Ma ka hana ka ʻike; ma ka ʻike ka hana: Exploring the life and legacy of Hakipuʻu Learning Center

Abstract

Hawaiʻi’s public education system has long struggled to adequately serve Native Hawaiians and other historically disadvantaged groups. To uplift our youth, families, and entire communities, many Native Hawaiian leaders viewed culturally-based charter schools as a vehicle to craft much needed innovative educational options.In 2000, my ohana and I were closely involved in the founding of Hakipuʻu Learning Center (“HLC”), one of Hawaiʻi’s original thirteen Native Hawaiian-focused, start-up charter schools. HLC was established to serve families predominantly from Koʻolaupoko, Oʻahu. It created and refined an innovative approach to education with a place-based, project-based, student-centered curriculum that emphasized how to learn instead of simply what to learn. From its early years HLC was recognized as a pioneer and thought leader in the Hawaiian-focused charter school movement, and within place-based and project-based learning in particular. While the school and its innovative curriculum had great promise, it faced significant challenges that impeded its ability to fully realize its potential. This dissertation explores HLC’s issues, challenges, and successes, including implications for other similarly situated Hawaiian-focused charter schools. It retrospectively seeks to understand the school’s origin, evolution, and conclusion while uplifting lessons and best practices for the next iteration of community stakeholders committed to improving Hawaiʻi’s educational system. This dissertation interrogates three central questions: (1) What worked?, (2) What did not work?, and (3) What could or should have been done differently? Consistent with Maoli custom and tradition, primary data sources included oral history interviews with five significant individuals in HLC’s life and legacy, including founders, teachers, board members, thought leaders, and a graduate. One of this dissertation’s most significant findings is that HLC developed an innovative learning model that inspired and co-powered Native Hawaiian students and families; but, both the school and learning model were significantly limited by insufficient support and funding from the State of Hawaiʻi. This is vital to address gaps in Indigenous educational achievement both within and beyond Native Hawaiian-focused charters. While exploring how the State failed these schools and their families, this dissertation also offers recommendations and potential solutions.