ITEP Program in 2001-2002:
ITEP Program Moves into Second Decade:
Did you know that over 300 students who live thousands of miles away from Hawaii are currently enrolled in BYU-Hawaii education classes?
Dean Roy Winstead explained that the Brigham Young University Hawaii School of Education is working in close cooperation with its counterpart at BYU in Provo, the Church
Education System (CES) and the LDS Church Missionary Department to expand the International Teacher Education Project beyond the Pacific islands into Asia.
ITEP, headquartered in the BYU-Hawaii School of Education, started informally about 10 years ago when BYUH faculty provided mathematics and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in-service training for CES teachers in the South Pacific schools.
When CES teachers in these areas responded positively to the in-country training, the program was formalized in 1994 and officially launched in Kiribati by Elder William Walton, an education missionary. Elder Walton moved to BYU-Hawaii in 1997 for health reasons, and became the first ITEP coordinator.
Today, Elder D. Lawrence Cook, a retired educator who most recently served as principal of Clearfield High School in Utah, and his wife, Sister Cleone Cook, serve as ITEP coordinators for four other missionary couples at CES schools in the South Pacific.
The LDS Church currently operates 17 elementary and secondary schools serving about 6,000 students in Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Kiribati. About half of the teachers have not earned a college degree.
The Cooks, who started their education mission in January and arrived in Laie in June, explained they held an ITEP conference in Tonga in May and a workshop in July with CES educators, principals and teachers.
"We haven't been to Samoa or Kiribati yet," Elder Cook said, adding that there should be seven missionary couples when ITEP is fully staffed. "At the present time we don't have a couple in Kiribati, and we also need replacement couples in Samoa and Fiji," he said.
"The missionaries in the islands provide education and religion classes -whatever is needed -- so those teachers already in service can get teaching certificates," Elder Cook said.
He explained that BYU-Hawaii grants a CES Teaching Certificate to those who score 500 on the Practice TOEFL or 75 on the MTELP English language proficiency exams, complete 24 credit-hours of core education classes and at least two credit-hours of religion for every 15 hours of education, and write a satisfactory, 700-word essay on an assigned topic.
"We're working with over 300 teachers," Elder Cook continued. "About half of those already have a bachelor's degree, and of that number, half again already have teaching certificates; but they often take the ITEP classes to hone their skills and keep current. Our missionaries get together first with the principals to inventory what the teachers need. Then they offer classes after school hours, during holiday periods and school breaks.
"We're giving more certificates than ever before. In the past month, we awarded 12 ITEP CES teaching certificates," Elder Cook said.
He explained that because financial resources in the islands are very limited in certain areas, teachers pay $5 per credit hour for the ITEP courses.
"The majority use payroll deduction to pay for the classes. It's a great service that BYU-Hawaii is doing," Elder Cook said. "Most of participants have families and significant Church assignments. They're taking these classes in addition to those responsibilities. It's a tribute to the teachers in the islands."
Dr. Winstead said the program seems to be going well. "We hear nothing but positive from the CES coordinators, principals and teachers in the countries," he said. "We've been very blessed to have quality missionary couples in Laie, including our BYU-Hawaii-based coordinators, as well as the retired education couples we've had in the four countries.
Dr. Winstead is anticipating success when the program expands. "Eventually, we hope to work directly with countries where the Church doesn't operate schools." He explained that he and Dr. John Bailey, ITEP liaison for the Pacific, and newly hired faculty member Dr. Peter Chan, ITEP liaison for Asia, recently met with government representatives in several countries.
"We're in the process of finalizing formal agreements with Mongolia and Taiwan ," he said.
