it feels like magic when a shy child is able to put together ideas and generate an image they are excited to share with others. 

Where to start?
Please go to https://ppshi.org/generative-ai-in-education/ for some suggestions.