The Maui Virtual Academy (MAVA), an offshoot of Kihei Charter School, offers an innovative public education program that includes a rigorous and comprehensive curriculum in traditional subject areas. This is just one example of the new wave of educational strategies to get Maui’s, and Hawai‘i’s children, educated in a comfortable, safe environment.
Hawai‘i’s public, unitary statewide school system is unique. Serving 181,355 students in 285 schools (as of September 2005), it is approximately the tenth largest school system in the nation.
The Hawai‘i Virtual Academies are e-school programs of public charter schools. It is not home-schooling. At MAVA, the students work from a satellite location, such as home, with a parent or responsible adult to receive instruction from public school teachers. Students in MAVA receive lessons, assessments, books, access to online school, planning and progress tools, a computer and more—but without the price of tuition.
MAVA is a new way to educate that gives parents the chance to play a larger role in their children’s education. The children receive the tools and resources they need to be better educated and ready to enter the “real world.”
The director of Kihei Charter School is Mark Christiano. The school’s MAVA program has been in operation since the fall of 2004. Its four core areas of study are math, language arts, science and history. The goal of the academy, as well as that of all Hawai‘i public schools, is to enable students to become self-directed learners, community contributors, complex thinkers, quality producers, effective communicators, and effective and ethical users of technology.
“We’re supported by K12, a program which supports online academies, and we have a structure similar to virtual schools in California and Iowa. There are about a dozen to 15 schools like this all over the country. We just try to do what they do, with a Maui influence. We only serve Maui at MAVA,” said Christiano.
“We provide families with a full curriculum. It’s a computer-based program that keeps track of students’ progress. It provides them a virtual teacher available by phone and e-mail. We organize field trips and social outings. Just yesterday we went to a magic show in Lahaina. We have done a fair amount at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Two days a week, we have a learning lab, where the students can come in from 3 to 5 p.m.,” said Christiano. The social aspects of going to school are met by the outings and labs.
MAVA may be appropriate for many, but not all, families. “The parents or guardians are going to have to make a minimum commitment of three to four hours a day to structure activities,” said Christiano. “There has to be a serious commitment to make progress. When that happens, the progress is amazing. You can’t beat one-on-one instruction.
“The individualization is huge. This program offers a strong fundamental education and a very complete curriculum. There are no gaps in it; they have a strong base for future studies. These are important years and this allows the students to have all the basic elements in place.
“This is what the world is turning into,” said Christiano. “This is what is happening all over the country. We just wanted to allow families on Maui to have the same opportunity.”
There is no binding obligation to stay with the Virtual Academy. Like any other public school, students can transfer in and out as they choose.
“Because the Hawai‘i Virtual Academies are programs of choice, parents who enroll their students can withdraw at any time if they are not happy with the program. We believe that families should be able to choose the program they feel is most appropriate for their child’s education—and they should be able to choose public schools, private schools, home-schooling, or virtual public schools,” reads the Hawai‘i Virtual Academy’s site
