Hawaiian education is leading the way

College, Community, and Career Readiness

Some of the most innovative and exciting education is taking place at Hawaiian-focused charter schools. Unlike charters on the continent, which are sometimes run under a business-focused model rather than one that centers students, Hawaiian-focused charters are actually founded by communities to address the needs of the students and the community from which they come.

Hawaiian-focused charter schools generally operate from the premise that Hawaiian land-, language-, and culture-based education provides a rooted and vibrant foundation for students of all ethnicities. Students connect to land, language, and traditional practice to learn science, math, language arts, etc., and having had a chance to see many of these students grow, we can say that the results of this kind of education has been spectacular, not just in the lives of these haumāna, but in their communities as well.

The problem is that this type of education and the goals of the Hawaiian-focused charters are so different than the norm that traditional Western modes of assessment do not accurately or adequately measure their successes. That is all changing now, with the Culturally Relevant Assessment that is going to be adopted at a wider level and is garnering national attention. Watch our video to see how this important process came about.