Increasing the Achievement of Native American Youth at Early College High Schools
A bold approach to improving high school and college graduation rates of Native American students is underway in Washington State. Three secondary schools, Ferndale High School, Medicine Wheel Academy, and Tulalip Heritage are developing programs to begin late 2003 that forego the all-too-common remediation options for Indian students. Instead, these three sites have increased their expectations and academic rigor. There is so much rigor, in fact, that ninth grade students will spend part of their school day taught by college faculty. By 2005, when the students are 11th and 12th graders, it is anticipated that all their courses will be college ones. By 2007, most of the Ferndale, Medicine Wheel, and Tulalip students will graduate from the integrated high school and college programs, and at 18 or 19 years of age, will enroll as juniors at four-year institutions to complete their baccalaureate degrees. With college degrees in hand, the Native graduates can pursue fulfilling lives and careers and serve as culturally-grounded and educationally savvy community leaders.
Ferndale High School, in rural Ferndale, Washington, Medicine Wheel Academy in urban Spokane, and Tulalip Heritage School on the Tulalip Reservation near the town of Marysville are reconfiguring their secondary programs as Early College High Schools. These three sites are part of a national effort called the Early College High School Initiative sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. Together, the four foundations have funded seven partners (listed at the end of this article) to establish 70 Early College sites across the nation for underserved youth. Jobs for the Future is coordinating the national initiative and provides technical support to the seven partners. All Early College schools receive grant funding for three years. The first year is dedicated to planning the programs while the second and third years use grant funds to implement the Early College model.
Antioch University Seattle, based on its work establishing reservation-based degree programs, was selected as one of the seven partners. To date, Antioch is the only partner developing Early College High Schools to accommodate Native students and all such schools will be located in Washington State. The three pilot sites, Ferndale, Tulalip, and Medicine Wheel, will be joined by five additional schools during 2003 and 2004 through a proposal process. Ultimately, eight Early College schools will be established throughout Washington to serve approximately 1900 Native youth. By the time all eight schools begin their programs in 2004, there will likely be a mix of school types. The first three sites reflect demographics that show 85% of all Native students attend public schools (Chavers, 1999). However, tribal or BIA schools are strongly encouraged to establish such programs in upcoming grant years.
What Are Early College High Schools?
The 70 pilot Early Colleges are small, personalized secondary schools where 150 to 400 students earn an associate?s degree concurrently with their high school diplomas. Early College students are low-income youth, first generation college-goers, English language learners, and minority students, those who have been underrepresented in higher education. Grounded in the belief that adolescents are capable of college level work, Early Colleges immerse students in stimulating and supportive collegiate environments. Additionally, all 70 Early College High Schools reduce financial barriers thus increasing the likelihood that larger numbers of young people will be able to earn college degrees.
Unique Features of Early College High Schools for Native Youth
There are several reasons why Native students who attend Washington?s eight Early College schools can anticipate academic success. Before the school model was drafted, Native American leaders from across Washington specified core program components that would benefit their students. Their recommendations encompassed curricular content, student support services, and ongoing community involvement. Based on this input, the Early College schools will include the following components:
1) the integration of local culture into each school?s curriculum;
2) the offering of college courses in the schools Native students attend (a reverse of the Running Start model so that students do not have to leave their communities to attend college elsewhere);
3) extensive outreach to middle-grade students to improve their academic preparation and promote college aspirations;
4) an inclusive, open admissions process so that all students can consider the integrated college and high school option;
5) academic, guidance, and mentor advising to strengthen skills and personalize support for each student;
6) a meaningful year-round model of schooling that respects local traditions and provides sustained and cohesive educational experiences; and
7) Extensive family and community engagement with schools.
The components specified above by Native educators reflect their knowledge of the educational needs of their youth and simultaneously mirror recent research that shows how to increase Native student achievement.
As is well known, Indian students have fared poorly in our nation?s schools. In late 2001, the National Indian Education Association and the National Education Association reported that Indian students have the highest K-12 dropout rates and the lowest college completion rates of any ethnic group in the United States (NEA, 2001). Approximately half of Native students will graduate from high school (Chavers, 2001), and, of those, less than 3 percent will go on to earn a bachelors degree.
Interestingly, when discussing components needed in future Early College High Schools, tribal members hypothesized that the current emphasis on high school graduation may actually reinforce negative stereotypes and eclipse goals for college degrees among their youth. They embraced the Early College model because it raised expectations from high school to college graduation. It is worth noting that rather than redressing perceived deficits, Early College begins with fundamentally different assumptions about the capabilities of youth and the positive roles education can play in all communities. As a result, the Early College High Schools for Native Youth schools adhere to the following mission: to offer a rigorous, culturally congruent, liberal arts education that blends research-based academic practices with traditional Native values and prepares students to serve as leaders in the communities in which they participate.
