OHA Drafts Bill For Hawaiian Immersion Students

Immersion students rally in support of OHA’s SB410 and HB224.

Nā moʻolelo i pili i kēia wikiō (Stories relating to this video);

Hawaiʻi State Assessment Lost In Translation

Testing Discrimination
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Kākoʻo ke Keʻena Kuleana Hawaiʻi i ka ʻAha Kauleo a me nā haumāna kaiapuni ma o ka SB410 a me ka HB 224, nā pila hoʻi a ia keʻena i kākau ai no ka ʻAhaʻōlelo ʻO Hawaiʻi Mokuʻāina.  He mau pila kēia e koi ana i ka Papa Hoʻonaʻauao e hana i hōʻike loiloi i kūpono no nā haumāna kaiapuni a i haku ʻia ma o ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (a ʻaʻole hoʻi  i unuhi ʻia).

“Ke kumu o ko mākou hālāwai ʻana i kēia lā, ʻo ia hoʻi ka hōʻike ʻana i ka Papa Hoʻonaʻauao, ka poʻe o ka ʻAhaʻōlelo, a me ka lehulehu, i ke kūpono ʻole o nā ʻano hōʻike e mālama ʻia nei, e hāʻawi ʻia nei i nā keiki., ʻo kekahi ma o ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi hemahema, a he unuhi mai ka ʻōlelo Haole. …Makemake mākou e koi ʻia…e mālama ʻia ka hōʻike ma ke ʻano kūpono ma o ka ʻōlelo a me ke ʻano o ka nohona o nā Hawaiʻi,” ka ʻōlelo a Kamoaʻe Walk, ka Luna Hoʻomalu o ka ʻAha Kauleo.

Wahi a Sterling Wong, ka Public Policy Manager o ke Keʻena Kuleana Hawaiʻi, “Ma muli o nā manaʻo o ke kaiaulu, ua kākau mākou i ʻelua pila no ka ʻAhaʻōlelo.”

ʻO nā pila ʻelua e kākoʻo nui ʻia nei e ka ʻAha Kauleo, ʻo ia nō ka SB 410 a me ka HB 224.

ʻŌlelo ʻo Sterling Wong, “He ʻelua kuleana nui o kēia mau kula. ʻO ka mua, ka hoʻonaʻauao, a ʻo ka lua ka hoʻōla ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.  I 30 makahiki aku nei i ʻane halapohe ai ka ʻōlelo, a mahalo i kēia mau kula, he 2,000 haumāna ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi e hoʻomau nei i ka ʻōlelo i kēia lā.  ʻO ke kuleana nui o ke Keʻena Kuleana Hawaiʻi, ʻo ia ka hōʻoia ʻana i ka lako o nā haumāna kaiapuni i nā hōʻike kūpono.”

Wahi a Kenekoa Maile Shimabukuro, Kenekoa no ka ʻĀpana 21 o Hawaiʻi Mokuʻāina, “Kūpono a kaulike ka loiloi ʻana i nā haumāna ma o ka ʻōlelo a lākou e aʻo nei.  Inā ʻaʻole, e like ana ko lākou mau kaha me nā kaha o nā haumāna DOE maʻamau i hana i kekahi hōʻike ʻōlelo Paniolo.  ʻAʻole ia ka ʻōlelo aʻo.”

ʻŌlelo mai ʻo Kalehua Krug, M.Ed., kekahi makua kaiapuni, “E aho e kūkulu i kēlā hōʻike mai kīnohi mai e nā kānaka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi nona ka ʻike a loaʻa mai…ka hōʻike e kūpono ai lākou kamaliʻi, lākou haumāna.”

Noi mai ʻo Kamoaʻe Walk, “E ʻoluʻolu e kākoʻo mai iā mākou ma ka mea i hiki, hoʻouna mai i nā leka i nā kenekoa, nā luna makaʻāinana nō hoʻi, e hōʻike iā lākou i ke koʻikoʻi o ia mea no ke kamaliʻi Hawaiʻi.”
[/spb_tab] [spb_tab title=”English”] The Office of Hawaiian Affairs show support for the ʻAha Kauleo and the Hawaiian Immersion Students through drafting and submitting SB 410 and HB 224 to the Hawaiʻi State Legislature.  The bills require the DOE to create a new assessment that can properly assess the Hawaiian Immersion students and also, the assessment should be written in the Hawaiian language (and not a translation of another test).

“The reason we are here is to tell the DOE, the Legislature, and all of Hawaiʻi that the current state tests that are being given to our immersion students are inefficient.  Translations are unacceptable. We want the test to be written and administered in the correct way, through the Hawaiian language and culture,” says Kamoaʻe Walk, the Chairman of ʻAha Kauleo (The Statewide Hawaiian Language Immersion Advisory Council).

According to Sterling Wong, Public Policy Manager of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, “Based off the concerns we were hearing from the community last year (we) had drafted and submitted two bills into the Legislature.”

Two bills that the ʻAha Kauleo is supporting are SB 410 and HB 224.

Sterling Wong says, “These schools serve two purposes, number one to educate these students… but also… to save the language… Thirty years ago it was almost dead, thanks in large part to these schools…we have 2,000 students in Hawaiian Language Immersion, actively perpetuating and speaking the language.  We want to make sure that these students have tests, and that are being given tests that can, accurately assess their achievement.”

According to Maile Shimabukuro, State Senator, District 21, “It really makes the most sense and its only fair that these students are tested in the language that their learning… It would be as ridiculous as making the regular DOE students take a test in Spanish, or something you know, when that’s not the language their learning.”

Kalehua Krug, M.Ed., a Hawaiian Language Immersion parent says, “People proficient in the language, culture, and perspective should rewrite it from scratch so that we have a test that can properly assess the students.”

Kamoaʻe Walk asks, “Please support in anyway possible by sending letters of support to the senators and representatives. Tell them how important this is for our children.”
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