Discussion of the Recent Research on Native American Education

In 1999, two research projects took place on the U & O Reservation.  One was researched and prepared by Guy Allen and Cleo Boyd from theUniversity of Toronto at Mississauga and has become known as the Toronto Report.  The other one was the 1999 Ute Tribe Education Strategic Plan developed in conjunction with over 30 tribal members.  Information from these two documents, recent research on Native American education, and professional opinions will be used in this discussion of the observed educational problems and as guidelines for setting Education Department goals to resolve the problems.

The 1999 Strategic Plan’s mission statement will be used as a guide to organize this discussion. 

The mission is to ensure that all Native American students receive equitable and quality education through a culturally competent educational system that promotes the student’s well-being, capability, and identity, with shared responsibility that guarantees students to function as knowledgeable, responsible, and competent citizens.

The mission statement is composed of four distinct parts: Part 1. “Ensure that all Native American students receive equitable and quality education”: Part 2. This education is to be delivered “through a culturally competent educational system”: Part 3. The educational system is to “promote the student’s well-being, capability, and identity”; and Part 4. The educational system “with shared responsibility, guarantees students to function as knowledgeable, responsible, and competent citizens.”   Each part is explored below using recent research findings on Native American education, the two 1999 reports, and information from the 1983 Ute Tribe Education Plan.

Part 1: Ensure that all Native American students receive equitable and quality education.

In the 1983 Ute Tribe Education Plan, it was reported that since the 1950’s, Ute children’s tests scores have been below the Uintah and Duchesne school districts’ averages.  Unfortunately, even thought the tests have changed, the results have not.  The State of Utah is now using the Criterion Referenced Tests as a measure of educational achievement for all students. The data from the 2002 Criterion Referenced Tests (CRT) indicate that over 50% of American Indian students in the Uintah and Duchesne school districts performed below the Near Mastery or Mastery skill levels in language arts, mathematics, and science.   In these same two school districts, the white students’ scores averaged over 70% of students achieving at or above the Near Mastery level on the 2002 CRT’s in language arts, mathematics, and science.  These results would indicate that American Indian students are still not receiving an equitable and quality education under the present system. 

The state of Utah has adopted a high school graduation testing program, the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test.  Students will be required to pass each section, reading, writing, and mathematics, before a diploma will be awarded.  This could be seen as another hurdle for Tribal students to overcome and it may cause even more to drop out before graduating than presently do (as many as 86% of Ute students dropped out of high school).  Therefore, the Education Department and the Tribe need to work together to create a greater incentive for students to finish high school than now exists.

In 1983, the Director of Education, Forrest Cuch, recommended that if the then present situation (of poor academic achievement) did not improve, the Ute tribe needed to take education into their own hands. This idea was echoed in the 1999 Northern Ute Educational Consultation Report by Guy Allen and Cleo Boyd when they said: 

“The central theme of this report is that Utes must not rely on others to do what is best for Ute children.  Utes must take responsibility for the education of their children.”

One way for tribes to take responsibility for the education of their children is to have a tribal member sitting on the school boards in both Duchesne and Uintah school districts.   Allen and Boyd recommend that a permanent position for a Ute Tribal member be created on the school boards rather than depending on the tribe members working together to elect an individual running against a non-Tribe individual.  The 1999 Ute Tribe Education Strategic Plan stated the desire of Ute Tribe members to have Ute Tribe people sitting on these boards.  But neither of these ways of having Tribal representation on the school boards has taken place.  Skinner’s (1999) research supports the importance of having each minority represented on the school board to facilitate moving schools toward equality and equity in education.  Another reason for improving and elevating the Tribe’s relationship with the school districts is that a positive relationship in that area help to improve students’ self-image and school success. (Paper prepared for the National Congress of American Indians, “Tribal-State Partnerships: Cooperating to Improve Indian Education”).

Both the Toronto report and the 1999 Strategic Education plan suggest that a long-term plan be put into action to have some sort of Ute Tribe jurisdiction over Todd Elementary School, West Junior High School, and Uintah River High School .  While the Tribe has gained control over the Uintah River High School , as a charter school, there is still no direct control over the Todd or West schools.  According to Demmert (2001) several studies have shown that the more control Tribes take over their schools, and thus the more involvement parents and community members have in the schools, the better students do in the schools. 

