Bill Text: HI HR62 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Requesting The Department Of Education To Report To The Legislature On Its Progress Toward Providing A Well-rounded Education For All Public School Students.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-28 - Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Cabanilla Arakawa, C. Lee excused (2). [HR62 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2019-HR62-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

62

THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO REPORT TO THE LEGISLATURE ON its PROGRESS TOWARD PROVIDING A WELL-ROUNDED EDUCATION FOR ALL PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, providing a well-rounded education to all public school students advances the economic and social health of Hawaii; and

 

     WHEREAS, art, music, and Hawaiian cultural curricula constitute important parts of a well-rounded education that address the developmental needs of the whole child; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 2013, researchers in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas found that instruction in visual arts led to gains in critical-thinking skills; and

 

     WHEREAS, according to a 2014 study performed by Lois Hetland and Ellen Winner of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, education in music and drama shows a generalizable causal relationship to increases in verbal achievement and spatial reasoning; and

 

     WHEREAS, a well-rounded education should uplift special-needs students, who require special-education services and specially designed instruction; and

 

     WHEREAS, the statewide achievement gap between non-high-needs and high-needs students, which include English-language learners, economically disadvantaged children, and students receiving special-education services, stood at 32 percentage points for language arts and 28 percentage points for math; and

     WHEREAS, according to employment data from the Department of Education, in the Nanakuli-Waianae complex area, 18 of 19 special-education teachers hired for the 2017-2018 school year and 57 of 63 special-education teachers hired between the 2015-2016 and 2017-2018 school years had no special-education teaching license; and

 

     WHEREAS, under Hawaii's weighted student formula allocation system for public school funding, small and remote schools encounter difficulties in recruiting and retaining crucial school staff, including librarians, counselors, technology coordinators, and special-education transition coordinators; and

 

     WHEREAS, a well-rounded education requires manageable class sizes that allow teachers to deliver personalized and individuated instruction; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Institute of Education Sciences, the research arm of the United States Department of Education, concludes that class-size reduction is one of only four evidence-based reforms that have been proven to increase student achievement; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2019, that the Department of Education is requested to submit to the Legislature, no later than 20 days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2020, a report on its progress toward providing a well-rounded education for all public school students; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this report include:

 

     (1)  The average amount of instructional time per year devoted to visual arts, music, theater, dance, Hawaiian and Polynesian studies, Hawaiian language, native Hawaiian culture and customary practices, and physical education for elementary, middle, and intermediate schools;

     (2)  The number of high schools in which courses in visual arts, music, theater, dance, Hawaiian and Polynesian studies, Hawaiian language, native Hawaiian culture and customary practices, and physical education are offered and taught by licensed and certified teachers;

 

     (3)  The average number of individualized education programs for which care coordinators are responsible at each school, including information on the method by which the allocation of individualized education programs is determined;

 

     (4)  The average number of individualized education program minutes managed by care coordinators at each school, including information on the method by which the allocation of individualized education program minutes is determined;

 

     (5)  The number of special education teachers at each school who are not licensed to teach special education, including information on differences in retention rates for special-education teachers who have completed a state-approved teacher-education program and special-education teachers who have not completed such a program;

 

     (6)  The number of schools that lack a librarian or library media specialist, technology coordinator, or counselor;

 

     (7)  The number of secondary schools that lack a special-education transition coordinator;

 

     (8)  The average class size for each school, including the average size of each inclusion class, fully self-contained class, and class for students with limited English-language proficiency;

 

     (9)  The average total student workload for teachers at each school, including the average workload for special-education teachers; and

    (10)  The number of non-classroom teachers statewide, including at each school and complex area; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Chairperson of the Board of Education, and Superintendent of Education.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

Well-rounded Education; Report by Department of Education

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