Making a change can be good, particularly with reliable support to guide you. Twenty-five years into a rewarding teaching career, Honolulu-based educator Sandy Cameli stepped into a district-level role to lead learning for new teachers and their mentors, followed by eight years of facilitating a teacher leader academy for Hawai‘i educators. Ten years later, Cameli now heads up supporting student leadership as part of a broader statewide focus on middle level education. With each step toward taking on larger roles, Cameli found a consistent source of support from Learning Forward to help her become the leader she needed to be to support both adult and young adolescent leadership development. Her 2024 book, The Successful Middle School Student Voice, provides different modes of support for 6th to 8th graders. Recently, Cameli met with The Learning Professional virtually and discussed the art of transition and resources she taps into through Hawai‘i’s Learning Forward membership.

What helped you make the transition from classroom teacher to a district-level role?

I had worked primarily with 6th to 8th grade students the bulk of my career, and now I was leading adults, which as you know is a different animal. Initially, I didn’t know if there were standards or how to even build a program to support adults, but our superintendent at the time was very proactive when it came to professional learning. One of the first conferences I attended was a Learning Forward conference, where I participated in sessions about induction and mentoring. I gained a lot of support and resources that were invaluable in informing my practice to support beginning teachers as well as their mentors.

What prepared you to develop strong teacher leaders at the state level?

I accepted a position to lead Na Kumu Alaka‘i – Teacher Leader Academy, where we acknowledge that leadership takes many different forms. We wanted to find a way to grow leadership among teachers who choose to stay at their schools, build capacity, and serve as role models for their peers. We worked with curriculum coordinators, grade level chairs, department heads, and team leaders. I had a lot of empathy for the teacher leaders who were brilliant and talented when it came to working with kids, but who didn’t have all the expertise or the skillset to lead their peers.

We worked a lot on facilitation, communication, and professional learning. Again, I relied on Learning Forward including reading The Learning Professional and the blog and attending conferences to get resources to support the teachers I was working with.

During the Teacher Leader Academy 2020-21 cohort, we had to find a way to support collaborative professional learning remotely. We addressed the challenge with online cluster coaching, which I wrote about in the October 2021 issue of The Learning Professional.

Why is supporting young adolescent leadership important and what does it look like in practice?

Part of the reason our superintendent has prioritized the middle level is because we saw nationwide the declining test scores and emotional state of our early adolescents after the pandemic.

Two years into my new role, I’m using leadership — both the work I did with the West Hawai‘i Teacher Induction & Mentoring Program and with the Teacher Leader Academy — to help empower, elevate, and celebrate our middle level student leaders.

For our Middle Level Student Leadership Connect program, we bring kids together from neighboring schools within districts and they tackle a problem of practice within their area. We have a universal focus right now on transitions between grades. For the problems of practice, students pose ideas and wonderings and propose solutions toward supporting those pivotal transitional times in a learner’s life. They are very excited to connect with peers from other schools, and they also feel very proud and empowered that they are providing suggestions and solutions that will be collected statewide, with all of these districts, and then put together into a game plan.

I also support the teachers who are empowering students to lead at the school level. We have monthly Zoom sessions to talk about different aspects of building and growing student leadership frameworks and models. Then, in breakout rooms, the teachers talk to their counterparts from schools within their areas. In August, we have an in-person one-day gathering with a guest speaker. Topics could be how to build a successful orientation or support a traditional student government. The first year, I had about two dozen schools participating. Even with that small of a group we got some good traction, and now in our second year we’re up to 50 schools.

Adding to our Connect program is a Middle Level Student Leadership Summit, a one-day statewide conference for student leaders, advisors, and teachers. All of the breakout sessions are facilitated by 11- to 14-year-olds on how they are leading on their campuses, showcasing the amazing things that are happening. At our March 2025 summit, we had nearly 700 attendees.

What’s in the secret sauce contributing to your early wins?

We have a champion, state superintendent Keith Hayashi, at the state level and we also have been afforded resources to do not just the work I’m doing, but also middle level support for curriculum and instruction, assessment, and for principals’ professional learning.

And Learning Forward does an amazing job of supporting adult leaders. I wouldn’t be able to do this for the students if I hadn’t myself grown as a leader through opportunities with Learning Forward, including reading the publications, attending the conferences, and unpacking the new learning with peers who have also taken part.

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