REPORT TITLE:
Geography education


DESCRIPTION:
Appropriates funds to the geography department of the College of
Social Sciences of the University of Hawaii to implement a
geography education training and staff development program for
public school teachers based on national geographic standards,
beginning as a pilot project within the Kailua Complex schools.
(HB1749 HD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        1749
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the need for
 
 2 geography competence has become greater with the advancement of
 
 3 technology.  The advent of computers, the internet, and
 
 4 telecommunications has prompted a greater need to understand the
 
 5 connections between places and to recognize that the local
 
 6 affects the global and vice versa.
 
 7      The legislature finds that there is a widespread acceptance
 
 8 that being literate in geography is essential if students are to
 
 9 leave school equipped to participate responsibly in local,
 
10 national, and international affairs.  In response to Section 102
 
11 of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act of 1994, Geography for
 
12 Life: National Geography Standards 1994 was produced to identify
 
13 a set of voluntary benchmarks for schools to use to develop their
 
14 own curricula.  This has prompted the legislature's desire to
 
15 include these standards in the state's geography curriculum.
 
16      The purpose of this Act is to incorporate the national
 
17 geographic standards into the department of education's Hawaii
 
18 content of performance standards, to be achieved through
 
19 training, staff development, and state-of-the-art equipment,
 
20 materials, and resources.  As an initial step, the legislature
 

 
Page 2                                                     1749
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 proposes a pilot project to implement the national geography
 
 2 standards in all content areas statewide.  The legislature also
 
 3 proposes that the Kailua complex schools, comprising Waimanalo
 
 4 elementary and intermediate; Pope; Maunawili; Keolu; Enchanted
 
 5 Lake; and Kaelepulu elementary schools; Kailua high school; and
 
 6 Olomana school, be the sites to align the State's curriculum with
 
 7 the national geographic standards.  The Kailua complex's
 
 8 administrators and educators have already created the geo-plex
 
 9 project to bring their geography curriculum into alignment with
 
10 national performance standards and have demonstrated a readiness
 
11 and ability to proceed ahead of other schools.
 
12      SECTION 3.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
13 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $50,000 or so much
 
14 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 1999-2000 for the
 
15 geography department of the college of social sciences of the
 
16 University of Hawaii to train and develop educators to promote
 
17 the local implementation of the national geography standards as
 
18 set forth in the Geography for Life:  National Geography
 
19 Standards 1994; provided that no funds shall be released unless
 
20 matched dollar-for-dollar by the National Geographic Society.
 
21      SECTION 4.  The sum appropriated shall be expended by the
 
22 University of Hawaii for the purposes of this Act.
 
23      SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 1999.