REPORT TITLE:
Geography education


DESCRIPTION:
Appropriates funds for the geography department of the college of
social sciences of the University of Hawaii to train and develop
educators to promote the implementation of the national geography
standards set forth in Geography for Life:  National Geography
Standards 1994, and to align the Hawaii Content and Performance
Standards with the national standards.  (SD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        1749
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   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 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 to include
 
15 these standards in the State's geography curriculum.
 
16      The purpose of this Act is to incorporate the national
 
17 geography standards into the department of education's Hawaii
 
18 content and performance standards, to be achieved through
 
19 training, staff development, and state-of-the-art equipment,
 

 
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                                                        S.D. 1
                                                        

 
 1 materials, and resources, and with the assistance of the
 
 2 University of Hawaii.  
 
 3      As an initial step, the legislature proposes a pilot project
 
 4 to implement the national geography standards in schools
 
 5 statewide.  The legislature also proposes that the Kailua complex
 
 6 schools, comprising Waimanalo elementary and intermediate; Pope,
 
 7 Maunawili, Keolu, Enchanted Lake, and Kaelepulu elementary
 
 8 schools; Kailua high school; and Olomana school, be the first
 
 9 sites to align the State's curriculum with the national
 
10 geographic standards.  The Kailua complex's administrators and
 
11 educators have already created the geo-plex project to bring
 
12 their geography curriculum into alignment with national
 
13 performance standards and have demonstrated a readiness and
 
14 ability to proceed ahead of other schools.
 
15      SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
16 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $        or so much
 
17 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 1999-2000 for the
 
18 geography department of the college of social sciences of the
 
19 University of Hawaii to train and develop educators to promote
 
20 the local implementation of the national geography standards as
 
21 set forth in the Geography for Life:  National Geography
 
22 Standards 1994, and to assist the department of education in the
 
23 alignment of the Hawaii content and performance standards with
 

 
Page 3                                                     1749
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 2
                                                        S.D. 1
                                                        

 
 1 the national geography standards; provided that no funds shall be
 
 2 released unless matched dollar-for-dollar by the National
 
 3 Geographic Society.
 
 4      SECTION 3.  The sum appropriated shall be expended by the
 
 5 University of Hawaii for the purposes of this Act.
 
 6      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 1999.