Skinner (1999) supports the importance of Native parental involvement in schools with these words:

Districts that receive federal funding for Native students must be forced to include Native parents from local communities on committees that establish policies.  The ratio of parents on these committees should reflect the number of children in the district as well as the amount of money the endorsement of those children generates.  Native communities must be involved wherever local education agency (LEA) expenditures include federal monies. (emphasis added)

To reach the goal of an equitable and quality education the Business Committee, the Education Department, and the Tribe need to take an active role in controlling their children’s education. 

Part 2:  This equitable and quality education is to be delivered “through a culturally competent educational system.”

“Culturally responsive pedagogy describes teaching in a way that ‘makes sense’ to students who are not assimilated into the dominant culture” (Klug and Whitfield, 2003, p. 151).  For Native American students this may mean applying the knowledge they are acquiring to real-world situations that affect them immediately (as opposed to at some time in the future) in their lives.  A culturally competent education system will have culturally competent teachers, instructional methods, and curricula (Yazzie, 1999). 

Yazzie (1999) identified teachers as the most important component for successful learning.  Successful teachers were described as having a “demanding but warm teaching style” (Demmert, 2001).  They are informal, give up authority, have and show respect for students (Yazzie).  Non-Indian teachers may need to adapt their teaching style to be more similar to the interaction styles of American Indian teachers.  Klug and Whitfield (2003) included the following table of social interaction styles in classrooms. 

Social Interaction Styles of American Indian and Non-Indian teachers in classrooms

American Indian Teachers	Non-Indian Teachers
Center Stage for short periods	Always center stage
Circles around the classroom for individual instruction	Circles around the classroom for individual instruction
More small-group work	Some small-group work
No free time as students are finishing work	Free time for play
Knows when to change activities by paying attention to students’ rhythms	One thing occurs at a time; teacher exercises control over activities
Starts slowly but ends faster	Starts faster but ends slower
Average of 15 minutes to complete work	Average of 5 minutes to complete work
Close proximity when speaking to individual students; low voice is used	Spotlights students by signaling them out for answers
Much silence is tolerated in classroom	Not much time for silence is allowed
Initiates activities without waiting for students	Waits, overtly controls initiation of the next activity
Comments are made to students privately	Comments are made publicly in a loud voice away from the student
Does not expect direct eye contact	Expects direct eye contact
From Klug and Whitfield (p. 163): adapted from Erickson and Mohatt (1982).

This type of information could be used to create in-service training and as a focal point for discussions between Indian and non-Indian teachers.

“(Culturally appropriate curriculum) uses materials that link traditional or cultural knowledge originating in Native home life and community to the curriculum of the school” (Yazzie, 1999, p. 83).  Good curriculum incorporates cultural considerations such as materials, instructional techniques and learner characteristics, meaningful parental and community involvement, and uses thematic units. Elementary teachers have access to the mathematics curriculum: Honoring Ute Ways.   See Part 3 below for further ideas on curriculum.

Part 3: A culturally competent educational system will “promote the student’s well-being, capability, and identity.”

Destructive behaviors, as are reported above, indirectly contribute to the cycle of low educational attainment of Ute Tribal members (Ute Indian Tribe Educational opportunity Center Proposal, p. 11).

Well-being, capability, and identity are qualities that students express when things are going well for them.  But, as the data shows, there are many personal challenges and negative forces that work against the students and hindering them from expressing well-being, achieving their full capability, and forming a strong sense of identity.  Students with “protective factors” (Strand and Peacock, 2002), such as families, schools and the community, are able to resist or bounce back from adversity.  The ability to bounce back from adversity is called resilience (Strand & Peacock, 2002).

Strand and Peacock found that student resilience is strongest in schools where the students feel that teachers treat students fairly, they feel close to people at school, they get along with teachers and other students, and they feel that the other students are not prejudiced.  Students’ connections to their tribal culture are also a strong factor that helps many students stay in school. 

Demmert (2001) reported that resilience is fostered through caring and supportive relationships, having positive and high expectations, and providing opportunities for meaningful participation for students in schools.   But he also identified  “… a number of factors (that) hinder resiliency:  absenteeism and tardiness; mandatory school attendance polices (when missing a specified number of days leads to failing the term); anger (many youth were angry and understood how their anger posed an obstacle to success); teen pregnancy; misusing alcohol and drugs; sexism; and living out the low expectations of others.” (p. 32).

Schools can help to improve resiliency, therefore students’ well-being, capability, and identity by training and encouraging teachers to use appropriate instructional methods, a place-based or community-based curriculum, and a Ute language and culture program.

