HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.C.R. NO.168         
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

  REQUESTING THE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO DEVISE POLICIES TO
    STRENGTHEN PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN THEIR CHILDREN'S
    EDUCATION.



 1        WHEREAS, the lack of parental responsibility lies at the
 2   root of many of our societal problems today, including a lack
 3   of motivation and readiness on the part of our children to
 4   learn in school; and
 5   
 6        WHEREAS, in its 1991 publication, The Parent Principle:
 7   Prerequisite for Educational Success, the Educational Testing
 8   Service reports that research data in education uniformly and
 9   convincingly affirm that parental involvement is the primary
10   influence on children's motivation to learn and that parental
11   involvement in education heavily influences children's
12   learning, aspirations, and attitudes about school and assists
13   teachers to better motivate students; and
14   
15        WHEREAS, it has been found that the success of the Head
16   Start program, which began in 1964, was due in part to parental
17   involvement, and subsequently, it was recognized that without
18   continued parental involvement, children's early gains could
19   not be supported; and
20   
21        WHEREAS, past efforts in the educational system have
22   focused primarily on the role of the school in isolation and on
23   programs to aid children at a disadvantage, like the Head Start
24   program; and
25   
26        WHEREAS, some states have begun to focus on the
27   relationship of parents to their children, in an effort to
28   motivate children's learning; and
29   
30        WHEREAS, Hawaii emulated part of the Parent and Child
31   Education program through Act 329, Session Laws of Hawaii 1990,
32   that provided for two-family literacy programs as part of the
33   family center demonstration project, but in 1992, repealed the
34   literacy programs while expanding the project; and
35   

 
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                                  H.C.R. NO.168         
                                                        
                                                        


 1        WHEREAS, the State also operates several programs within
 2   the Department of Education which appear to be partial attempts
 3   at addressing the issue of parental involvement and children's
 4   motivation to learn in school, including the parent-community
 5   networking centers program which operates in one hundred and
 6   fifty-five schools in seven districts statewide and the
 7   function of which is to promote parent participation in school-
 8   community activities; develop and coordinate parent education
 9   programs; create learning and support networks for students,
10   parents, and members of the community; and identify and secure
11   resources and services from the community as needed, using
12   community education as a process; and
13   
14        WHEREAS, the Department of Education also operates two
15   resources and early access to learning (R.E.A.L.) sites at
16   Kapunahala elementary school and Wailuku elementary school
17   through the Families for R.E.A.L. program, which provide a
18   parent education program to strengthen the relationship between
19   the parent, the child, and the future school environment and
20   works closely with the parent-community networking centers
21   program; and
22   
23        WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that parental involvement
24   in their children's education should be facilitated to the
25   greatest extent possible by the school system; now, therefore,
26   
27        BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
28   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
29   of 1999, the Senate concurring, that the Board of Education is
30   requested to devise policies that will strengthen parental
31   involvement in their children's education; and 
32   
33        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board of Education is
34   requested to report on its parental involvement policies to the
35   Legislature no later than twenty days before the convening of
36   the Regular Session of 2000; and
37   
38        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this
39   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the
40   Board of Education.
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44                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________