Bill Text: HI SR107 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Board of Education; Hawaiian Language Immersion Program

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-1)

Status: (Passed) 2013-06-07 - Certified copies of resolutions sent, 06-07-13. [SR107 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-SR107-Introduced.html

THE SENATE

S.R. NO.

107

TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the board of education, as part of its development of a comprehensive hawaiian studies program, to create a coalition to address the issue of developing assessments required by the no child left behind act of 2001 in the Hawaiian language for hawaiian language immersion students to more accurately measure their academic achievement.

 

 


     WHEREAS, the Hawaiian language was once a thriving language used by Native Hawaiians and foreigners alike; and

 

     WHEREAS, by the late twentieth century, the Hawaiian language was pushed to the brink of extinction due to a number of factors, including an 1896 law that functioned to ban the speaking of the Hawaiian language in Hawaii's schools; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaiian language was saved by several historic initiatives, including the Department of Education's Hawaiian language immersion program, which was launched in the 1980s; and

 

     WHEREAS, today, the Hawaiian language immersion program is offered at twenty-one public schools and educates more than two thousand students in kindergarten through the twelfth grade; and

 

     WHEREAS, the assessments required by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (No Child Left Behind) present a challenge for the Hawaiian immersion program; and

 

     WHEREAS, because English is not formally introduced in the Hawaiian immersion program classrooms until the fifth grade, third and fourth graders take assessments in the Hawaiian language to comply with the requirements of No Child Left Behind; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Education must provide the students with an assessment system that more accurately measures their academic achievement; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Legislature is aware that the Board of Education is currently reviewing issues regarding assessments as part of its development of a comprehensive Hawaiian studies program within Hawaii's public school system; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2013, that the Board of Education is requested, as part of its development of a comprehensive Hawaiian studies program, to create a coalition to address the issue of developing assessments required by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 in the Hawaiian language for Hawaiian language immersion students to more accurately measure their academic achievement; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the coalition created by the Board of Education is requested to address the development of grade-specific assessments in the Hawaiian language in language arts, mathematics, and science to be administered to students in the Hawaiian language immersion program; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the coalition include but not be limited to representatives from:

 

     (1)  Hawaiian language immersion schools;

 

     (2)  The University of Hawaii System;

 

     (3)  The Office of Hawaiian Affairs;

 

     (4)  Kamehameha Schools; and

 

     (5)  Any other entity or organization the Board of Education deems relevant; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board of Education is requested to report the findings and recommendations of the coalition to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2014; provided that the Board of Education is requested to include in its report:

 

     (1)  A timeline for when specific grade levels will be able to take assessments in language arts, mathematics, and science in the Hawaiian language;

 

     (2)  Any proposed legislation; and

 

     (3)  Any requests for necessary funding; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Chairperson of the Board of Education, Superintendent of Education, President of the University of Hawaii System, Chief Executive Officer of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and Chief Executive Officer of Kamehameha Schools.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Board of Education; Hawaiian Language Immersion Program

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