From Where the Sun Rises:
Addressing the Educational Achievement
of Native Americans in Washington State
Welcome to this report, which may someday be remembered
as one of the last plans that was published before
sweeping changes were fully integrated into our
educational systems to support all children. The
desire to instill a pivotal nature in this document
reflects not on the authors who present this plan to
the Legislature, but instead on all the people who have
worked and will continue to work diligently to change
the face of education in Washington as it is now
currently known. From where the sun rises, we
have seen promise return to our Native
communities. We feel the urgency to prepare the
people to live a meaningful life in a place where they
discover their skills and abilities while experiencing
how these contribute to the well-being of their
community.
What follows is a snapshot of our findings. We strongly
encourage you to read the entire
report.
Purpose, Research Questions, & Action Plan
The purpose of this study was to conduct a detailed
analysis of factors contributing to an educational
“achievement gap” for Native American
students. One of the primary foci was to analyze
the progress in developing effective
government-to-government relations between tribes and
school districts and identification and adoption of
curriculum regarding tribal history, culture, and
government as provided under RCW 28A.345.070.
Throughout were efforts to: (a) identify performance
measures of achievement and success that are culturally
and community appropriate to monitor adequate yearly
progress, (b) determine what constitutes achievement
and success for Native American students from the
perspectives of Native stakeholders, and (c) conduct a
detailed analysis of factors contributing to
educational achievement and success of Native American
students.
Empirical support was found for the achievement gap
between Native American students and European American
students in Washington. Specifically Native
Americans scored significantly lower across all
subjects (reading, writing, math and science) and
across all grades when compared to their European
American counterparts. A factor that contributes
to lower scores is the percentage of Native American
students enrolled within a school district, thus
indicating that there may be unique challenges and
stressors facing public schools with higher numbers of
Native American students that affect their academic
performance on standardized tests. Additionally,
school personnel factors predicted higher scores on the
WASL among Native American students in elementary,
middle and high schools. However, when examining
the databases provided for this report, there is a
significant data gap for Native American students and
how they are doing in Washington. Therefore, the
trend of the “achievement gap” may be more
of a reflection of a “data gap,” rendering
Native American students “invisible” in
terms of educational policies and procedures.
More research needs to be conducted so that every
Native child’s educational progress is monitored
in a consistent, respectful and timely
manner.
The outcome is a comprehensive plan for promoting
educational success and closing the achievement
gap. These foci were addressed with the
recognition that there is an ongoing effort in the
State of Washington to value place-based knowledge,
revitalize First People’s languages, and
integrate culturally responsive pedagogy. The intent of
this study, therefore, was to ensure that we close the
achievement gap and maintain Native American cultural
integrity while promoting indigenous knowledge,
language, values, and practice. Our action plan was
straight forward, and responsive to the legislative
intent, and built around four overlapping and
interconnected phases. To start, it was important
to understand our current context and then evolve into
a phase to analyze current types of data collected and
data gaps. The third critical phase focused on
listening to the people in order to formulate
implications, conclusions, and recommendations while
laying the foundation for the fourth and final phase of
reporting.
Comprehensive Education Plan to Increase Native American Educational Achievement
In the introduction of this report, we started with a
vision and stated that this report was being presented
to the legislature with an understanding of our Native
legacy and a responsibility to all learners; we asked
that you, the reader, listen with a constructive mind
and open heart. The goals and recommendations in
this report are grounded in a foundation of work that
is currently being done. This will not be a plan
that sits on a shelf, because the people doing the work
outlined in this study are creating change now and they
will continue to do so. This plan was requested
because education leaders are troubled by what they are
seeing: an achievement gap between Native and
non-Native students. We identified why this
achievement gap is happening and describe how we can
close that gap within five years and eliminate the gap
by 2020. As listed on pages 104-106, we believe
that our investigation confirms the need for
achievement and success goals in at least four
areas:
Teachers, Administrators, School Boards, and
Tribes. We offer four goals that speak
to the critical need to develop relationships between
school districts and tribes. A sustainable
relationship will depend on a shared understanding of
the cultural protocols and policies of each
domain. This shared understanding will serve as
the foundation for formal relationships to emerge and
flourish. An ultimate indicator for the Native
community to know whether or not a relationship evolves
is the incorporation of Native language, culture, and
history in the public school curriculum.
