Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 8, 1 August 2014 — Shaping education policies in Hawaiʻi public schools [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Shaping education policies in Hawaiʻi public schools

Q&A Cheryl Ka'uhane Lupenui

lnterviewed by Treena Shapiro Earlier this year the Hawai'i State Board of Education passed policy changes that are spurring efforts to comply with a constitutional mandate to promote Hawaiian language, history and culture in the puhlie schools. The policies will help shape a Hawaiian education pathway that would give all students the ophon to leam fromboth Hawaiian and Westem perspectives, either through Hawaiianor English-language instruction. Board of Education member Cheryl Ka'uhane Lupenui, prineipal and founder of The Leader Project, shared her thoughts on how Hawaiian studies are gaining more prominence in the schools and what could be coming next. How are the pubic schools incorporating Hawaiian language and culture into their programs? Currently, in the department, through its Hawaiian studies program, we have our immersion schools and we have our immersion programs, so language shows up in terms of not only a bilingual education but also the context and perspective for learning and content. For those who have made choices to learn through the medium of Hawaiian language, the department has its Ka Papahana Kaiapuni programs at schools. For those that are in the monolingual, i.e., I want to say the English-medium (schools), culture shows up a eouple ways, one being our cultural resource practitioners. Just a little historical context - the law that prevented Hawaiian as a medium of education was repealed back in the 1980s, so I would say from the early ' 80s on is when things started changing in the DOE, where there were actually programs being offered, both on culture and lan-

guage, and history, etc. Part of that was bringing kūpuna (elders) - and I would say that has extended to mākua (parents), as well, into the schools, predominantly in elementary schools, to bring culture in that way, working directly with the teachers. That still continues. That's probably the dominant way. We also obviously have, as part of our graduation requirements, Hawaiian history. You could say that that's also a means of contentspecific (education). And I would also say that because charter schools are also puhlie schools, obviously we have our Hawaiian-focused as well as immersion charter schools. So there's puhlie schools, both DOE and charter, and you would find

- through Hālau Kū Māna, Kanu o ka 'Āina and Hawaiianfocus, and then again through (Ke Kula 'o Nāwahlokalani'ōpu'u Iki) that are also on the spectrum- more immersive experiences. So parents ean choose those tracks as well. That's what currently exists, but not our vision of what should exist and where we grow. What's your vision for how Hawaiian language and eulluie would be incorporated into the puhlie schools? It's not my vision; it's our vision as a growing community. I've been fortunate enough to be invited into a vision and into the conversations that have been long-running. What I see, because I've been helped and educated to see, lines up with my own personal views, too, and it's reflected in the policies. Probably the best way that I've found to articulate it, both visually and narratively, is a pathway and using pathway language versus "program." Program is very mueh what we currently have and it's very mueh isolated and it's operating in the context of a bigger system that has been designed and developed

from a Western construct. I'm not by any means saying that is not good, but it's not the only way. What I find is when you move into a conversation about diversity and multiculturalism and global economy and knowledge-based societies and critical thinking and creative problem solving is you're holding a larger space for the "and." And so beautifully, for Hawai'i, we have access to some amazing educational knowledge and an indigenous system of teaching and learning. We're not subjugating one system for another, we're learning in both. That's what we value, being able to move in and out of both and be literate in different world views. Where are you in the process of creating this pathway? One of the projects we're working on as a group is looking at our general learner outcomes from a Hawaiian perspective. What do we want our kids to look like when they graduate? What outcomes do we have? That's an example of putting stones into the pathway. There's also work being done on the Hawaiian language assessment that's been happening for a while.

Now there's work being done on this part. There's work looking at what does this mean in terms of the teacher training or qualifications - if there is demand, do we have the supply? In the policies, there's creation of this Office of Hawaiian Education, first of its kind. That's where we ean house and be homebased for this kind of work to happen as we're building out this pathway. We ean also figure out how to create access on a continuum. We're going to have some that are going to want a full K-12 education, fully in a bilingual context, both in the mediums of Hawaiian and English, and we're going to have others who choose an English medium

of learning but also still want to access both content and context that are being offered from a Hawaiian perspective. Can you explain the policy changes to the DOE's Hawaiian Immersion Program, Ka Papahana Kaiapuni Hawai'i, whieh allows higher compensation for certified hilingual teachers and assessments hased on what students are learning in school? There are two policies. One, 2104, relates to the overall Hawaiian language, culture and history throughout our educational system. And then specific to Kula Kaiapuni is 2105 and their specific policy language. We see them as separate policies, but obviously linked and under the purview of the Office of Hawaiian Education. Of the two, you ean see the one that is more proscriptive is the Kula Kaiapuni because it does outline very nicely some very specific pieces about curriculum, standards and teacher qualifications and eommunity involvement and really building the capacity. It's all there. Will the Hawaiian language assessments he compatihle or

aligned with the Common Core curriculum? Whether students are learning those standards through the Hawaiian medium or the English medium, we want to test their proficiency on those standards in the medium for whieh they're learning. That's why these assessments are important. Beyond English language arts and math standards is really looking at what Hawaiian language standards are - and I don't mean standards to learn the language. When you look at an indigenous knowledge system and educational system specifically, you have to look at it from all its points, whieh include standards and curriculumthat are "to be developed by the Department to prepare students for college, career and to be contributors to the community with the assistance of appropriate stakeholders." In this is the establishment of standards and curriculum. You have two things going on. You have measuring proficiency to other standards, regardless of the medium of instruction. If you think of the metaphor with the (voyaging canoes) Hōkūle'a and the Hikianalia, I think they're really great examples of vessels honoring a very traditional, very mueh Hawaiian context. In the Hōkūle'a you have the traditional navigational techniques and they're navigating to the same plaee as Hikianalia, whieh has a mueh more hybrid approach. We've got solar-power systems, we've got technology, blogging, we've got English being used. It has its own kind of way of getting there. To be able to jump on board on either one and feel comfortable and be able to navigate would be great. I ean operate in a Hawaiian context and still use English to communicate and vice-versa. Let's use Christopher Columbus as an example. I ean leam about the finding of America from a Hawaiian perspective in English or Hawaiian - or from an English perspective or a Westem perspective in Hawaiian or English - but they would be XI LUPENUI ON PAGE 21

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Cheryl Ka'uhane Lupenui. - Courtesy: Sharmil Elliott

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Continued from page 12 different stories regardless of the medium. What's next for Ilālau Lōkahi, the troubled charter school whose linaneial auditled to a īeeonnnen(lalion to shut down the school? The Charter Sehool Commission said, "We'll renew your eontraet if your governing board and your head of sehool resign," so they did and an appointed governing board is now in plaee. The appointed goveming board is eharged with figuring out what's going to happen next. We're under some real time-sen-sitivity, beeause as a parent whose ehild has been going there, or as a parent who wants their ehild to

go there, what's going to happen? These deeisions have to be made quiekly if they're going to be able to reopen for this eoming sehool year. That's the governing board's responsibility, to understand what is the sehool's situation and to make a recommendation on what happens next. Embedded in that is their decision will determine whether they should be given another ehanee (and looking at the whole school) to figure out what it's going to take, and do we as a community eontinue to invest in this school, both in hnaneial resources and enrolling our kids and in the passion and love that these charter schools are founded on. ■

Treena Shapiro, afreelance writer, is aformer reporterfor the Honolulu StarBulletin and Honolulu Advertiser.

Nalei Phillips, left, a Kailua, O'ahu, native and Native Hawaiian who lives in the Middle East, is a regular participant in the Explorations Series. She was among eight international students participating in the program this summer. - Courtesy: Kamehameha Schools