Native Hawaiian Grant Award Abstracts FY 2004

# Ke Kula O Nawahiokalani'opu-u -- S362A030053

This project focuses on promoting wellness among the students and their
families of Ke Kula 'o Nawahiokalani' opu' u. Failure to address
physical, academic, and emotional health may contribute to the demise of
the vitality of the Native Hawaiian people. Therefore, this project will
use curriculum and professional development to promote wellness in the
school community.

The wellness of the people is linked to the strength of the Mauli or
cultural identity of the people. Cultural grounded ness as expressed
through the Hawaiian language provides the anchor for young people of
Hawaii to understand who they are and their cultural responsibilities to
their homeland, Hawaii Nei.

To develop healthy bodies and lifestyles, this project has a nutrition
component and a fitness program for the children and their families.
Curriculum development and activities will provide for student and
family participation.

To build healthy minds, the project has components to develop
intellectually stimulating curriculum based on the Kumu Honua Mauli Ola,
improved higher thinking skills among students, create age-appropriate
curriculum materials in the Hawaiian language particularly for upper
level students, and to promote the training of in-service and
prospective Hawaiian immersion teachers. The professional development
activities planned will support the teacher innovations in the classroom
through training, application of skills, and coaching techniques.

It is estimated that this project will impact upon 25-300 Native
Hawaiian within the school community. The curriculum materials developed
as a part of this project, however, would be available to other Hawaiian
immersion schools throughout the state. Therefore, the potential impact
would be the total number of children enrolled in Hawaiian immersion
education in Hawaii for kindergarten to grade 12.

**[University of Hawaii -- S362A030039]{.underline}**

Project Ku'I Ka Lono will establish a team of educators from the
University of Hawaii at Manoa Hawaii Language Program of the Department
of Hawaiian and Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures, the University
of Hawaii at Manoa Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, the
State of Hawaii Department of Education; and the Native Hawaiian
community; who will be guided by an advisory board composed of
university faculty community leaders, as well as university partners to
develop quality educational programs that bring about improvements in
teaching and learning.

This project reflects an innovative movement to design, develop, and
distribute Hawaiian language curricula that includes Native Hawaiian
tradition and culture. It will "ground" curriculum research and
development in Native Hawaiian perspective and language through research
of the 19^th^ and 20^th^ century Hawaiian language newspapers and
indirectly prepare researchers, teachers, and curriculum developers who
value the important task of building in the Hawaiian Language new
contributions to Native Hawaiian knowledge. The Project has three
essential components:

Research on Hawaiian Language Newspapers incorporating Native Hawaiian
Tradition and Cultures: High quality research leading to the development
of Hawaiian Language curricula that incorporates Native Hawaiian
tradition and culture is a critical mass of excellent researchers from
across disciplines, institutions, and the community to build on Native
Hawaiian strengths in the discovery of new knowledge and in the
development of capabilities to utilize this knowledge for native
Hawaiian well-being and advancement.

Curriculum Design, Development, and Distribution to increase the amount
of accessibility of Hawaiian language curricula. Developers of
outstanding educational programs have expert knowledge of the principles
of curriculum design, development, and distribution.

Outreach services to Native Hawaiian children and adults in Hawaiian
language: In order to ensure that many audiences are made aware of the
Hawaiian language curricula incorporating Native Hawaiian tradition and
culture developed under this project, we are committed to offer outreach
services to Native Hawaiian children and adults in many different forms.
Project Ku'I Ka Lono's outreach services will include: conference
presentations, series of workshops, courses, seminars, summer
institutes, and news articles. These outreach services will ensure that
Hawaiian language curricula ready for distribution is shared with the
general community of Hawaii and the broader community world wide,
specifically the Native Hawaiian community, adults and children, in
Hawaii and abroad who has an interest in learning or increasing their
knowledge of Hawaiian.

**[Native Nations Education Foundation -- S362A030016]{.underline}**

This project will develop a Community-Based Learning Center to meet the
needs of the Native Hawaiian families in the Kalihi District,
specifically the Palama Settlement, a weed-and-seed designated area of
Honolulu. This project will provide:

-   An After-School Program for Native Hawaiian youth.

