2022 Annual Report

Assert Hawaiian language-medium instruction and culture-based education programs, frameworks, and values as principal in addressing equity, resiliency, and social-emotional well-being for increased Native Hawaiian learner outcomes and closing achievement gaps.

The ability for a stabilized learning continuum and connection for Native Hawaiian communities to engage in cultural practices in a pandemic crisis of emerging COVID variants remains critical. This is critical to life as Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) have the highest death rates from COVID-19 compared with any other racial group (Hofschneider, 2020). This is also critical to healthcare access as NHPIs have the highest rate of COVID-19 cases compared to other racial and ethnic groups (UH News, 2020).

The pandemic put a historical context of disease population decimation of Native Hawaiians due to American imperialsim and its impact on loss of cultural practices, language, and land (NHEA, 2015). Ramifications of this—directly and indirectly—adversely affects long-standing mistrust of government institutions and increased vaccination hesitancy of NHPIs in the pandemic (UH News, 2022). To address this crisis, the Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander COVID-19 Response, Recovery, and Resilience Team was formed. This multi-agency team understood that culture-based programs and cultural belief systems and practices are powerful tools for helping Native Hawaiian communities make sense of and interpret the pandemic and its effects. For example, the team supported the creation of a Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Area to connect culturally-based practices, sustainable food systems, and public health benefits for NHPI communities (Kamaka, et al., 2021).

Native Hawaiians have strong connections to ‘āina (land, place), culture, and language and thus are socially and culturally impacted by the pandemic (Kaholokula, Samoa, Miyamoto, Palafox, & Daniels, 2020). Participants of NHEC’s 2022 community consultations reported a strong connection to culture and language in order to be successful. “Cultural programmig, values, learning ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i, ‘āina work is all so necessary,” reflected an O‘ahu participant, “and that’s not what I used to say, but this pandemic has completely changed my perspective.” (Native Hawaiian Education Council, 2022)

Priority funding for Hawaiian-language medium education and Hawaiian culture-based education programs in the next NHEP grant competition is paramount for supporting Native Hawaiian learner outcomes including resiliency and social-emotional well-being.

Expand ‘āina-based (land-based) programs and initiatives to address place-based inequities and increase educational opportunities.

Participants of NHEC’s community consultations shared experiences of food insecurity as stressors of the pandemic, which in turn underlines the incredible importance ‘āina-based learning or “teaching and learning through ‘āina so our people, communities, and lands thrive” (Ledward, 2013). Nationally, 21% of Native Hawaiian Pacific Islanders, as compared to non-Hispanic White counterparts (8%), experience food insecurity that directly and indirectly contribute to related factors such as increased healthcare costs, limited access to resources and income, and a correlation to poor physical health (Nguyen, Pham, Jackson, Ellison, & Sinclair, 2022).

Their relational value to food, to one another, and to the environment remains a priority for Native Hawaiian communities. A participant who attended NHEC’s community consultation session for “Out of School and ‘Āina” reflects on the importance of ‘āina-based programmming options in the community if traditional schools did not provide resources. “[Traditional schools] don’t see the rigor in ‘āina-based learning. I think that’s the disconnect. I think that’s why out-of-school programs are so important. It reminds our haumāna (students) that learning continues after the school bell rings”.

‘Āina-based learning as building relational value, connection, and identity between learners and the environment is in strong alignment with the goal of the Hawai‘i State Aloha + Challenge: by 2030, increase school-community sites that provide ‘āina-based education and stewardship opportunities for students to learn and experience ‘āina that “can deepen their relationship with the natural environment, cultivate connections within their communities, and build critical skills that can be applied to real-world issues” (Aloha+ Challenge Collective, n.d.).

The increased value of and access to ‘āina-based learning and education programs generated greater attention on Hawaiian-focused charter schools (HFCS), which have a long-established core pedagogy on cultivating purposeful and responsible relationships between learners and culture, language, and land (Rogers, Awo Chun, Keehne, & Houglum, 2020). The impact of the pandemic jolted urgent opportunity for HFCS and ‘āina-based programs to adapt hybrid and/or virtual delivery for whole family engagement to meet the needs of ‘āina learning and feeding communities. Hawaiian culture-based education principles are values-based, place-based, and land-based (Dragon Smith, 2020). A community participant that attended NHEC’s community consultation session for “K-12 and Higher Education” stated the need of ‘āina-based programming as an essential stabilizer in Native Hawaiian communities:

“If we don’t do something drastically different, we’re not going to have traditional farmers and fishermen. We’re going to have people who can code but not feed themselves in the next emergency. How do we create policy that supports the things that anchor our society?”

Priority funding for expansion and support of ‘āina-based programs reinforces the value of traditional wisdom in ‘āina as an educational approach to cultivate critical skills for learners, as well as an inclusive recovery approach for communities. NHEC strongly recommends ʻāina-based programming as a priority area for funding in the next NHEP grant competition.

Address mental health and social emotional well-being as essential for Native Hawaiian learner outcomes, increased academic performance, behavior, social integration, resiliency, identity, and self-efficacy.

Mental health and well-being are paramount for student academic achievement and life. The COVID-19 impacts of social and physical isolation, loss of routines, increased anxiety or pessimism of an unsure future impacted youth. At the onset of the pandemic in 2020, the Center for Disease Control reported a 24% increase in children’s mental-health related emergency room visits for youth ages 5-11, with a 31% increase for adolescents ages 12-17 (Leeb, et al., 2020).

The Council’s engagement with community through the 2022 consultations reaffirms that mental health issues among students are an important public health concern as everyone continues to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) competencies in relation to student well-being continues to be reinforced as a priority by community. “Staff who are well-trained, experienced, and know how to deal with traumatized kids are essential,” stated a participant from a Moloka‘i community consultation. In NHEC’s 2017-2018 annual report, SEL recommendations were also provided to ED to consider for adoption as a new Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) measure: “Hawaiian values and practices have served as guiding principles for Kānaka Maoli (term for indigenous people of Hawai‘i) for innumerable generations. Findings from this project show that the wisdom of the Hawaiian culture is expressed in values and practices that more recently have been identified as SEL competencies. This congruence between Hawaiian value systems and SEL principles reveal the possibility of identifying specific measures of student success that resonate with the Native Hawaiian community that simultaneously reflect the rigorous standards of GPRA.”

Priority and funding for programming that addresses increased mental health professionals in schools and communities including trauma-informed care training for all persons in contact with learners in the next NHEP grant competition is imperative to the mental health and well-being of Native Hawaiian learners.