Native Hawaiian Culturally Based Education as a Pathway to Improved Learning for All

Abstract

This manuscript describes and compares two sequential initiatives designed to improve student learning outcomes in Hawai‘i’s public schools by promoting the value of pono—a way of being and doing in Native Hawaiian culture that guides us to do what is right. From 2008 to 2012, Creating Pono Schools (CPS) established a schoolwide pono approach promoting prosocial behaviors and positive relationships. From 2011 to 2015, Growing Pono Schools (GPS) translated and expanded the CPS foundation through development and dissemination of the Pono Life Skills curriculum, teacher training resources, and statewide infrastructure for sustaining culturally based education. Both projects were evaluated using mixed-methods, including student surveys, teacher and principal feedback, student reflections, and school climate indicators. Student level results consistently indicated meaningful changes in belonging, responsibility, and pono-based behaviors. School climate results were also positive, with reductions in referrals/suspensions and increases in attendance and pilina (school connection) as indicated in school reports and publicly available state data systems (Hawai‘i State Department of Education, 2026). We present CPS and GPS findings separately and conclude with the commonalities across both projects. We also describe how the set of Native Hawaiian values promoted through Nā Hopena A‘o (Hā), which is rooted in Hawaiian values, language, and culture, and used as the guiding framework of the Hawai‘i Department of Education, can support culturally grounded learning and improve educational outcomes in Hawai‘i’s public schools.