posted on
By Megan Tagami at Honolulu Civil Beat
Opportunities for high schoolers to earn college credit have been growing in popularity, but Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students are participating at lower rates.
In a portable classroom near the back of Farrington High School’s campus, students gathered around Ka‘iulani Murphy and the star map she spread across the classroom table. Using brightly colored markers, students carefully traced the constellations spanning the map and practiced pronouncing the names of stars in Hawaiian and English.
Murphy said she plans to take her students to the Bishop Museum planetarium, where they can practice identifying stars in real time. If the forecast calls for clear skies later in the quarter, she’ll bring her students onto the Farrington football field at night.
“It’s a great spot,” Murphy said. “You can turn the lights off and lay on the field.”
Murphy’s class on Hawaiian astronomy and navigation isn’t typically offered on high school campuses. She usually teaches at Honolulu Community College, where she is a full-time faculty member. But for the past seven years, Murphy has brought her course to Farrington’s campus through the state’s early college initiative.
Through the early college program, instructors in the University of Hawaii system teach college-level courses in Hawaii Department of Education schools. By completing these classes, students can earn credit that counts toward both their high school graduation requirements and college degrees.
Since its inception in 2012, early college has grown in popularity. In 2023, nearly a quarter of Hawaii high school graduates participated in a dual credit program, which includes both early college courses and UH classes that students can independently enroll in.
Last year Hawaii high schools offered over 580 early college classes, up from just 12 courses a decade ago.
Advocates say that early college can yield greater academic and career success for students, with participants more likely to pursue higher education and earn their degrees.
But while the program intends to grow the number of Hawaii students pursuing higher education, some education advocates and college counselors say it tends to serve students who are already college-bound. Low-income, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders — student groups that have historically been underrepresented in higher education — tend to have lower participation rates in dual credit programs.
Read the full article“How do we make sure that the kids who would benefit the most have access?” said David Sun-Miyashiro, executive director of HawaiiKidsCAN. “The results can be pretty game-changing.”