Hawai'i Department of Education

How might we use assessment as a tool to help communities and schools build culturally responsive learning environments?

Is the purpose of school only to master academic content, or should this purpose also include fostering a sense of belonging, responsibility, and well-being? Who gets to decide these questions, and what happens when more voices are invited to participate? The Hawai’i Department of Education, though its Office of Hawaiian Education, has been working to establish a culturally responsive learning framework rooted in BREATH or HĀ outcomes. HĀ reflects a core set of values and beliefs throughout the public educational system of Hawai'i. BREATH draws on competencies that strengthen a sense of Belonging, Responsibility, Excellence, Aloha (welcoming), Total Well Being and Hawaiian language and culture in ourselves and others. This project is based in the belief that a culturally responsive assessment framework requires us to consider both individual readiness as well as community readiness. Through inclusive processes, this project invites students and communities to assess their learning environments to understand what conditions best strengthen the HĀ outcomes.

Resources

• Hawai'i Department of Education Nā Hopena A‘o (“HĀ”)​ website (includes a variety of practical resources and stories)
• Designers Convening Process Guide
• Community Day Process Guide

Presentations of Learning

Blogs

• DOE Receive Grant Funding for Culturally Accurate Assessments (Big Island Now, March 23, 2016)
• Assessing for Equity (Competency Works, April 14, 2017)
• Mo'olelo: Building a Culturally Responsive Framework for Assessment (EdWeek, December 5, 2017)
• Culturally Responsive Assessment Practices Through Nā Hopena Aʻo (HĀ) (EdWeek, April 8, 2019)
• Culturally Relevant Performance Assessments: Lessons from Hawaiian-Focused Charter Schools (EdWeek, May 1, 2019)

Publications

• Mo'olelo: Na Hopena A'o, July 2017 (a history of the origins of HA)
• HĀ Year One in Review
• HĀ Year Two in Review
• Perspectives from the Field on HA Implementation, Sept 2017
• A Place-Based Process for Reimagining Learning in the Hawaiian Context (Vue, issue 46)

Student Voices

Presentation of Learning