Chancellor Leon Richards shares this good news with you from Dina Yoshimi, Director of the Hawai‘i Language Roadmap Initiative:
Aloha mai kākou,
I am pleased to inform you that, after a unanimous vote in favor, the new Board Policy to establish a Seal of Biliteracy for Hawaii’s public school students has been approved, with the DOE proposing that implementation begin concurrent with this date of passage. The policy adopted by the BOE reads as follows:
“The Board of Education hereby establishes a Seal of Biliteracy to be awarded upon graduation to students who demonstrate high proficiency in either of the State’s two official languages and at least one additional language, including American Sign Language; provided that a student who demonstrates a high proficiency in both of the State’s two official languages shall be awarded a Seal of Biliteracy.
The purposes of the Seal of Biliteracy are to recognize the importance of: (1) enabling students to be college, career, and community ready in today’s global society; (2) establishing an educational culture that recognizes and values the wealth of linguistic and cultural diversity students bring to the classroom; (3) supporting opportunities for study of and increasing proficiency in ‘Ōlelo Hawai’i, an official language of the State of Hawai’i; and (4) encouraging partnerships with institutions of higher education and community organizations to increase access to language instruction in a variety of languages.
The Department of Education shall implement the Seal of Biliteracy, including developments of criteria that students must satisfy to receive the Seal.
Rationale: The Board of Education recognizes that there is personal, cultural, social, academic, and vocational/occupational value in encouraging students to maintain, or develop, proficiency in more than one language.”
There was significant stakeholder support for this initiative, as well as timely and essential contributions to policy development and advocacy for the policy from many individuals, making it difficult to thank each person who has contributed to the process. However, there is no question that special thanks are due to Board Member Patricia Halagao for her leadership on this initiative, Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi for ensuring that the policy was thoroughly and widely vetted by key administrative personnel in the DOE, and Senators Michelle Kidani and Suzanne Chun-Oakland for bringing this policy onto the public stage through their introduction of SB900 during the 2015 Legislative Session.
A community effort has made Hawai‘i the tenth state to adopt a Seal of Biliteracy, and, notably, to adopt it in a way that fits our state’s unique status as having two official languages. It is our sincere hope that the community will continue to support and contribute to the implementation process, to be guided by the DOE in the coming academic year.
Please do share the good news about the BOE’s adoption of this policy with your peers and colleagues Also, if you have the opportunity, please do extend your thanks to the members of the BOE, the Superintendent, and the Senators. We will keep you posted on development as implementation gets under way.
With sincere appreciation for your continuing support,
Dina R. Yoshimi, Ph.D.
Director
Hawai‘i Language Roadmap Initiative
College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature
University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa
