Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 20, Number 11, 1 November 2003 — No Child Left Behind Act impacts Hawaiian charter, immersion schools [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

No Child Left Behind Act impacts Hawaiian charter, immersion schools

By Sterling Kini Wong The federally mandated No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has triggered a collision of two worlds of educational thought in Hawai'i, pitting the culture-based curricula of Native Hawaiian charter and immersion schools against a Western-based evaluation model of academic success. The NCLB Act, whieh was signed into law by President Bush on Jan. 8, 2002, requires that eaeh state set annual proficiency targets to indicate academic progress. The measure places high standards of progress on all schools nationwide, and schools that fail to comply face a variety of sanctions. In Hawai'i, eomplianee with such academic standards is measured by the Hawai'i State Assessment, a series of tests administered eaeh spring to students in grades 3, 5, 8 and 10. Grades 5, 6 and 7 will be added in the 2005 -'06 school year. The results of these tests determine whether a school meets the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standard), whieh is the deciding factor in whether a school is deemed to be in eomplianee with NCLB requirements. While educators at Hawaiian charter and immersion schools agree that schools should be held accountable for their students' aeademic progress, they say that the success of their schools' culturebased curricula cannot be properly assessed by the western-based standardized tests mandated by the NCLB.

Kū Kahakalau, director of Kanu o Ka 'Āina New Century Charter School on Hawai'i island, said that the standardized tests undermine the success and intent of the charter and immersion schools. Pointing out that Native Hawaiians are the most undereducated ethnic group in the state, Kahakalau said that Hawaiian charter schools were created to prove that culture-based curricula ean achieve educational success where the Department of Education has failed. Currently, there are 14 schools in Nā Lei Na'auao, the Native Hawaiian New Century Puhlie Charter School Allianee, whieh serve about 1,000 students, 90 percent of whom are Native Hawaiian. In addition, there are about 1,600 students (90 percent are Native Hawaiian) enrolled in 22 Hawaiian-language immersion schools (five of whieh are also charter schools). Keola Nakanishi, administrator of Hālau Kū Māna Charter School in Mānoa, said that charter schools have a commitment to academic growth, but he doesn't believe that accountability standards need to be federally mandated. "I never felt something dictated 6,000 miles away without our input should solely guide our academic plan, mueh less our spiritual and cultural journey," he said. "Things like esteem; sense of self, family and plaee; relationships; cultural grounding — these are things not even on the map." Charles Naumu, principal of Ānuenue immersion school in Pālolo, described NCLB as a double-edged sword. On one side, he said, it raises academic awareness, but he questioned whether it was fair to test third- and fifthgrade Hawaiian immersion students when formal English training is not introduced in immersion schools until the fifth grade.

This spring, several immersion schools piloted a third-grade math test that was a Hawaiian translation of the state standards assessment. Next year, translated versions of the state standards assessment for third grade reading and writing and fourth grade math, reading and writing will be available. However, none of these Hawaiian-language tests are accepted to satisfy the NCLB requirements. Continued on next page

"I never felt something dictated 6,000 miles away without our input should solely guide our aeademic pian, mueh less our spiritual and cultural journey." — Keola Nakanlshl, administrator of Hālau Kū Māna

HeLONA'AI JA(~) —nuun—

Students, parents and teachers of Halau Lokahi (foreground, seated) and representatives from all of the Hawaiian charter schools lobbied legislators in 2001 for much-needed funding to sustain the schools.

XI D" o o z Q O 3 CO o O. ® Q D

From previous page In addition, the state's requirement under NCLB that every teacher be licensed is increasing pressure on charter and immersion schools. Many teachers in charter schools are not able to continue to teach and enter teacher certification programs concurrently. Because of this, Kahakalau said, about 80 percent of her teachers were forced out of the DOE and had to be hired back independently by the charter school. For the immersion schools, the ongoing problem of finding enough teachers who are fluent in Hawaiian has now been compounded by the state's stricter licensing requirements. However, charter and immersion schools are not the only ones that are struggling with the NCLB requirements. State DOE spokesman Greg Knudsen said that every puhlie school in Hawai'i is having difficulty raising proficiency levels and teacher qualifi-

cations without receiving sufficient additional funding. According to the results of the 2003 Hawai'i State Assessment, released in September, 64 percent of Hawai'i's puhlie schools (180 of 280) failed to meet AYP. Many, however, missed by just one benchmark out of 37. It is for this reason that the state DOE, in a Sept. 18 press release, said that "laheling all schools that do not meet AYP as 'failing' is both inaccurate and unfair." In light of these statistics, Knudsen said the challenges facing Hawaiian charter and immersion schools are the same as those facing every other puhlie school that is trying to meet the "difficult and demanding" academic standards of NCLB. But, he added, "There may be more pressure on charter schools because people are saying that they are the answer. . . . if their approach is not effective, people will ask why are we investing so mueh into charter schools." ■