Instructional methods are the manner in which teachers deliver the curriculum.  Instructional methods may include the social interactions in the classroom, but they will extend beyond social interactions to “lesson presentations” (Klug & Whitfield).  Successful instructional methods create a classroom that is informal with a shared locus of control by students and teachers, and lessons that are culturally relevant.  Students are encouraged to learn via group work, open-ended questioning, and cooperative learning. Teachers and students use instructional conversation and spend more quality time on learning subject matter and connecting the subject to local and traditional knowledge. (Demmert, 2001).  Appropriate instructional methods develop self-respect, use bias-free textbooks and materials, and draw on the strength of the Native community to create a positive learning environment.

Klug and Whitfield (2003) used the following chart to help teachers understand the different instructional methods between American Indian teachers and Non-Indian teachers. 

Patterns utilized in Classrooms by American Indian and Non-Indian Teachers for Lesson Presentations

American Indian Teachers	Non-Indian Teachers
Slow Pace	Fast pace
Economy of words	Many words used
Asks questions directed to all	Calls on students directly
Wait time for responses 3 seconds	Wait time for responses 0.5 second
Moves on if answers are correct	Tells students if answers are right or wrong
Responds to students’ nonverbal requests for assistance	Responds to students’ verbal requests for assistance
Uses few directives	Uses many directives
Does not use names with directives	Uses names of individuals with directives
Works quietly; more private time with individuals	Works “publicly”; not as much private time with individuals
Commands are indirect	Commands are direct
Shared control of social interactions	Teacher controls social interactions
From Klug and Whitfield (p. 164): from Erickson and Mohatt (1982).

Klug and Whitfield suggest designing curriculum to include time for the whole person.  They used the medicine wheel as their model for identifying the four area of well-being.  The same four areas of well-being, mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional are also identified by HeavyRunner and Morris (as reported by Strand and Peacock, 2002) as areas of personal development supported in traditional Indian cultures. Below, Klug and Whitfield’s explanations of each area are in normal type and HeavyRunner and Morris’s explanations are in italics.

Mentalintellect, memory, judgment, self-concept, experience, having clear thoughts.

Physicalhealth, stamina, support from family and kinship structures, physical conditions in which living, attending to the physical self.

Spiritualrelationship with creator, spiritual rituals and teachings, special dreams and gifts, values, community’s code of ethics, living according to the belief in the interrelatedness of all things.

Emotionalfeelings, emotions, acceptable expressions of emotions, interests, motivations, impressions of acceptance and security, judgments, positive and negative impressions affecting interactions, self-esteem, balancing all emotions.

Curriculum can be designed that not only meets state and federal requirements but includes activities that address the well-being of the whole person.  To learn subject matter, students need to spend quality time learning and connecting the subject matter to local and traditional knowledge (Demmert, 2001).

Pride in their Native culture and families were identified by several students as a source of strength to succeed in school and life (Strand & Peacock, 2002).  Recent research has shown that culture and language programs have a positive correlation with academic success (Demmert, 2001).  Ute language programs should extend from kindergarten to 12^th grades as language instruction in the early grades has been shown to be vital to maintaining native languages (Skinner, 1999).

Combining the ideals of place- or community-based learning and Ute language and culture learning into one curriculum could create a curriculum for self-determination.  Such a curriculum would include academic knowledge that meets state standards and Ute cultural knowledge in a positive and supportive way.  A bicultural and bilingual curriculum has been shown to improve learning environments and academic success (Jacobs and Reyhner, 2002).

Part 4: The educational system “with shared responsibility guarantees students to function as knowledgeable, responsible, and competent citizens.”

Allen and Boyd suggested that the Business Committee, the Education Board, and the director of the Education Department work together to improve the education of all students.  The creators of the 1999 Education Strategic Plan went even further by suggesting that tribal departments, parents/guardians, and communities take an active role in supporting students and education.  This last view is closely supported by the research findings.

Demmert (2001) stated that: “Native education research in this country and Canada tends to support findings from mainstream research that show improved school performance when communities and parents are involved in their operation” (p 27).  And he continued:  “…Native communities that have not yet gained control and taken direct responsibility for the education of their children must evaluate their role in the educational process” (p. 28).

The theme of community control of education has been found throughout the research information presented in this section.  Community control and support can help ensure that appropriate curriculum and instructional methods are used in the classrooms.  Teachers can receive administrative support and training to change their teaching styles to better match the cultural patterns and learning styles of their Native American students.  The more control and responsibility the Tribe takes for the education of their children the better should be the outcome.  However, it will be important to remember Allen and Boyd’s reminder that the children’s education must be kept above politics.