-   An adult basic education program (GED)

-   Weekend and summer camps that support the unique cultural and
    educational needs of Native Hawaiian youth involving Native elders
    and seniors as teachers.

-   Family/Student Recreational/Cultural/Academic Nights

-   Unique field experiences for high-risk youth to cultural, spiritual
    and historical places of significance to Native Hawaiian people.

In developing the grant, Native Nations worked with Halau Lokahi staff,
a K-12 school located at the Palama Settlement, parents, community
persons and elders. An extensive evaluation is planned to provide
continual feedback to the project staff and community.

**[Consortium for Hawaii Ecological Engineering Education --
S362A030043]{.underline}**

This project is focused on Absolute Priority Number 2, Curriculum
Development. This initiative will develop project-based learning
strategies and curriculum approaches to provide Native Hawaiian youth
with authentic learning experiences that equip them with skills to
succeed in school and beyond. These learning experiences will focus on
the exploration and development of skills and knowledge in mathematics
and science while strongly incorporating native Hawaiian practices,
traditions and culture. The focal platform for the project-learning
approach is this initiative will be the natural environment (especially
the marine environment), which offers numerous opportunities for
application of math and science skills. The project learning approach
will be carefully designed to meet the State standards in math and
science while contributing to the development of decision-making,
leadership, and communication skills. These skills will built as
students select, define and defend their project proposals and share
what they've learned and the impact of their projects with members of
the school and broader communities. Where project-based learning
approaches have been used with Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian youth, they
have proven effective in encouraging variable modes of learning and
allowing students to develop and learn in ways that are most appropriate
for them as individuals.

This project is designed to create and disseminate project-based
curricula approaches that will have an impact on an ever-growing circle
of teachers and students. The project-based curriculum can be adapted to
the varied microenvironments found throughout the State of Hawaii. In
the initial school year, the project will directly impact 15 teachers
and as many as 200 students. In the first summer session an additional
15 teachers will be trained in these approaches with subsequent direct
impact on another approximately 200 students. As each of these teachers
takes back the project-based curricula approaches to their schools they
will in turn impact other teachers through peer training. As a result as
many as 30 other teachers and 400 additional students will be working
with these approaches by the end of year two. The second summer session
will in turn train a minimum of an additional 15 teachers with the same
multiplier affect as the previous year. All told, by the end of the
project, it is planned that as many as 150 teachers and over 1000
students will have direct exposure to and opportunities to apply these
approaches. Throughout the three years, this initiative will continually
expand its circle of impact by working directly with the DOE to infuse
project-based learning approaches and training opportunities to as many
schools as possible. The project-based learning website and summer
teacher training sessions that will be developed by this project will be
key in this dissemination. Overall, this project will develop and test
new project-based curricula approaches that are increasingly proving
effective with Hawaiian youth and provide systematic means for
disseminating these approaches to a wide range of teachers and students.

# Native Nations Education Foundation -- S362A030017

Native Nations Education foundation is dedicated to serving indigenous
people through advocacy, education, information, service and volunteer
efforts with the mission to protect their cultural integrity of
indigenous people through education has joined with Halau Lokahi, a
charter school in Honolulu's Kalihi District in the submission of a
Native Hawaiian Math and Science Curriculum and Improvement Project for
Native Hawaiian youth in grades 7-12. This project will:

-   Develop a culturally and linguistically relevant math and science
    curricula that is sequential across various content areas in 7-12;

-   Provide in-service training for classroom teachers for the
    development of new skills, knowledge and teaching strategies
    appropriate to Native Hawaiian youth,

-   Provide after-school tutoring by college students enrolled in math
    and science teacher education programs,

-   Provide opportunities for students to participate in meaningful
    special research projects that contribute to the welfare of Hawaiian
    people,

-   Provide Summer math and science camps that are high interest and
    culturally appropriate,

-   Conduct field trips to engage in scientific research,

-   Provide for an intensive on-going research/evaluation component of
    each project activity, student performance and teaching.

-   Involve elders as teachers and mentors in the Summer Math and
    Science Camps and Special research projects.

