Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 9, 1 September 2010 — The impact of new federal requirements for the collection of ethnicity and race data on Native Hawaiian students [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The impact of new federal requirements for the collection of ethnicity and race data on Native Hawaiian students

By Lisa Watkins-Victorino, Ph.D. The United States Department of Edueation (USDOE) has instituted new federal requirements regarding the eolleetion and reporting of ethnieity and raee data for puhlie sehool students. States are required to implement the new guidelines this sehool year (SY 2010-2011). Consequently, it is important for parents and guardians to understand the new requirements and their impaet on indigenous student populations sueh as Native Hawaiians. It is important to note that individual student information is not reported to USDOE. C0LLECTI0N 0F ETHNICITY AND RACE DATA In the previous method of data eolleehon, states were required to eolleet ethnieity and raee data on five categories defined as: ( 1) Hispanic/Latino, (2) Native American, (3) Asian/Pacific Isiander, (4) Black and (5) White. The new method requires a two-part ethnicity and race question similar to the census. The first question, referred to as the ethnicity question, must ask if a student is Hispanic. The second question must ask for race information. The revised five race categories are: (1) American Indian or Alaska Native, (2) Asian, (3) Black or African American, (4) Native Hawaiian or Pacific Isiander and (5) White. In addition, individuals must be allowed to mark more than one race. REPORTING 0F ETHNICITY AND RACE DATA There are some significant changes to how data are reported. The following summarizes the new federal reporting requirements: 1) If a student identifies as Hispanic in the first question, then the student is classified as Hispanic regardless of any race selection. 2) Race data is to be reported using the revised five race categories and an additional category "Two or more races." 3) If a student identifies with muhiple races (across the five categories), then the student must be reported as "Two or more races." IMPLEMENTATION 0F THE NEW GUIDELINES AND REQUIREMENTS BY HID0E If a state collects more ethnicity and race data than the federal categories, then the data must be collapsed into the federal categories when reporting to the USDOE. The Hawai'i DOE collects data on Native Hawaiians using two categories "Hawaiian" and "Part-Hawaiian." In practice, these categories are combined when report-

ing. In School Year 2009-2010, 5 percent of students were identified as Native Hawaiian and 23 percent were identified as Part-Hawaiian. Under the new guidelines, Part-Hawaiian

as a category automatically identifies a student as being of "Two or more races." The HIDOE believes that classifying Part-

Hawaiian students as being of "Two or more races" will be detrimental to the representation andreporting of Native Hawaiian students. Therefore, the HIDOE has updated its student enrollment form and decision rules regarding how

the state's categories will be collapsed into the new federal categories. The HIDOE believes its actions are in eomplianee with the federal requirements and, more importantly, will ensure an accurate representation of Native Hawaiian students. The new enrollment form will ask three questions related to ethnicity and race. First, the enrollment form will ask: "Are you (J) Hispanic (Ex. Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Spanish, Other Hispanic)?" If "Yes" is checked, then the student must be counted and reported as Hispanic. If the parent or guardian completing the enrollment form checked "Yes," then they may eonhnue to answer the race question that follows; however, for reporting purposes the student will be counted only as Hispanic. Second, the enrollment form will ask for race information. The previous enrollment form eollected data on 13 categories. The new enrollment form will include 16 categories. The "Hawaiian" and "Part-Hawaiian" categories have been eollapsed into a single "Native Hawaiian" category. Muhiple races ean be selected. Third, the enrollment form will ask, "What is the student's primary race? (Select only one

letter from either the Ethnicity or Race list and fill in the hlank)."

"Primary race" is NOT about blood quantum. Primary refers to the race with whieh the student most identifies. The HIDOE included a primary race question to ensure an accurate count of Native Hawaiians

consistent with the current method of counting and reporting. In general, if a parent or guardian designates muhiple races for a student that includes Native Hawaiian, but does not designate Native Hawaiian as the primary race, then the student will NOT be counted as Native Hawaiian when reporting to the USDOE unless the multiple races are also of Paeihe Island origin. For example, if a parent or guardian selects Native Hawaiian and Samoan, then the student will be included in the larger federal category of Native Hawaiian or Paeihe Islander when reporting to the USDOE. If the parent selects Native Hawaiian and Chinese and does not designate Native Hawaiian as primary race, then their child will be counted as "Two or more" for federal reporting purposes because these races are not of the same origin (i.e., Native Hawaiian is classified as Paeihe origin and Chinese as Asian origin). If you have any questions about the new federal requirements, please contact Mel Decasa, Information System Services Branch, at 586-3215. ■ Lisa Watkins-Victorino is a Evaluation Specialist at the Hawai'i Department of Education.

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EŪUOAHON

The HIDOE believes that classifying Part-Hawaiian students as being of "Two or more races" will be detrimental to the representation and reporting of Native Hawaiian students. Therefore, the HIDOE has updated its student enrollment form and decision rules regarding howthe state's categories will be collapsed into the new federal categories."

REPORTING Y0UR

ETHNICITY In School Year 2009201 0, 5 percent of stu-

dents were identified ūs Native Howoiion ond 23 percent were identified os Port-HūWūiion. Under the new guidelines, PortHowoiion os o cotegory

ūuromoricūiiy iūennries o student os being of "Two or more roces" - and only the remaining 5 percent would be reported ūs Hawaiian to the U.S. Department of Education.

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