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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.C.R. NO. |
166 |
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TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012 |
H.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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HOUSE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
requesting the Department of education and BOARD OF EDUCATION to formally acknowledge the establishment of ‘Aha Kauleo Kaiapuni Hawai‘i and to continue to support and implement the recommendations of ‘aha kauleo kaiapuni Hawai‘i on matters relating to the hawaiian language immersion program
WHEREAS, the Hawaiian language, the native language of the Native Hawaiian people, was once a thriving language used by Native Hawaiians and foreigners alike; and
WHEREAS, by the late twentieth century, however, the Hawaiian language was pushed to the brink of extinction due to a number of factors, including an 1896 law that banned the speaking of the Hawaiian language in Hawaii schools; and
WHEREAS, fortunately, the Hawaiian language was saved by several historic initiatives, including the Department of Education's Hawaiian Language Immersion Program that was launched in the 1980s and is presently offered at twenty-one public schools and educates more than two thousand students in kindergarten through the twelfth grade; and
WHEREAS, the assessment requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 present a major problem for the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program; and
WHEREAS, as English is not formally introduced in
Hawaiian Language Immersion Program classrooms until the fifth grade, since the
2005-2006 school year, third and fourth grade students had been taking the Hawaiian
aligned portfolio assessment, which was developed in the Hawaiian language
specifically for the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program, to comply with the
requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Education decided it will no longer use the
Hawaiian aligned portfolio assessment and is instead administering a Hawaiian
translation of the Hawaii state assessment this school year; and
WHEREAS, fifth and sixth grade Hawaiian language immersion students, who take the assessment tests in English, are also at a disadvantage, since they have spent only a limited amount of time using an English-based curriculum; and
WHEREAS, problems arise when a test is translated from one language to another and, in many cases, the construct of the test will have changed because of the translation and an English reading test, once translated into Hawaiian, does not necessarily measure reading proficiency in either English or Hawaiian; and
WHEREAS, as a result, the English-administered assessments for these students are unlikely to be an accurate reflection of their individual abilities, or their standing among their peers in English language-based schools; and
WHEREAS, the Board of Education has adopted a policy (Board of Education Policy 2105) acknowledging that its Hawaiian Language Immersion Program is "an essential component to the revitalization and continuation of the Hawaiian language and culture"; and
WHEREAS, in 1990, the Board of Education approved the establishment of the ‘Aha Kauleo Kaiapuni Hawai‘i, or the Hawaiian Language Immersion Advisory Council, to advise the Department of Education on the educational needs of the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program students; and
WHEREAS, ‘Aha
Kauleo Kaiapuni Hawai‘i
has expressed a commitment to develop the reading, math, science, and other
assessments administered to students in grades three through six of the
Department of Education's Hawaiian Language Immersion Program in the Hawaiian
language, in an original form, and at no cost to the Department of Education
for the initial development of the assessments; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-sixth
Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2012, the Senate
concurring, that the Board of Education and the Department of Education are
urged to formally acknowledge the establishment of ‘Aha Kauleo Kaiapuni Hawai‘i, or the Hawaiian
Language Immersion Advisory Council, in the Hawaii Revised Statutes, or through
the Hawaii Administrative Rules; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education and the Board of Education are urged to continue to support and implement the recommendations of ‘Aha Kauleo Kaiapuni Hawai‘i on matters relating to the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Education, Superintendent of Education, and ‘Aha Kauleo Kaiapuni Hawai‘i.
Department of Education; Memorandum of Agreement; ‘Aha Kauleo Kaiapuni Hawai‘i