Consortium on Quality Education Campus Statements

University of Hawai'i-Kapi'olani Community College

A. Campus description

Size

• Total student enrollment is approximately 7,000 per semester.

  Structure

• Kapi'olani, one of seven community colleges in the University of Hawai'i Community College (UHCC) system, is an urban institution offering comprehensive programs in liberal arts and vocational/technical education. The college bears the name of Queen Julia Kapi'olani, the penultimate Hawaiian female monarch who was deeply committed to the health, education, well being and perpetuation of her people. Located on the slopes of Diamond Head, the college looks to its Hawaiian roots, as well as to the shores of Asia, the Pacific Islands and America in visioning its future. Kapi'olani primarily serves numerous diverse communities in East Honolulu. At the same time several programs attract students statewide. The college offers the largest liberal arts and transfer programs in the University of Hawai'i system; serves as a statewide Nursing and Health Sciences training center; and provides quality training programs in Hotel Operations, Culinary Arts, Tour and Travel, Business Education and Legal Assisting. All these programs play a critical role in developing the "community building" and "marketable" skills necessary to perpetuate Hawai'i as a successful multicultural community with a resurgent, increasingly diversified and globally integrated 21st century economy.

  Funding source
  

• The State of Hawaii provides approximately $12 million annually in general fund support. Tuition revenues from credit and non-credit programs, as well as federal workforce and institutional development funds provide substantial additional support.

  Students served
  Percent of student population by ethnicity. Fall 1999

  Ethnicity	Percent of Total
  Asian/Pacific Islander	73.0
  Japanese	22.6
  Filipino	15.2
  Hawaiian	10.9
  Chinese	10.3
  Korean	4.2
  Mixed Asian/Pacific	4.4
  Other Asian	3.2
  Pacific Islander	2.2
  Caucasian	12.7
  Mixed	10.8
  Hispanic	1.0
  Other	1.7

  For the total student population average age is 25.6 years; 56.6% is female; 59.4% is part-time; 13.8% of all students are economically disadvantaged; and 27.0% of students who enroll annually need at least one pre-college preparation course.

  Kapi'olani educates 1,500 English as a Second Language students. Over half (59.0%) are under the age of 25. In the ESL population are speakers of the following native languages:

  Chinese	29.0%
  Japanese	21.0%
  Korean	3.0%
  Filipino	5.0%
  Vietnamese	15.0%
  Thai	2.0%
  Laotian	1.0%
  Micronesian	7.0%
  Polynesian	2.0%
  Other	5.0%

  Freshmen to sophomore retention rate
  

• 66%, based on fall 1999 to Fall 2000 data

  Completion rate

• 22%, based on new students in 1995 who graduated by summer 2000

  Transfer rate

• 4% transfer to UH Manoa; approximately 1,000 KCC students have been enrolled at UHM each year from 1995-2000, 66% of these completed at least 48 credits at KCC; 5% transfer to other UH community colleges; 6% transfer to other colleges. Where students go after leaving your campus
• 80% go into the workforce; 55% employed in jobs directly related to their college studies; 8% are unemployed by choice; 15% attend another college. Based on the Survey of Vocational Students, Fall 1998. Student movement (into, out of, and within your institution)
• Liberal arts majors can complete an Associate in Arts degree which is fully articulated to the UHM College of Arts and Sciences. Other Colleges and Schools at UHM have additional course requirements. Students may transfer to UHM, UH West O'ahu, or UH Hilo, after successful completion of 24 credits in the community colleges. Vocational Technical students complete prerequisite general education courses and can complete Associate in Science and Associate in Technical Studies degrees, as well as Certificates of Completion (approximately 24 credits) and Certificates of Achievement (approximately 48 credits.)

B. Innovative practices related to Greater Expectations

1) unique learning styles and needs of an extremely diverse student population
2) University of Hawaii system
3) wider socioeconomic context

• The Holomua program provides developmental learning opportunities for students (recent high school graduates and older returning students) who do not place into college-level mathematics and English.
• The English for Speakers of Other Languages program provides learning opportunities for a diverse linguistic community which includes students from households where English is not the mother tongue, 1.5 generation students, recent immigrants and international students.
• Kapi'olani has implemented numerous successful Emphases across the liberal arts and vocational/technical curriculum. These include:
  • Hawaiian, Pacific, Asian Studies (indigenous, multicultural, international)
  • Information and Technology
  • Mathematics
  • Service-Learning for Civic Responsibility (national model program)
  • Thinking and Reasoning
  • Writing (K-16 impact through Hawaii Writing Project)

• The Kapi'olani Phi Theta Kappa Chapter provides high quality learning opportunities for honors students and has received numerous national awards for excellence.
• Vocational/Technical programs in Culinary Arts, Hotel Operations, Travel and Tourism, Nursing and Health Science, Business and Legal Education make major contributions to workforce development.
• New Technical Studies programs in Media Arts, Biotechnology, Exercise and Sports Science, E-Commerce and Information Technology support state economic development directions.
• Strategic local, national and international partnerships, and a rapidly developing Internet infrastructure, have enabled the college to share and access substantial resources beyond Hawaii's shores.

C. Institutional learning goals and a brief description of the process followed to determine them

Since 1987, Kapi'olani has developed a thorough competency-based curriculum in its Liberal Arts and Vocational/Technical Programs. Competency-based education emphasizes the outcomes of learning and the abilities a student should have acquired by the time they complete the course or program. Competence is defined as the ability to make conscious and informed use of knowledge, skills, and attitudes relevant to a particular situation. A University of Hawaii systemwide committee agreed on five new General Education Academic Skills Standards (each with 6-10 delineated competencies):

1) Critical Thinking
2) Information Retrieval and Technology
3) Oral Communication
4) Quantitative Reasoning
5) Written Communication

The Kapi'olani Arts & Sciences Program completed their review of the new standards in Fall 1998 and recommended that a sixth standard entitled "Understanding Self and Community" be added. This standard and its five specified competencies is unique to the educational experience of Kapi'olani students within the UH system. This standard reflects the college's "particular commitment to diversity and multiculturalism, appreciation of values and cultures, and awareness of the ethical and civic issues of the community" (Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching, 2000).

Standard 6 Understanding Self and Community This standard emphasizes an understanding of one's self and one's relationship to the community, the region, and the world. Upon completion of the AA degree at Kapi'olani all students should be able to: 1) Demonstrate an awareness of the relationship between the environment and their own fundamental physiological and psychological processes. 2) Examine critically and appreciate the values and beliefs of their own cultures as well as those of other cultures that may be separated in time or space from their own. 3) Communicate effectively about diverse cultural perspectives and acknowledge opposing viewpoints. 4) Use the study of a second language as a window to cultural understanding. 5) Demonstrate an understanding of ethical, civic, and social issues relevant to Hawaii's and the world's past, present and future.

All Six Skills Standards and related competencies were recently approved for implementation by the College Faculty Senate and will replace previous Associate in Arts degree competencies.

Assessment strategies range from informal classroom techniques to in depth authentic assessment in Service-Learning and Writing to targeted and broad institutional research.