**[Kanu o ka Aina Learning Ohana -- S362A030044]{.underline}**

The Malamapoki'I Family Based Early Education Program of Kanu o ka Aina
Learning Ohana will address the needs of the native Hawaiian community
through early childhood education. The program will begin in the womb in
order to provide children with a health start and a beginning that will
hopefully steer them away from becoming another negative statistic.

The Malamapoki'I program will create an academically stimulating and
culturally based environment for children. In addition, a pre-natal
component will be provided for mothers who would like to nurture the
growth of their child before birth. Through combining the teachings of
ancient Hawaiians with the modern day techniques of early childhood
educators, the program will introduce children to the concepts of
cultural identity and pride. Children will be immersed in the native
language of their ancestors as well as the English language that is
commonly used in the home. Is it through the intertwining of "both
worlds" that they will gain their first glimpse into the outside world
and it is through learning about their culture and building pride for
their "place" or homeland that they will be able to confidently move
forward into the future.

The goal of the Malamapoki'I project is to foster a restored sense of
belonging, personal history, and pride in native Hawaiian children and
their families. Through servicing a minimum of 20 pregnant, parenting,
or interested teenagers, 20 infant and toddlers, and 260 preschoolers
throughout Waimea, the Malamapokii project will focus on the following
goals:

-   Increase and expand the prenatal and parenting education for native
    Hawaiian teenagers in order to decrease the number of teenage
    pregnancies.

-   Increase opportunities for Native Hawaiian children between the ages
    of 0 to 5 to participate in a culturally based bi-lingual program in
    order to support their learning opportunities which will lead to
    their success in kindergarten and beyond.

-   Increase opportunities for Native Hawaiian families and community
    members to share and learn from each other in order to support the
    learning opportunities of the children and promote a positive sense
    of self for all native Hawaiians in North Hawaii.

-   Increase the available research and data regarding positive and
    cooperative learning opportunities for Native Hawaiian children,
    families and community.

In an effort to achieve the goals of the Malamapokii program a number of
objectives will be met. They are as follows:

-   Continue to provide prenatal and parenting support to pregnant
    teenagers, parents, and interested students of KANU as well as
    pregnant and parenting teenagers who are referred by other high
    schools in North Hawaii.

-   Integrate the place-based, bi-lingual, project style curriculum
    developed for the Waimea area into the infant/toddler and preschool
    programs.

-   Integrate project style learning and teaching opportunities for
    families and community.

-   Collect data and conduct research regarding the outcomes of these
    project style curriculum for each component of the program.

> **[Pacific American Foundation -- S362A030015]{.underline}**

The Aloha Aina (love of the land) project will use a collaborative
approach in which curriculum drafts will be developed with curriculum
specialists working with key traditional Hawaiian resource experts,
teachers, Hawaiian elders, and a research team. It is intended the
curricula will be developed in three distinct units, including grades
6-8, 9-12 and vocational for the first two years. All drafts will
include pre-service training for teachers, field-testing with students,
a culminating workshop and finalizing of units based on input received.
In year 3, workshops will be conducted on the completed curricula, which
will include recruitment from all of the major Hawaiian Islands.

> A vocational curriculum and training program will also be developed
> targeting at-risk Native Hawaiian youths out of high school.
> Vocational workshops will be conducted during year 2 and 3 in which
> participants will be exposed to a wide variety of employment related
> opportunities with a focus on both ancient and modern skills within
> the ahupua'a system. A mentorship/apprentice program will also be
> developed in which selected participants will have an opportunity to
> train and learn as cultural apprentices for one to two years.
>
> By the end of year 3, Aloha Aina will have trained 300 teachers in the
> school level curricula and provide vocational workshops for a minimum
> of 150 young adults. Of the 150, a minimum of 20 new apprentices (five
> each in the fields of taro farming, use of native plants, fishpond
> management and ocean cultivation) will be selected to participate in a
> Hawaiian mentorship program to develop new cultural practitioners.
>
> School level curricula will be designed to meet the latest content and
> performance standards as approved by the Hawaii State Department of
> Education. All academic and vocational units will be written in both
> English and Hawaiian languages.
>
> The curricula and resource materials that will support the lessons
> shall be done as templates to be used by people, teachers and students
> living in other ahupua'a around the State of Hawaii. They are meant to
> be exploratory versus a prescriptive tool that can be adapted and
> enhanced by each island unique qualities while at the same time
> setting a foundation of commonality. They will combine aspects of
> traditional Hawaiian culture in a new and innovative ways, drawn out
> through the practice of Aloh Aina.

