Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 8, 1 August 2011 — Hawaiians having a voice in DOE reform [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiians having a voice in DOE reform

By Lisa Asato With the state Department of Education reaping $75 million in federal Race to the Top funds to reform the system and improve educational achievement of students statewide, key Hawaiian organizations have eome together to help the DOE vastly improve Native Hawaiian achievement in two of the state's lowest-performing areas. The two areas designated as "zones of school innovation" are the Nānākuli and Waianae complexes, including Mākaha, on the Leeward Coast on O'ahu and the Ka'ū, Kea'au, Pāhoa complexes on Hawai'i Island. The two zones have high concentrations of Native Hawaiian students - comprising 61 percent and 46 percent of the student enrollment, respectively. The advisory group, known as the Native Hawaiian Educational Outcomes Council, is made up of representatives from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Kamehameha Schools, Queen Lili'uokalani Trust, Papa Ola Lōkahi, University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu, Native Hawaiian Education Council and The Leaming Coalition. In Hawai'i, Native Hawaiian students lag behind their peers in proficiency in reading and math, graduation rates and the number of students who go to college. The goal, as spelled out in the state's Race to the Top application, is to reduce the Native Hawaiian achievement gap by half by 2014 and eliminate it by 2018. "This is a new working relationship, and I believe it is unprecedented," Schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi said. "It is based on a mutual desire to focus on the Native Hawaiian students and eliminate the achievement gap between the Native Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian students." The aim is to produce "culturally appropriate supports for Hawaiian students that ensures students attend

school, keeps students in school and engages them in their school work," she said. The Hawaiian

eouneil will hire staff, provide funding and design an action plan for the DOE, whieh will replicate successful efforts from the zones

across the school system. Richard Pezzulo, OHA Chief Operating Officer, is a member of the eouneil, as is OHA Chief Knowledge Officer Dr. Mālia Ka'aihue. "We're creating a model on how to bring the stakeholders together to strategically plan based on data," said Ka'aihue, a former educator. "All the right people are at the table that ean impact Native Hawaiian communities that have buy-in or kuleana to the Native Hawaiian community. Supposing this model works, this is something that ean be duplicated in other school zones or with other initiatives outside education." Ka'aihue compares the collective effort around Race to the Top to the kind of collaboration that made the Achieving the Dream initiative possible. That program, aimed at improving access to higher education for Native Hawaiians, is being undertaken with great success by the UH community colleges with the help of OHA and Kamehameha Schools. (Read more about the initiative on page 5.) While it's too soon to discuss strategies for the two zones of innovation, Ka'aihue said a priority of the eouneil is to work closely with the Superintendent to ensure that the communities there receive the best services from the DOE. "One of the things that the Superintendent has committed to is providing highspeed wireless access to all of the schools in the innovation zones first before the rest of the state," Ka'aihue said. "(The eouneil) keeps the innovation zones a priority for

the DOE." The Hawaiian council's work aligns well with OHA's role as an Advocate

ror iNative Hawaiians. It also aligns well with the agency's Strategic Result to improve I standardized test scores of Native Hawaiians, Pezzulo

said. That in tum helps support another Strategic Result of OHA's - to increase graduation rates from post-high institutions. "The two are closely tied together because if you ean improve performance in high school, the benefits will be seen in success in college," he said, adding that a big problem OHA researchers have found is that many Native Hawaiian

students entering the UH system have to take remedial courses before they ean begin taking credit courses.

The lagging educational achievement in the Wai'anae and Ka'ū areas is attributed in part to "the challenging social and x;onomic situation

in these communities," Matayoshi said. The Ka'ū Complex has 83 percent of students receiving free and reduced luneh, an indicator of low family ineome. In Wai'anae, it's 72 percent. UH-West O'ahu Chancellor Gene Awakuni, a member of the Hawaiian eouneil who has worked in education for three decades, said he will be recommending ways to

help increase the rates of Hawaiians going to college. He says Native Hawaiians comprise 26 percent of the school's student body of 1,600, and that number has been steadily increasing in recent years. Next summer, the school will move into its new campus in Kapolei, whieh will be able to

accommodate 3,600 students and be nearer to the Wai'anae Coast than its current Pearl City campus. "We want to ie the destination

of ehoiee for students along the Wai'anae Coast," Awakuni said. "Our responsibility is to ensure we have a point of access where students ean eome in at the university level, feel comfortable and thrive." Awakuni said the Native Hawaiian Educational Outcomes Council will work to help SEE D0E ON PAGE 25

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Continued from page 7 Matayoshi "pull together a program and resources to make a difference in the lives of Native Hawaiians" in the targeted communities so they get the appropriate educational preparation and support services, such as counseling, child care and family intervention. With the dual focus on educational achievement and support services, Awakuni said he sees the DOE achieving its goal to close the achievement gap for Hawaiians. As a result, he said he also anticipates a "dramatic increase" of Hawaiians entering his campus. "It's not going to happen

overnight. You're not going to see transformational change in a year, but if you look at a three- to five-year span of time, I'm certain we'll see indications of success," he said, adding that "an increase in college-going rates is among the top priorities for us." Awakuni said closing the achievement gap of Hawaiians is achievable because the Hawaiianfocused organizations are sharing their expertise and working together. "Collectively we have a mueh better ehanee of successful outcomes than if it was just one organization or the DOE on its own," he said. "I think together we ean do something that is very significant for the Hawaiian community." ■