Bill Text: HI HR128 | 2012 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Department of Education; Memorandum of Agreement; Aha Kauleo Kaiapuni Hawaii
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-04-03 - (H) Report adopted. referred to the committee(s) on FIN as amended in HD 2 with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Cabanilla, Carroll, Mizuno, Thielen excused (4). [HR128 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2012-HR128-Amended.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.R. NO. |
128 |
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TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012 |
H.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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HOUSE 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, 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 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
