Kathryn A. Davis
University of Hawai`i at Manoa
Framing the Dialogue: Towards
Collaborative Minority Education Planning
English Only/Standardization/Neoliberalism
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Production and sale of standardized materials with
mandated assessment instruments
Hall (1996) notes that standardized curriculum and
assessment reveal an “aggressive resistance to difference
(and) an assault, direct and indirect, on multiculturalism” (p.
468).
Just two years after standardization the Harvard Civil Rights
reported nation-wide student outcome data indicating a
“national crisis” in graduation rates of linguistic, ethnic, and
racial minority students. Project (Orfield, Losen, Wald, &
Swanson, 2004)
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We have the responsibility to help young people achieve full
citizenship in a global society through making strategic inquiries
and gaining strategic knowledge in areas such as educational
disparities, labor market shifts, migration paths, and legislative
equity (Appadurai, 2006).
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A student-oriented emancipatory discourse approach places youth
at the forefront of critical analyses of power relations endemic to
media and academic texts while recognizing that they will be
unable to enter the mainstream of society without learning to
express themselves in Standard English (Delpit, 2006; Morrell &
Duncan-Andrade, 2006).
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Central to understanding the constant negotiation of positioning
as youth researchers encounter available discursive practices is the
notion of agency (Collins & Blot 2003; Davies 1990; RopersHuilman 1998; Weedon, 2001).
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Assessment should scaffold and promote
meaningful learning rather than punish students,
teachers and schools with meaningless tests
How and what students learn, along with the
ways these are assessed, are linked to fulfilling
students’ life goals.
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What counts as language, what counts as
knowledge and whose knowledge and
language counts? (Dell Hymes, 1974)
One in five school age children in the U.S.
speak languages other than English. 25% of
these children are considered English language
learners since they speak English less than
well.
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Common Core is the result of failed policies
and a direct response to the poor performance
of U.S. students on the Program for International
Student Assessment (PISA).
Common Core suggests the need for a solid
knowledge base, ideological analyses, and
collaborative planning and implementation.
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The standards cross language arts, science,
math, and social studies disciplines and
include expectations for:
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research and evidence based,
aligned with college and work expectations and
rigorous,
internationally benchmarked and promote inquiry
and project based approaches.
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Student inquiry can be defined as both a philosophy and
an approach to the organization of classroom learning as
investigation-based. Students become researchers,
writers, and activists rather than passive recipients of a
textbook’s content. Students take ownership of their
learning; they discover that school can be a place that
nurtures curiosity, inspires important questions, and
produces real joy from learning (Dana et al., 2011, p. 90).
Project Based involves communities of learners, where
students are working together to solve problems,
collaborate, and engage in authentic learning tasks.
Studies of Heritage and Academic Language
 English-based courses:
student-as-ethnographer,
 composition as social process, and
 critical language awareness to promote language
and literacy development.
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Student directed research projects and video
production
Professional 15 page APA academic research
reports
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A co-authored published book chapter and a documentary
film detail the theories, practices, and outcomes of this
project. You can find these and descriptions of other 6-12
grade projects on my website
http://www.kathrynadavis.com/
You can also access this website from my UH faculty profile
at http://www.hawaii.edu/sls
The Academic English section of the documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedde
d&v=6QFAiuF-Dfo
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Enrollment in the SHALL program grew from 30 students in the
first year to 234 students by the third year of the project.
38 percent of program participants received “honors” for their
academic work as compared to 11 percent of the general student
population.
Compared to the national public school average of high school
graduation of just over 50 percent for marginalized student
populations (Green, 2002), nearly 90 percent of our student
participants not only graduated from high school, but went onto
community colleges or universities.
Teachers at Farrington High School and principals at other schools
asked to visit our classes and meet with us about the SHALL
curricula.
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Like SHALL, MCAD focused on inquiry and
project based learning that utilized and built on
students’ language abilities.
Translanguaging—the flow among languages
used in negotiating meaning, including
identity and intent.
The Gingerbread Boy and The Musubi Man.
Ian and “The Transforming Adobo Boy ”
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A participatory approach works toward placing local
actors at the center of planning and policy making
while striving to awaken a sense of injustice among
those with material and cultural power.
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Education and community activists are called upon to
create the spaces needed for “varied forms of expertise
(to) sit in conversation, producing a social analysis
much more dense and splintering than any singular
perspective could birth” (Fine, 2006 : 95).
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Hawai’i Council on Language Planning and Policy
Dialogue towards collaborative action
The Hawai'i Council on Language Planning and Policy
("Language Council") is brought together by our commitment
to development of a language plan and policy and is composed
of:
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language rights advocates
representatives of the state and county agencies
teachers and experts in applied linguistics, English as a
Second Language, and bilingual/multilingual education
Hawaiian language immersion advocates
interpreters, translators, and immigrants and refugee service
providers
community organization
youth and parents/families
The Council planning and policy development of language is premised on
recognition of language rights and development of language resources; seeks to
promote inclusiveness, diversity, multiculturalism, and multilingualism. As such, and
based on the identification of State language needs and goals, any language plan and
policy developed by the Council will provide for:
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Recognition and promotion of Hawaiian as the official language with equal dignity
to English
Support for Hawaiians in their efforts to revitalize their language and culture
Maintenance and development of the local language, Hawaii Creole English
(Pidgin) and all other community languages (e.g., Japanese, Chinese, Ilokano,
Tagalog, Spanish, Korean, Samoan and all Pacific Island languages).
Access to services for limited and non-English speakers, through the institution of
comprehensive language services programs, including translation, interpretation,
and multilingual print and media.
Development of certification and training for interpreters and translators
English as a Second Language (ESL) education, bilingual/multilingual education,
and development of academic English/other languages for all.
Literacy for children and adults
Non-discrimination in education, employment, and services