The Hawaiʻi State Department of Education’s (HIDOE) Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) sheltered instruction mandate has further pushed back its deadline by one year to the first working day of the 2026–27 school year, thanks to the hard work of teacher advocates.

Members of the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association’s EL Joint Committee worked to extend the timelines for teachers to obtain their minimum of six Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Sheltered Instruction Qualification (SIQ) related course credits. Beginning in school year 2023-24, teachers will have three years to obtain their SIQ requirement.

The HIDOE issued a memo on Feb. 2, which supersedes a memo issued in March 2021 about the requirement. The new memo explains the extended timeline.