Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 8, 1 August 2013 — Making education work for native learners [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Making education work for native learners

ByTreenaShapiro School complexes with large Native Hawaiian populations need to set aside the culture of excuses and instead adopt high expectations, a state Department of Education official said at a recent culturebased education conference. Mary Correa, a complex area superintendent from Hawai'i Island, has learned this through experience. During her keynote address at the Cul-ture-Based Education Conference in June, Correa talked about her work in one of the DOE's Zones of School Innovation, encompassing Kea'au, Pāhoa and Ka'ū on the island of Hawai'i. The rural school zone has been targeted for additional help because its student populahon - 46 percent Native Hawaiian - faces challenges that ean get in the way of academic achievement. Correa was a featured speaker because her eomplex area has met the challenges head-on and helped improve student performance. "We embraced culture-based education," Correa preached to the choir of educators at the Hawai'i Convention Center who gathered to discuss ways to better teach Native Hawaiian students. "When you talk about culture and eome from an area of

poverty ... we have to also address a culture of excuses. We had to move from a victim mentality to high expectations." Similar stories were told throughout the conference, whieh aimed to highlight the growth of culturally responsive and relevant approaches to education. Under culturally based education models, native languages and world views are incorporated in the classroom and education is used to improve the well-being of native communities. Presenters shared what real-world application looks like when cultural values and traditions are incorporated into the curriculum.

The rural community schools that Correa oversees are beset by challenges, such as being low-tech in an increasingly high-tech educational system, along with geographic distances that mean long commutes to school with little in the way of puhlie transportation. Students achievement can't rise if students can't get to school, or if highly qualified teachers aren't there to teach them.

"We're closing the gap for all students. It heeame important to us to close the gap for Native Hawaiian students and we have continuing ehallenges," such as attendance, Correa noted. She offered some sobering statistics: A little more than half the chronically absent students are Native Hawaiian, and Hawaiians account

for 55 percent of behavioral ineidents reported, Correa said. It's also hard to retain teachers, she added, noting that some eommute from Hilo, whieh is 52 miles to Ka'ū and 65 miles to Nā'ālehu, and forces them to spend hours in the car eaeh week and pay high gas costs out of pocket. What's helped with teacher retention is a seven-year-old induction and mentoring program that offers beginning teachers both academic and cultural support. "People will pay no attention to poor production. If it is good, then it will attract attention." Other work being done takes plaee outside the classroom to

address the heahh and well-being of students so they ean concentrate on learning, as well as engaging parents and community members to garner support for students' achievement. Correa was also part of a panel discussion on the state of culture-based education that included SEE NATIVE LEARNERS ON PAGE 13

EDUCATION

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Ways to improve learning took center stage at the Culture-Based Education Conference and Hawaiian Education Summmit in July. - Courtesy: Kai Markell

NATIVE LEARNERS Continued from page 4

Board of Education member Cheryl Lupenui. Lupenui said that schools are embracing culturally based education because otherwise "we are limiting ourselves if we only rely on Western cultural meaning and context of how we deliver our educational system. We're not realizing the cognizance and strength of our own Hawaiian culture and context and aptitude within our educational system." "So how mueh more creative and innovative, how mueh more impactful might we be if we're adopting that sort of strategy from a wide, cultural knowledge base?" Lupenui asked. In tandem with the conference, Kamehameha Schools hosted a strategic planning session to help guide the schools beyond 2015. The plan will address how to improve the well-being of Native Hawaiian children, while taking into account how mueh the Hawaiian population is increasing on the continent. It was one of the hnal "dream sessions" to bring out big ideas before the schools' new trustees meet over the summer, then report back to the community. Goals of the strategic planning, as flashed on the screen, include "creating a future where children are supported in their learning; connected to plaee, community and culture; (and) succeeding as loeal and global leaders." The four-day event, whieh included a Hawaiian Education Summit, was sponsored by Kamehameha Schools, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Native Hawaiian Education Council, the University of Hawai'i-Mānoa, UH-Hilo and the Hawaiian Legacy Loundation. ■ Treena Shapiro, afreelance writer, is aformer reporterfor the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Honolulu Advertiser.