Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 6, 1 Iune 1993 — Educators meet for Native Hawaiian Education Summit [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Educators meet for Native Hawaiian Education Summit

by Jeff Clark Hawaiians should decide what Hawaiians are taught; Hawaiians should do the teaching; and the Hawaiian educational experience should reflect the Hawaiian eulture. These ideas were championed the weekend of April 24-25 when more than 200 Hawaiian educators convened at Kamehameha Schools for the Native Hawaiian Education Summit. The purpose of the summit, organized by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, was to get an overview of Hawaiian education and to identify goals and policies that could be used to draft amendments to the Native Hawaiian Education Act (NHEA). The NHEA is actually Title IV of the federal Augustus F. Hawkins-Robert T. Stafford Elementary and Second School Improvement Act, whieh is eoming up for reauthorization this year. The Committee on Indian Affairs staff will write a report on

the summit and present it to Congress and the president. "We've never set a master plan for educating the Hawaiian people," U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye told Ka Wai Ola. "I have to be able to tell my colleagues native Hawaiians have a program, they have goals, this is what they want to do, to work with the infrastructure. Right now I've got nothing. If someone should ask me, 'What

are the goals?' I can't just tell them, 'Education.' ... This (summit) is the first step." The first day, participants broke into working groups and devised these goals for Hawaiian educa-

tion: • The 'ohana and native Hawaiian communities shall determine, shape, and guide the education of our people. • We shall shape an educational system whieh embraces, nurtures and practices our traditional foundation as embodied in our language, culture, values and spirituality. • We shall shape an eclucational system whieh empowers native Hawaiian people to be contributors, active participants and leaders in our loeal and global eommunities. On day two the educators eame up with ideas on how to reach those goals. The groups' kuleana were: language, culture and values; assessment and outcomes;

governance and determination and family and eomm u n i t y involvement; heahh and nutrition and reduction of substance abuse; and increasing student participation and reducing truancy and d r o p o u t rates. Their ommendations included ensuring that all Ha w ai ' i ' s e h i 1 d r e n have the opportunity to receive their education in the

Hawaiian language, establishing educational facilities (hālau 'ike) with a land base and mauka to makai access, establishing a Native Hawaiian Educational Outcomes Panel that will devise alternative methods of assessment, providing family-based preschools that include heahh programs, instituting traditional Hawaiian concepts of heahh and nutrition in existing educational programs, and requiring DOE employees to participate in workshops on Hawaiian language and culture. Basic themes emerging from the proceedings were the importance of cultural sensitivity in the learning environment, the need for empowerment and personal self-esteem, the importance of coordinating efforts among institutions and agencies, the need to fund successful programs, and quality of education as reflected in the values underpinning the system. In preparation for the summit, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs

held public meetings in 13 eommunities statewide. Said OHA education officer Rona Rodenhurst, "Not everyone could go to the summit, so we provided the means for the communities to take part. About 225 people attended the 13 meetings, and the official count of the summit participants was about 185, so we doubled the participation." Educators' and community mana'o was mueh the same. For instance, what happens at home and in the community affects what happens in the school, and vice versa, Rodenhurst said. "Hawaiian education must be grounded in Hawaiian values and traditions. If those things aren't pono, how ean the rest fall into plaee?" she asked, adding that

"education is not a means to an end, but an ongoing process." Haunani Apoliona, president and CEO of Alu Like, ine., agreed with Rodenhurst, stressing in her remarks to the summit participants that education doesn't begin and end at school. "We must commit and dedicate ourselves, our families and our eommunity to the piineiple that education is synonymous with lifelong learning. When we accept (that) principle, ... education and the opportunities sought through education take on a different dimension and meaning. Education becomes relevant throughout all stages of life from before birth to old age." Apoliona also stressed the continued on next page

"We've never hael a master plan for educating the Hawaiian people. ... This summit is the first step." - U.S. Sen. ūaniel lnouye

Hawaiian students constitute the largest ethnic group in Hawai'i puhlie schools : 23.4%. How do they compete? Source: Kamehameha

nTTENDHNCE

Needs lmprovement Last year, 18% of Hawaiian students (twice the percentage of non-Hawaiian students) were excessively absent, meaning they missed more than 20 classes in at least one subject per semester.

UGCRBULRRV

Needs lmprovement Hawaiian kindergarteners have lower vocabulary scores than do non-Hawaiians, except for Filipinos. A+ Kamehameha Schools preschool gradu- > ates have better vocabularies than students without that preparation.

SUBSTRNCE RBUSE

Needs lmprovement Hawaiian students reported heavier drug and aleohol use than did non-Hawaiian students at four grade levels surveyed. A+ Drug and aleohol use has declined for all students since 1987.

Needs lmprovement Hawaiian students enroll in college at H I G H E R EGUCRTI 0N rates below non-Hawaiian students.

A+ The number of Hawaiians enrolled at UH has increase by about 10% per year for the past four years.

CULTURE

A+ Fourth- and seventh-grade Hawaiian history and culture courses are required in the DOE. Seven Pūnana Leo Hawaiian language preschools have opened since 1983, and the DOE conducts immersion classes in five schools, with enrollment growing rapidly.

Brandon Reis, Justin Torio (partially obscured), Ashley Silva, Kaikaina Punzal and Pualani Ragudo, students at Kamehameha Schools' Anahola Preschool on Kaua'i, explore nature's classroom, the outdoors. Photo by Bruce Lum

Educators continued from previous page Hawaiian values in Hawaiian education. "The introduction of Hawaiian values toward shaping ... human interaction, eommunication styles, learning/teaching styles and attitudes should not be underestimated," she said. "Our Hawaiian values are powerful and profound. They foster and renew lōkahi. hal-

anee and harmony. ... Our values are the keys to the regeneration and renewal efforts of

our people." According to Ormond W. Hammond, Kamehameha Schools director of program evaluation and planning, newer programs serving Hawaiians, including those funded by the NHEA, "have not been in exis-

tence long enough for us to see long-term effects." Hammond took on the unenviable job of laying out for the participants the dismal statistics of the current state of Hawaiian education. But it is not a picture devoid of hope (see graphic previous page). Patricia Zell, staff director and chief counsel to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs,

said the summit really had two audiences, one of whieh was the administrators, teachers, parents and students who participated. "But we also realized that this summit had a broader purpose, and that was to raise the eon-

sciousness of Americans who are not in this room: that includes the United States Congress, the president of the United States and the executive branch, the leaders in state government and the state Legislature, and the American public in general." Zell added that First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was aware of the summit, and is reportedly planning to turn her attention toward educa-

tion and native issues when she completes her work on health care reform.

The committee's report on the summit will be available to the public by midJune. Interested parties may eall Sen. Inouye's Honolulu office at 541-2542.

"Hawaiian education must be grounded in Hawaiian values and traditions." - OHA education officer Rona Rodenhurst

The Native Hawaiian Education Act currentiy funds six programs: • Nā Pua No'eau, a UH Hilo-based education project for gifted and talented ehiidren; • Pihana Nā Mamo, a special education program with the Department of Education; • the Native Hawaiian Higher Education Program, a counseiing and schoiarship program at Kamehameha Schoois; • the Native Hawaiian Modei Curriculum Jmpiementation Project, whieh involves improving the Kamehameha Schoois Early Education Project (KEEP); - the Kamehameha Schools Famiiy-Based Education Centers, prenatai care and preschooi services; and • the Pūnana Leo Project, native Hawaiian ianguage immersion preschoois.