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Chapter 130
Purpose: To authorize and develop supplemental educational programs to benefit Native Hawaiians, provide direction and guidance to appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies to focus resources on the problems of Native Hawaiian education, and supplement and expand existing programs and authorities to further the education of Native Hawaiians. The program consists of five components: (1) Curriculum Development; (2) Family-Based Education Centers; (3) Higher Education Demonstration; (4) Gifted and Talented Demonstration; and (5) Special Education.
Funding History
| Fiscal Year | Appropriation |
|---|---|
| 1989 | $4,940,000 |
| 1990 | 6,419,000 |
| 1991 | 6,366,000 |
| 1992 | 6,400,000 |
| 1993 | 6,448,000 |
| 1994 | 8,224,000 |
The family-based programs require parental involvement to achieve program effectiveness and to reach their goals to increase participation in prenatal care, lower the incidence of birth anomalies, improve academic readiness for kindergartners, reduce the number of children requiring special educational services, reduce stress among parents, and encourage parents to finish high school.
In FY 1989, a grant was awarded to Kamehameha Schools with subcontracts to the University of Hawaii and the State education agency (SEA) to implement, in appropriate Hawaiian public schools, the model curriculum developed by the Kamehameha Elementary Demonstration School. The grant has been continued and funded annually through 1993 and currently totals $2,275,848. Grantee-sponsored activities include comprehensive teacher training, educational support services, and research and development.
In FYs 1989 through 1993, the Department of Education also awarded grants totaling $8,694,418 to Kamehameha Schools and $5,471,374 to Aha Punana Leo to develop and operate Family-Based Education Centers. Currently, Kamehameha operates 14 centers that provide parent-infant programs and preschool programs to approximately 1,800 students and 200 parents. Aha Punana Leo operates five centers that provide these services to about 1,000 students and their parents.
A grant, begun in FY 1989 and currently totaling $4,337,400, was awarded to the University of Hawaii at Hilo to establish a Gifted and Talented Center for demonstration projects to address the special needs of Native Hawaiian elementary and secondary school students who are gifted and talented, and to provide support services to their families. Twenty demonstration projects serve almost 2,000 students and their families.
In FY 1990, two grants totaling $1,678,000 were awarded to the Kamehameha Schools for a demonstration program to provide fellowships to undergraduate Native Hawaiian students and for a demonstration project to provide fellowships to Native Hawaiian students pursuing graduate degrees, with priority given to students seeking professions in which Native Hawaiians are under-represented.
The review found that because the programs' developers understand the needs of the families they are serving, they are effectively planning for resources and activities to fit the needs of the community. For example, the Kamehameha programs are providing practical solutions to specific problems observed among Native Hawaiians. These include identifying at-risk pregnancies and providing health education to improve birth outcomes; identifying developmental delays by using home visitors to monitor the growth and development of infants and toddlers; providing Travelling Preschools that bring appropriate activities to two- and three-year-olds who live in rural communities; and planning curriculum to improve deficiencies in language development and in literacy training (III.2).
The Native Hawaiians tend to utilize and participate more often in the programs and services provided through the family-based centers than in other early childhood programs for children at risk of educational failure (III.2).
By recruiting local paraprofessionals who are familiar with the values, preferences, and patterns of helping the communities to serve as "culture-brokers", and by conducting classes in the Native Hawaiian language, the Kamehameha and the Punana Leo programs have gained acceptance. The "culture-brokers" ensure that families are comfortable participating in the programs (III.2).
[Dwight D. Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Education State Grant Program]