(NAME-MCE) Indian kids deserve a fair chance

[KispokoT at aol.com]

   Indian kids deserve a fair  chance  (javascript:PrintWindow();)   Posted: 
July 18,  2008   
by: _Willard  Gilbert_ (http://www.indiancountry.com/author.cfm?id=821) 
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096417734





  For all the worthy debate over  the relative merits of the No Child Left 
Behind Act, let's not lose  sight of the goal on which we can agree: to better 
educate and  prepare our nation's students. A recent study by the Center on  
Education Policy documented improvements in American Indian and  Alaska Native 
students' reading and math achievement since NCLB was  enacted in 2002. From 
the perspective of this educator, such results  reinforce the importance of NCLB 
as a significant source of data to  better understand student progress, but a 
work in progress in terms  of achieving equality for all high school students 
in the U.S.  

The inequities and indignities that darken the history of  public school 
treatment of American Indians and Alaska Natives are a  national tragedy. Even 
though the CEP report indicates recent  improvements, findings specific to Native 
students were presented  with caution. Challenges in data reporting of 
American Indian,  Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students muddy the projection of 
 their success and cloud the stark reality of the dismal graduation  rates 
that afflict our young people. 

Fewer than half of all  American Indian students graduated from high school 
during the 2003  - 04 school year, compared to more than three-quarters of 
white  students. And American Indian and Alaska Native students who stay in  
school read below grade level at rates higher than their white  peers. What awaits 
these students who don't achieve in school and  don't graduate? All too often 
the answer is poverty, incarceration,  suicide, teen birth or substance abuse. 

By and large, our  neighborhood schools are not serving American Indian and 
Alaska  Native students academically or culturally. We must demand policy  
changes that prepare schools to support and nurture tomorrow's  leaders. A 
reauthorized NCLB should include requirements for  teaching that takes culture into 
account, improving teacher quality  and reporting of data in such a way that we 
can make meaningful  comparisons among and across subgroups. The next CEP 
report should  paint a clearer picture of success for American Indian and Alaska  
Native students. 

Students excel in the classroom when  content area, Native language and 
culture intersect. For example,  the Native Science Connections Research Project at 
Northern Arizona  University, which is funded by the National Science 
Foundation,  successfully integrates Native language, culture and traditions into  
schools' science elementary curriculum. Ongoing analysis reveals  increased 
student mastery of science and math concepts, deeper  levels of student engagement 
in science and math, and increased  student achievement in math and science. 
In a Navajo immersion  school, Tse'hootsooi Dine' Bi'olta', third- and 
fifth-graders are  performing at higher levels than their peers in the state reading, 
 writing and math assessments. These types of innovative solutions  should be 
encouraged and adequately resourced. 

The quality  of teachers also affects the success of American Indian and 
Alaska  Native students. From the small numbers of teachers who represent  similar 
cultural backgrounds as their students to an inability to  recruit 
subject-matter trained teachers for schools in remote or  isolated communities, students 
are paying the price.  

Finally, the way in which data are reported by high schools  confounds 
efforts to improve student achievement. Without a  requirement by NCLB to 
disaggregate data by ethnic subgroup, the  progress or lack thereof made by American 
Indian, Alaska Native and  Native Hawaiian students will continue to be 
overlooked, rendering  an inaccurate perception of the reality. Unless educators and 
school  officials have the capacity to hone in on problem areas, how can  they 
be expected to address them? It's like planning in the dark.  

American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students  deserve a fair 
chance to succeed. With NCLB reauthorization that  requires culturally based 
teaching, teacher quality and data  disaggregation, we can provide our students 
with that opportunity.  

Willard Sakiestewa Gilbert, Hopi, is the board president  of the National 
Indian Education Association. NIEA is a member of  the Campaign for High School 
Equity, a civil rights coalition that  strives for education policy that 
prepares all students to be  successful in work and  life.



**************Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for 
FanHouse Fantasy Football today.      
(http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020)