Curriculum Research & Development Group staff members win first place in Outstanding Publications Competition for second consecutive year

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
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Posted: Apr 17, 2008

HONOLULU - Morris K. Lai, Hugh H. Dunn, and Susan E. York of the College of Education Curriculum Research & Development Group (CRDG) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa were awarded first place in the Division H, School Evaluation and Program Development, Outstanding Publications Competition at the annual American Educational Research Association (AERA) meeting in New York in March 2008. Faculty and staff from the CRDG program research and evaluation office won first place in two out of twelve competition categories.

Having won in the best alternative reporting method category last year, Lai and Dunn, along with York this year, won for best summary report for 2007. The trio submitted a three-page summary report, which they had prepared for a site visit by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). "Because the summary report was for a GAO site visit, we focused on providing succinct evaluation assertions with accompanying links to substantiating data," Lai said.

The report, titled Data-Substantiated Evaluation Assertions About Pihana Nā Mamo, summarizes the effects of a project funded by the U.S. Department of Education through the Native Hawaiian Education Act. Since 2000, Pihana Nā Mamo: The Native Hawaiian Special Education Project (Pihana) has sought to improve the education of Native Hawaiian children. "Pihana Nā Mamo has strong data to support its effectiveness, and through a collaborative process the report met the challenge to be succinct yet thorough," York added.

Report findings conclude that Pihana is mostly in high-poverty schools and serves a large numbers of participants, and that its students‘ reading scores and graduation rates were above normative expectations. "The report not only provides a succinct data-rich account of our project‘s positive outcomes across years, it also captures the basic essence of our project‘s mission," Dunn said. "The award affirms the hard work and dedication of all who are involved in this project."