Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 6, 1 June 2007 — Conference offered discussion on Hawaiian education [ARTICLE]

Conference offered discussion on Hawaiian education

By ŪHA Education Staff Improving the methods of educating Native Hawaiian students was one of the topics at the center of the National Association for Asian and Pacific American Education's annual conference, held at the Prince Kūhiō Hotel April 20. Educators from around the state attended the three-day conference, the theme of whieh was "Pacific Pathways: Engage,

Educate, Enlighten." In her keynote speech, OHA Chair Haunani Apoliona cited several milestones that paved the "pathway" for educating Kānaka Maoli, including the constitutional amendments that originated from the Hawai'i Constitutional Convention of 1978 that created the state's Hawaiian studies program. She also noted the successes of the Hawaiian immersion program and the burgeoning

Hawaiian-focused charter schools as other educational milestones. She said, however, that more has to be done. "We must make certain that the DOE (the state Department of Education) and the State of Hawai'i fulfill its fiduciary kuleana to its Native Hawaiian beneficiaries and the indigenous host culture of Hawai'i," she said. "A healthy, responsive and cultural-ly-sound Hawaiian culture-based

education system is a fundamental prerequisite for building and nurturing a culturally healthy nahon with responsive citizens who will contribute to the growth and harmony of the connnunity." Conference workshops touched on numerous subjects, including the relationship between the federal No Child Left Behind Act and past state policies and Hawai'i laws. Dr. Leonard Barrow, a Hawai'i born resident of Māori descent, along with Dr. Lewis Harris, of the University of Missouri-Saint Louis, discussed a program they administered in whieh students

from Ka Waihona o ka Na'auao, a charter school in Nānākuli, displayed artwork at the Honolulu Academy of Arts' "Life in the Pacific at Nānākuli" exhibit. Their presentation talked about the role of community relationships and cultural sensitivity in pedagogical planning and the development of sustainable cultural and educational programs for Hawaiian children. Funded by the Kawānanakoa Foundation, their program provided Nānākuli with positive role models as well as positive media coverage. E3