A challenge to Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander scholars: what the research literature teaches us about our work

Abstract What do we currently know, in light of conceptual, empirical, and applied studies, about the status of educational research on Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders? And why is this knowing important? This article proposes that illuminating the themes of what has already been examined might help policymakers, researchers, educational leaders and teachers to better negotiate the tensions of school context, content, and culture. Hence, it examines current research literature, which leads to questions about academic disparity, challenges of methodological support, and areas for further teaching and learning scholarship. Acknowledgement This article comes from a 8 January 2005 presentation given at the National Education Association's National Summit on Asian and Pacific Islander Issues in Education, at the NEA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The author would like to thank the NEA Human and Civil Rights division and, in particular, Kevin Kumashiro for the honor of this invitation and Roland Sintos Coloma, the guest co‐editor of this volume. A very special mahalo to Elizabeth Murakami‐Ramalho whose assistance was invaluable. Notes 1. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawai'i, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. It includes people who indicate their race as 'Native Hawaiian', 'Guamanian or Chamorro', 'Samoan', and 'Other Pacific Islander'. Source: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_68182.htm. Note: The particular population origins that the data and relevant analysis are focused and/or drawn from are identified within the text. For instance, some data focus particularly on Native Hawaiians in Hawai'i; some data focus on Pacific Islanders in Hawai'i and the US territories; some data will include Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders from the 48 contiguous states and Alaska. 2. Suggested readings: Benham & Heck (Citation1998); Adams (Citation1995); Coleman (Citation1993); Deloria (Citation1985); McLaughlin (Citation1984); and Walsh (Citation1991). 3. An overview of databases accessed: ERIC Clearinghouse, Digital Dissertations, DIALOG, Pro‐Quest, Info and Learning, Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence, Wilson Social Sciences Index, Social Sciences Index, Jstor, WilsonSelectPlus, EducationAbs, ArticleFirst, Scholar Google, and LookSmart. Other resources included: Scan of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference Proceedings, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL), and Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL). Native Resources included: Journal of American Indian Education, and the National Indian Education Association Conference Proceedings. 4. See: The Improving America's Schools Act of 1994, Pub. L. No. 103‐382, (1994). This is a huge law that, among many items, defined and appropriated fund to the improvement of education for Native Americans and Alaska Native Children (section 7104), residents of territories (section 7105), and bilingual education, language enhancement, and language acquisition programs (Title VII). Also see: The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, P.L. No. 107‐110, Sec. 701, 115 Stat. 1907 (2002). In particular, Indians, Native Hawaiians, and Alaska Natives, Title VII (20 U.S.C 7401 et seq.). 5. Articles can be found in several leading academic journals, including: Anthropology of Education, Sociology and Social Research, Journal of Cross‐Cultural Psychology, Alberta Journal of Education, Journal of Humanistic Education and Development, Language in Society, Educational Leadership, and Educational Researcher. 6. In particular, the Kamehameha Early Education Project (KEEP) presents both descriptive and experimental works. I provide KEEP references for the reader throughout this article. 7. Overall, 69% of the students enrolled in the class of 2000 in the 9th grade (public schools) either graduated or received a high school equivalency certificate. More specifically, 29% of Caucasian students typically leave for school out of state or country; many are military dependents. 8. DIBELS—Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literary Skills, http://dibels.uoregon.edu/; NAEP—National Assessment of Educational Progress, http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/. 9. For more information about KEEP please see: Au and Carroll (Citation1997), Au and Jordan (Citation1981), and Au (Citation1980, Citation1994). See also: North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) short texts: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr1thek.htm; http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/presrvce/pe3lk43.htm. Also, contact: The Kamehameha Journal of Education, Special Projects, Early Education Division, Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate, 1887 Makuakane Street, Honolulu, HI 96817‐1887. 10. For more information on The Ka Lama O Ke Kaiaulu teacher education initiative see: Au and Maaka (Citation1998, Citation2001), and Au (Citation2000, Citation2002). Also see: http://www2.hawaii.edu/∼kathryna/kalama.htm. 11. CBI includes bilingual and two‐way immersion efforts as well as a range of programs that can have two distinct orientations and purposes: (a) programs that seek to create Native language fluency in a population of learners who do not know their Native language or whose Native language competence is underdeveloped when compared to fluent peers, and (b) programs that seek to provide academic content to learners through their Native language while also developing their Native first‐language competence. 12. See: College of Micronesia, http://www.comfsm.fm/yap. 13. See: University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, http://www.uhm.hawaii.edu/; University of Hawai'i at Hilo, http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/; Brigham Young University—Hawai'i, http://www.byuh.edu/index.jsp; Hawai'i Community College, http://hawaii.hawaii.edu/; Honolulu Community College, http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/; and Maui Community College, http://maui.hawaii.edu/. 14. Examples of these include the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa's Center for Hawaiian Studies, http://www.hawaii.edu/chs/; UHM's School Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies, http://www.hawaii.edu/shaps/enter/hawaiian.html; University of Hawai'i—Windward Community College's Hawaiian Studies, http://www.wcc.hawaii.edu/degrees/HiStudies.html; University of Hawai'i at Hilo—Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikōlani College of Hawaiian Language, http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/academics/hawn/; The Hawaiian Edventure Program, http://conference.uhh.hawaii.edu/edventure.html; and The Kamehameha Schools Extension Education Division, http://extension.ksbe.edu/. Read about the Kupuna program in Hawai'i schools at: http://starbulletin.com/2003/05/29/news/story3.html. 15. See also: Trumbull‐Estrin (Citation1993) and Stiggins (Citation1991). 16. For more information, please see Brown (Citation1999). 17. Other resources include: Aroturuki me te Arotakenga (Citation1999), Jackson and Kassam (Citation1998), and Lomawaima and McCarty (Citation2002).

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