Health and Well-Being. We
advance six specific goals to ensure that our Native
children are given an opportunity to be their best in
school and life. This means establishing
measurements to monitor the health and well-being of
Native American children, youth, adults and families
that are reliable, valid and standardized based on a
sample of Native Americans in Washington State.
We also need culture-based prevention and intervention
programs to provide important transition services and
reduce risk factors. Ultimately, in place
will be standard assessment instruments in public and
tribal schools that assess students’ overall
well-being and social and emotional functioning.
Academic Achievement and Educational
Attainment. We have seven goals to advocate
that Native children are proficient or advanced in
reading, writing, and math at various grade levels and
upon high school graduation. To do so will mean
increasing the number of students passing all their
classes in junior and senior high school and reducing
truancy and dropout rates. This needs to be
complemented by increasing Native student exposure to
college preparation opportunities. We will be
able to ascertain progress by monitoring increases in
high school graduation and college going rates.
Assessment of Learning. Here we
list two goals that support Native students by offering
assessments that will provide more intervention and
direction to students and families to improve student
learning. Several other primary outcomes will be
an assessment that includes indicators endorsed by
Native communities and a determination of whether all
students can demonstrate mastery pertaining to the
ancestral and contemporary history of tribes and urban
Indian communities in Washington. The evidence of
true progress will be whether or not public school
districts and OSPI embrace indicators of achievement
and success that are relevant to Native students and
are equally applicable to non-Native students.
These goals are listed in order of priority; although
each area has its own justification for being the focus
of financial and policy support. Of course there are
other equally important areas. The justification
focusing on building relationships among teachers,
administrators, school boards, and tribes brings
attention to all the stakeholders that can provide
leadership and service. Education professionals,
parents, business, and the public at large possess the
spirit of support for those ultimately held responsible
for the education of our children. We heard this
in the many listening sessions held throughout the
state. Increasingly vocal was the call for Native
people to be active in the mission, scope, and
influence of educating their community. To do so, we
highlight five recommendations:
1. Shift the Paradigm through
Relationship Building (fuller description, pp.
107-131). From the onset, we believed that there
is the possibility to develop a comprehensive plan
already in action. It is a plan that represents
the concerted efforts of community and political
leaders over the last couple of decades and that will
serve us well into the future. It is made
possible when important stakeholders representing the
public’s interests feel that Native children are
important. Although obvious, it is not
always a position that is borne out in today’s
reality. What is emerging is a movement of
stakeholders who recognize that tribal sovereignty
strengthens community ethos rather than weakens
political agendas. Much of it simply starts with
acknowledging that Native people have a language,
culture, and history. That such acknowledgement
raises an obvious bewilderment of, “Why
haven’t we done this before?” We
believe that funding should support efforts to develop
relationships between public school districts and
tribes as well as help urban Indian education programs
to integrate Native teaching and learning that benefits
Native and non-Native children. We highly
recommend that this funding support the integration of
curriculum by well-trained stakeholders agreeable to
the spirit of this report.
2. Provide resources for pre- and
in-service educators and stakeholders (fuller
description, pp. 132-141). We need to graduate
non-Native and Native teachers/administrators/school
psychologists and related service providers whose
knowledge, skills, and cultural understanding will
bring about the changes needed to improve the education
of Native children and youth. This approach would help
assure effective and efficient use of resources, time,
and talents required to implement such programs and
would assure sustainability of the programs.
Equitable education for Native students with or without
disabilities is essential to the future of all Native
peoples; as such, it is a matter of social justice. It
is time for all universities/colleges in the state of
Washington responsible for
administrator/teacher/related service provider
professional training to systemically address Indian
education. We also need to consider the
increasing degrees of sophistication operative in
tribal schools and lessons to be learned in the areas
of programming, instruction, curriculum, parental
involvement, and relationship building. Tribal
schools in Washington include Chief Leschi, Lummi
Tribal and High School, Muckleshoot Tribal School,
Paschal Sherman Indian School, Quileute Tribal School,
Wa He Lut Indian School and Yakama Tribal School.
We are convinced that our public school colleagues can
learn from the experiences of their tribal school
colleagues.
