THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

214

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ENCOURAGE THE USE OF CLOSED-CAPTIONed TELEVISION TO TEACH READING TO STUDENTS.

 

WHEREAS, Hawaii's public school children lag far behind the national average in measures of literacy; and

WHEREAS, in the 2002 Stanford Achievement Tests (SATs), Hawaii's public school scores remained well below national average: verbal scores dropped one point, from four hundred sixty-three to four hundred sixty-two, while the national average is over forty points higher at five hundred four; and

WHEREAS, under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, achieving at least minimal performance in literacy and other subjects is no longer an option, but mandatory; and

WHEREAS, new paradigms of learning need to be introduced in the classroom and at home, as the current methodologies are not helping children in Hawaii learn to read at a high level; and

WHEREAS, a new conceptual model of language acquisition indicates that young children can learn language readily and informally through "comprehensible input"; and

WHEREAS, closed-captioned television is a new paradigm of learning available at no cost twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week; and

WHEREAS, viewing and listening to closed-captioned television shows enables the television to read to children in non-literate and/or non-English-speaking households; and

WHEREAS, watching closed-captioned television shows with the sound muted provides a familiar context for children to learn language and a powerful and effective visual tool to support budding literacy and strengthens other academic subjects; and

WHEREAS, closed-captioned television helps children learn a second language as more programs become captioned in multiple languages; and

WHEREAS, closed-captioning is available on almost all modern televisions for a variety of programs, including age-appropriate programs for school children; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Education should inform parents of the literacy benefits associated with using closed-captioned television as a method for parents to work with teachers and boost children's literacy in the home setting; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Education is requested to implement a two-year pilot project in one or more schools to instruct teachers on the literacy benefits of closed-caption television viewing, and require the teachers to produce written materials for the parents of their students explaining these benefits; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the schools in which the pilot project is instituted are requested to report to the Department of Education on any benefits or drawbacks associated with the pilot project, and that the Department is requested to compile these reports and submit them to the Legislature at least twenty days before the convening of the Regular Sessions of 2006 and 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the University of Hawaii College of Education is encouraged to include closed-captioned television benefits in their curriculum; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that parenting publications and other media in Hawaii are encouraged to include information on the benefits of closed-captioned television; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education and the University of Hawaii College of Education are encouraged to order a free copy of "Using Captioned Television in Reading and Literacy Instruction" from the National Captioning Institute and use it in their curriculums; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that colleges and other school programs related to film and video production in Hawaii propose and develop innovative captioning options such as phonetic captions, memory clues, and related reading; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that television stations and other media in Hawaii are encouraged to identify those programs that meet high standards and correlate with academic curricula, including core knowledge; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that captioned video previewing events be encouraged to inform teachers and parents of the resources available from multiple sources that correlate with and support academic curricula; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that schools and other organizations in Hawaii are encouraged to work with children doing captioning in English and a second language to facilitate mastering English and one or more foreign languages; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Superintendent of Education; the Chairperson of the Board of Education; the Dean of the College of Education at the University of Hawaii; the President of the Hawaii State Teachers Association; the heads of television stations KHON, KITV, KHNL, and KGMB; and the head of Oceanic Time Warner Cable.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Literacy; Closed-captioned television