Recent scholarship has focused on the vital role of social movement organizations as key pathways into activism. Yet attention to how learning unfolds within social movement organizations has not been adequately studied. Informed by critical learning sciences, we investigated Kokua Hawaii, a social movement organization that catalyzed a near half…

The study aims to investigate Okinawan identity development among individuals who grew up in Okinawa and came to Hawai'i to study at a university or community college. The grounded theory approach was used for the qualitative inquiry. Nineteen participants were interviewed about their self-descriptions, spaces where their Okinawan consciousness…

Background: School-based dental sealant programs are noted to increase sealant uptake among children, especially those from low-income families and those living in rural and underserved areas. However, nationally school-based dental sealant programs are substantially underutilized. This paper describes a partnership approach to a school-based…

This interdisciplinary, qualitative study applies a critical lens to the field of education abroad, advocates for a more expansive and inclusive view of student mobility, and centers Hawai?i as a destination of choice for increasingly mobile students. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen students from the continental U.S. who…

The rate at which teacher turnover is taking place in Hawai'i is a concern for many administrators and staff members in K-12 schools because of the negative impact it is having throughout the schools. Hawai'i ranks first in the country for teacher turnover rate. According to the Learning Policy Institute, 4.9% of teachers in Hawai'i are…

The Study of Educational Equity in Hawai?i (SEE-HI) explores the relationships between quality and equity variables, focusing on access to licensed mathematics teaching, learning environment, school climate, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, geographic location, math proficiency, and college enrollment in Hawai?i's public schools. Research…

Research indicates that teacher voices are not well represented in educational policy and change. Education has changed dramatically in a short time, and it continues to change at a fast pace. Classrooms are increasingly diverse. External standards are placed on teachers. A chorus of stakeholder voices is levied at educators, and these voices…

This study explores the effects of COVID-19 on academic growth and achievement in Hawaii schools, and strategies that school leaders used in the recovery from the pandemic. The calculations in this report can support states as they investigate the impact of COVID on students and schools and their recovery from the pandemic. The Center for…

The American Economy's Cities Index indicates that immigrants worldwide comprise 18% of Hawaii's population, or roughly 255,000 immigrants settling on the tropical paradise in 2018 . Of the total immigrants, more than 110,550 are not naturalized as US citizens, which means limited access to jobs and business leadership opportunities. Regardless of…

Although Hawai'i suffers from a chronic teacher shortage similar to the rest of the country, there are variables that make Hawai'i's dilemma unique. Between 2015-2020, there were over 1,000 teaching positions unfilled, with more than a third of positions being specific to special education (HIDOE Employment Reports, 2015-2020). In 2019, the…

In late 2020, Hawaii community colleges participated in a national study of community college workforce education. Hawaii was one of 14 states where education authorities volunteered to encourage colleges to respond early enough in 2020 to receive preliminary statewide results in January 2021. This brief compares Hawaii to the 14 states in this…

Teachers across the United States are responding to an increasingly diverse classroom environment. Problems unfold where teachers face challenges in adapting curriculum to diverse learners. Historically, most research has focused on the voices of teachers in urban classrooms, however; the voices of teachers in rural classrooms with indigenous…

An important feature in supporting interscholastic athletics is the health care of student-athletes. Athletic trainers (ATs) are particularly qualified to provide health care to this population. They are nationally certified health care providers who help with the prevention, treatment and care, and rehabilitation of injuries. Many schools in the…

Purpose: The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental descriptive study was to explore whether there has been a significant decrease in attendance rates or a significant decrease in achievement as evidenced by assessment scores for students in the K-12 public school system after the COVID-19 compulsory distance learning period for the Asian…

This study examined the experiences of a diverse group of K-12 educators in Hawai?i, exploring the factors that shaped their orientation towards social justice education (SJE) and their definitions and conceptualizations of SJE in their work as educators. The framework of settler colonialism highlighted the fact that there can be no social justice…