3. Improve data collection and reporting
(fuller description, pp. 141-147). Clearly, we have a
chance to develop a database that reports on indicators
of interest to society at large and Native
populations. We can do so while protecting
confidentiality and informing policy and
practice. Collectively and finally, data
pertaining to Native students can be used by program
personnel close at hand to guide daily decisions and
develop long-term strategies; and remember that we can
seek higher levels of data aggregation until
statistical confidence is satisfied (i.e., county or
ESD level if data are limited at the school or district
levels). Indicators should include noncognitive
factors that influence academic achievement. Many
people recognize the need for improved data collection
and reporting, and we recommend following up on the
opportunity to partner with ETS which has the technical
capability and substantive understanding of how to do
so.
4. Develop a partnership with the
National Education Association (fuller
description, pp. 147-149). NEA developed a
research-based guide entitled, C.A.R.E.: Strategies for
Closing the Achievement Gap. C.A.R.E stands for
Culture, Abilities, Resiliency, and Effort and
partnering with NEA offers the opportunity to take
advantage of established resources that target the very
issues we are addressing in this report. Such a
partnership is exciting because NEA is willing to
revise any materials and resources to develop
culturally competent school systems that meet the needs
of Native students and communities. We anticipate that
following through on a recommendation to partner with
NEA will result in opportunities to share our learning
and successes with national audiences through NEA
conferences, the NEA website, and the trainings that
NEA produces for its 3.2 million members.
5. Increase state support and
collaboration (fuller description, pp.
149-151). We need funded mandates to expand
service delivery and maintenance of existing state
programs that can address issues of concern identified
in this report. This means expanding OSPI’s
Indian Education Office while maintaining services
offered in the Center for the Improvement of Student
Learning (CISL), Title I-Part A, Office of the
Education Ombudsman (OEO), Family Policy Council (FPC),
and Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs
(GOIA). Calls for increased levels or maintenance
of funding may be tenuous given the current economic
crisis. However, this is the most important time
to invest in the most renewable and sustainable
resource we have, our children. To help states and
tribes wrestle with funding priorities, we are setting
the stage for a meeting of foundations (tribal and
non-tribal) to dialogue about the report’s goals
and recommendations with the specific purpose of
funding action strategies to close the achievement gap
between Native and Non-Native students.
Conclusion and Summary
There is a persistent recurring theme in the literature
that Native language, culture, and history are
important to Native people and critical to the
educational attainment and achievement of their
children. We found that the health and well-being
of youth and their families are primary concerns due
the historical circumstances that conspired against
Native American educational achievement. It is
clear that to do well in school and life, there must be
the physical, emotional, and spiritual balances in
place to really cultivate intellectual skills and
abilities. We found that quantitative indicators
do suggest an achievement gap. However, it was
equally important to find that standardized indicators
are not good predictors of educational achievement
among Native American students and that improvement in
data collection and reporting are necessary to guide
policy and practice.
This is an ever-present call for Washington State
leaders to advocate for an education system that honors
our students’ languages and cultural
heritages. This was reaffirmed by Native people
throughout many listening sessions we held to document
the people’s voice. We would do ourselves a favor
to honor our first teachers, the plants and the
animals, and to do so in a way that respects the
environment. Because it is so important, a plan
emerged to establish goals around pre-service training
and professional development for critical stakeholders,
the health and well-being of youth and their families,
academic achievement and attainment, and assessment of
student learning. To realize these goals, it was
recommended that we: (a) shift the paradigm through
relationship building between schools, tribes, and
Indian education programs leading to integration of
Native language, culture and history into the public
school system; (b) provide resources for pre- and
in-service educators and stakeholders; (c) improve data
collection and reporting to better inform policy and
practice to promote student learning; (d) develop a
partnership with the National Education Association to
better align with teacher resources; and (e) increase
state support and collaboration to increase Native
American educational achievement because the most
renewable and sustainable resource we have is our
children.
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Muckleshoot children sing native songs at one of many listening sessions held to gather input for the report. See more photos.
-
Addressing
the Educational Achievement
of Native Americans in Washington State
(full report) - Executive summary of report
- Snapshot of report
- Shadow of the Salmon Curriculum Guide
- More information on the Shadow of the Salmon
- For more information, contact CHiXapkaid (Dr. Michael Pavel)