**[University of Hawaii -- S362A030029]{.underline}**

The University of Hawaii -- Maui Community College (MCC) will establish
the Halau A'o, program for at-risk Native Hawaiian students in the
public high schools in the tri-isle County of Maui. This request is in
response to the challenge to provide Native Hawaiian holistic,
long-term, and collaborative approach for at-risk Native Hawaiian youth.

The Halau A'o project will target at-risk Native Hawaiian students in
the Alternative Learning Centers. Halau A'o will work in collaboration
with the State Department of Education and the Queen Lili'uokalani
Children's Center Maui to provide a platform that builds on Native
Hawaiian philosophy that focuses on the strengths of the student.

Halau A'o will dramatically revise the entire curriculum (academic and
vocational), method of instruction, and education structure of the
Alternative Learning Centers into an "indigenous learning model' for
at-risk Native Hawaiian students. This model will adhere to the academic
rigor and competencies as mandated for successful high school
completion. It will also feature traditional Native Hawaiian, holistic
cultural values and practices utilizing technology.

Halau A'o will provide academically qualified and culturally sensitive
professionals, paraprofessionals, mentors and referral system of Kupuna
(elders) to support at-risk Native Hawaiian children through family
counseling, peer and Kupuna (elder) mentoring.

A special summer component, conducted at MCC, will be designated to
enable these students to envision and access higher education as pare of
their future. This component will connect at-risk Native Hawaiian
students with faculty and student role models at MCC.

At MCC, Halau A'o will be a part of a network already established by the
Native Hawaiian Community Based Educational Learning Center. This will
also allow Halau A'o to directly interact with the native Hawaiian
Vocational Education Project and the Center for the Gifted and Talented
Native Hawaiian Children's Project.

**[Kanu o ka Aina Learning Ohana -- S362A030032]{.underline}**

Project Ho'omana Pono, which can be translated as "proper empowerment",
is an innovative Native Hawaiian Gifted and Talented (GT) Education
Program developed by and for Na Lei Na'auao -- Native Hawaiian Charter
School Alliance under the fiscal sponsorship and administration of the
Kanu o ka Aina Learning Ohana dba KALO. Ho'omano Pono builds on the
success of Aho Loa by expanding and solidifying already existing GT
programs at 12 Na Lei Na'auao Schools, at the same time significantly
increasing parent involvement in the educational process, so that all
students can reach their highest level.

The objectives of Ho'omano Pono are to:

-   Provide sustained opportunities for 1000 Native Hawaiian students to
    explore their individual gifts and talents and prepare for a life
    after high school.

-   Provide educational activities for 1000 Native Hawaiian students
    that address their special cultural needs and allow them to
    experience education progress.

-   Provide sustained opportunities for parents of 1000 Native Hawaiian
    students to learn to support their child in his/her quest for
    educational success.

-   Provide 10-day intense cultural immersion experiences for 40 Native
    Hawaiian gifted and talented students and their parents, which will
    support their cultural and academic growth.

-   Provide opportunities for Native Hawaiian students to share positive
    learning experiences and educational achievements via yearly
    conferences.

Ho'omano Pono activities include:

-   Implementation of inclusive GT programs at at least 12
    Hawaiian-focused public charter schools or educational programs
    affective 1000 Native Hawaiian students.

-   Creation of a comprehensive parent and ohana education program at at
    least 12 Hawaiian-focused public charter schools or educational
    programs, which enables Native Hawaiian parents to support their
    children in education.

-   Implementation of yearly 10-day GT immersion camps -- where Native
    Hawaiian students and their parents are immersed in Hawaiian culture
    and language as they develop their unique gifts.

-   Sponsor two conferences (grant year 2 and 3), which bring together
    Native Hawaiian students participating in Ho'omana Pono programs on
    four islands.