Another aspect of educating children to function as knowledgeable, responsible, and competent citizens is to develop more interaction between the schools and the communities.  Demmert (2001) found that school success includes a strong alliance between teachers and the community.  The strongest link between educational opportunities and student achievement was parental involvement in the design and implementation of programs.  One way to gain parental and community involvement in the design and implementation of programs is to introduce place-based education as a guide for the curriculum of the schools.

Place-based education encourages the development of connections between schools, students, and communities (Haas & Nachtigal, 1998).   The study of place involves students in studying their natural and social environments and contributing useful knowledge and skills to their communities.  Older students are involved in applying their knowledge and skills to a community problem and sharing their findings with the community as a whole or with a community partner.  Younger students learn the skills and processes of their academic subjects through investigating and studying the local area.  Place-based education promotes inter-disciplinary, thematic instruction that helps community members and students value education because of the contributions that students make through school to the community.

Another way to help children learn to function as knowledgeable, responsible, and competent citizens is to involve them in decision making about youth issues.  Allen and Boyd suggested that youth be involved in making decisions about issues that impact them. 

Guaranteeing students that can function as knowledgeable, responsible, and competent citizens means that the Education Department will need to look at the future and plan accordingly.  What will the future of education look like?  In the article “A Forecast for Schools” in the December 2003/January 2004 “Educational Leadership” magazine, Marvin Cetron and Kimberley Cetron predicted that student populations will continue to grow in size and diversity, that technology will continue to change the workplace, and that today’s students will need to be able to engage in lifelong learning.  To meet these needs, schools will need to provide ongoing training for teachers in individualizing instruction.  All students need help to reach the same goals in individual ways.  Technology is quickening the pace of change and “computer competence is becoming mandatory.  Even entry-level jobs and formerly unskilled positions require a growing level of education” (Cetron and Cetron, p. 27).  The Tribe will need to accept these realities of today’s world and continue to see education as an investment in the Tribe’s future well-being.  Because of the rapid changes in job skills, adults will be employed in at least five completely different jobs during their lives.  Therefore, lifelong learning will become a fact of life. Curriculum will need to change to help students experience and understand the relevance of what they are learning, to develop a positive feeling about formal learning, and to learn lifelong learning skills. 

The Education Department also needs to be aware of immediate and future tribal needs for education and training in planning for the future.  Forty percent more people applied for Tribal postsecondary scholarships in the spring of 2004 than could be funded.  This suggests that the Tribal Education Department should continue to encourage strong and growing Business Committee support of the scholarships and that the department should explore the possibilities of developing postsecondary opportunities on the reservation.  The development of Tribal post secondary opportunities will help to keep some of the scholarship money circulating among Tribal members.  Two possibilities are the development of a vocational/technology program and the starting of a tribal college.  These programs could be built from present programs such as the Adult Education program and the Uintah River High School presently run by the Tribal Education Department. 

A vocational-technology program could be designed to train Tribe members in skills needed for immediate employment such as:  computer training for office workers, computer technical knowledge and systems knowledge, construction skills, management and leadership skills, and writing skills. 

Potential long term education needs include the following technician level and professional level positions: Management training in natural resources, business, resort, financial, oil and gas, construction; and specific training in: Marketing,

Health Care, Education, and Fine Arts.  A Tribal college could help fill the higher education needs that supply trained technicians and allow others to transfer successfully into a 4 year professional program. 

According to Sue Chapoose of the Tribal Personnel Office approximately 24 full time natural resource positions are currently a part of the Tribe’s departments and there are over 20 temporary positions.  These positions are found in the following departments:

Timber (2), Resources (4), Realty (3), Energy (6), Big Game (2 fulltime and 10 part time), Fish (2 tech positions, 11 temps, and 4 seasonal techs for summer), Outdoor Recreation (3), and Stream Improvement (2).  The building of the senior care center will increase the need for trained health care professionals at all levels.

Several of these areas are addressed by either Utah State University or the Uintah Basin Applied Technology College .  The Education Department should continue to work with these institutions to provide the best possible training for the Tribe members while working and encouraging Tribal members to gain the education to begin teaching these areas themselves.

The world’s ways of doing things is changing more rapidly all the time.  The Tribe needs to encourage education and develop ways to keep their membership abreast of the times without losing their cultural identity.  The goal may be to produce bi-cultural individuals: people who can work in the dominant society and live well within their culture.