Research

Culture-based Education Research Resources

Culture-based education (CBE), and more specifically Hawaiian culture-based education (HCBE), is a key lever to achieving Kamehameha School’s (KS) Vision 2040 of a thriving lāhui. We believe that HCBE instills confidence and resiliency in Native Hawaiian learners to improve the well-being of the lāhui. An HCBE system engages Native Hawaiian learners to reach positive socio-emotional and academic outcomes. For that reason, KS is committed to creating and promoting an HCBE system where all students, Native Hawaiian learners in particular, will thrive and reach their full potential.

What is Culture-Based Education?

CBE is grounded in the foundational values, norms, knowledge, beliefs, practices, experiences, and language of a(n indigenous) culture. It “places significance on Native language; place-based, and experiential learning, cultural identity; holistic well-being; and personal connections and belonging to family, community, and ancestors” (Alcantara, Keahiolalo, and Peirce, 2016). The literature base for CBE describes five basic elements that comprise this approach: Language, Family & Community, Context, Content, and Data & Accountability.

What is Hawaiian Culture-Based Education?

In HCBE, the five elements of CBE are applied specifically from a Native Hawaiian perspective. For example, HCBE practitioners strive to incorporate ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) in the classroom and involve family and community in the development of Hawaiian-centered curricula relevant to learners. By sustaining the values, traditions, and language of Hawaiʻi through HCBE, we hope to see Native Hawaiians grow in success and contribute to their communities both locally and globally.

Culture-Based Education Resource Collection

This HCBE collection includes exclusively research-focused resources that explore CBE and HCBE in varying contexts. Users should make their own assessments of the quality of the data from these sources. It is our hope that these resources will support your journey to ʻimi naʻauao, or seek wisdom, that would strengthen the lāhui.

If you would like a research study to be included in this collection, please email us at strategy.innovation@ksbe.edu.

Our goal is to disseminate the results of our work as broadly as possible to benefit our communities and lāhui.

Search our collection using the filters below to narrow results. You may select multiple filters.

Other criteria:
Age band(s): [X] Early Childhood [X] College & Career [X] General
Type(s): [X] Brief [X] Executive Summary [X] Journal [X] Dissertation

Title	Author(s)	Year	Age band	Type	Topics
The Influences of Indigenous Heritage Language Education on Students and Families in a Hawaiian Language Immersion Program	Rebecca J. I. Luning and Lois A. Yamauchi	2010	General	Journal
The Development of an Inventory of Exemplary Hawaiian Leadership Behaviors	Guy Kaulukukui and Daniel Nahoʻopiʻi	2008	General	Journal
Kikī Nā Wai: Swiftly Flowing Streams, Examples of ʻOhana and Community Integration in Culture-Based Education	Brandon Ledward, Brennan Takayama, and Walter Kahumoku, III	2008	General	Brief
Ke Aʻo Hawaiʻi (Critical Elements for Hawaiian Learning): Perceptions of Successful Hawaiian Educators	Alice J. Kawakami and K. Kanani Aton	2001	General	Journal
Initial psychometric validation of he ana mana‘o o nā mo‘omeheu Hawai‘i: A Hawaiian ethnocultural inventory (HEI) of cultural practices	Kamanaʻopono Crabbe	2002	General	Dissertation	Demographics
Improving the Practice of Evaluation Through Indigenous Values and Methods: Decolonizing Evaluation Practice-Returning the Gaze from Hawaiʻi to Aotearoa	Alice J. Kawakami, Kanani Aton, Fiona Cram, Morris K. Lai, and Laurie Porima	2007	General	Journal
Hoʻopilina: The call for cultural relevance in education	Shawn M. Kanaʻiaupuni and Brandon Ledward	2013	General	Journal
From a Place Deep Inside: Culturally Appropriate Curriculum as the Emodiment of Navajo-ness in Classroom Pedagogy	Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz	2007	General	Journal	Hawaiian Culture-based Education
E nānā i ke kumu. A Look at the Teacher: A study of the essential competencies of a Pūnana Leo teacher	Noelani Iokepa-Guerrero	2004	General	Dissertation
E Lauhoe mai nā wa‘a: Toward a Hawaiian indigenous education teaching framework	Shawn M. Kanaʻiaupuni and Keiki Kawaiʻaeʻa	2008	General	Journal
Culturally Congruent Teaching Strategies: Voices From the Field	Nanette S. Schonleber	2007	General	Journal
Critical Culturally Sustaining/Revitalizing Pedagogy and Indigenous Education Sovereignty	Teresa L. McCarty and Tiffany S. Lee	2014	General	Journal	Families, Communities, and Systems