As is evident in the mission statement, the purpose of the Early College schools is to enhance the personal and professional development of individual students that, in turn, will benefit Native communities.
The curriculum at each Early College site is made up of three integrated strands. They are 1) a standards-based, basic education high school program, 2) the associate of arts transfer degree requirements of participating tribal or community colleges, and 3) a local, culturally relevant emphasis. Much research attributes student underachievement to the absence of Native American curriculum in the schools (Demmert, 2001; Leap, 1993; OSPI, 2000; Phillips, 1983; Skinner, 1999; St. Germaine, 1996; Swisher and Tippeconnic, 1999). Similar to all students, Native Americans benefit from curriculum that is relevant and personally interesting. This means, in many cases, a curriculum rich in tribal history, traditions, and languages.
A sample high school and AA degree curriculum template follows. Though this document is only in draft stages and will continue to evolve, it shows a preliminary attempt to integrate culture and high school and associates of arts degree requirements into an Early College curriculum. What is not evident in the grid format is that students will work together in cohorts and that the courses while listed singly may actually be taught as integrated, multi-disciplinary studies.
Figure 1: Draft Early College High School for Native Youth Curriculum Template
DRAFT CURRICULUM FOR EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOLS FOR NATIVE STUDENTS*
(Courses in bold CAPS represent potential college courses)
Grade
Fall Semester
Spring Semester
Summer
HS Credits
COLLEGE CREDITS-
SEMESTER
9
Math for College .5
Biology: Native Relations .5
English: Reading & Writing.5
Language & Culture .5 Math for College .5
Biology: Native Relations .5
English: Reading & Writing.5
HUM. NAT. LANG & CULT 2 Fitness:
Canoe Journey .5
HEALTHY LIFESTYLES 2
5
4
10
Algebra .5
English: Multicultural Lit .5
Art: World of Imagination .5
Natural Resources .5
SS: WORLD HISTORY/ GEOG PERSPEC. INDIGENOUS PEOPLE 3
Algebra .5
College Prep. English .5
Healthy Lifestyles .5
CHEM: NAT. RESOURCES 3
S: WORLD HISTORY/ GEOG: PERSPEC. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES 3
P.E. Camping trip .5
PERSONAL FINANCE AND ECONOMICS 2
6
11
11
QUANTITATIVE REASONING: 3
ENG.101: 3
HUM.: NATIVE LANGUAGE: 3
COLLEGE MATH: 3
SS: TRIBAL & DEMOCARTIC RIGHTS 3
HUM: NATIVE LANGUAGE 3
Career Explorations .5
ART: TRADITIONAL NATIVVE AMERICAN ARTS 2
4
20
12
ENG. 201: 3
ECOLOGY: 3
ANTHRO: NATIVE GENEAOLOGY 3
POL SCI: NA AMER LAW 4
BOTANY 4
COMM. ORAL TRADITIONS 4 SOC. CULTURAL IIMMERSION AND TRAD. CEREMONY 2
PHILOSOPHY 2
4
25
13
ANY REMAINING ELECTIVES ANY REMAINING ELECTIVES
19
60sem/
90 qtr.+
* Note: the above seeks to meet Washington State?s high school requirements of 19 credits: Eng. 3, Math 2, Science 2, Arts 1, Social Studies 2.5, Health & Fitness 2, Occupational Ed. 1, and Electives 5.5 and community college quarter credits: Communications 10, Quantitative Skills 5, Humanities 15, Social Sciences 15, Mathematics & Science 15, Health & Recreation 5, and Electives 25, with a strong Native focus throughout the curriculum.
In addition to what students are taught, how they are taught is also significant. The Early College programs will use research-based, culturally-appropriate instruction. Site and college faculty may team-teach and incorporate culturally responsive pedagogy. Such pedagogy includes storytelling, active, experiential, and multi-modal methods, global as well as analytic or sequential instruction, project-based opportunities, extensive peer collaboration, personalized learning, and multigenerational mentors and advisors (Cleary and Peacock, 1998; Deloria and Wildcat, 2001; OSPI, 2000; Reyhner, 1992; Swisher, 1990; Swisher and Deyhle, 1992).
Since Early College students will vary greatly in their academic skills, each school will enlist academic advisors and tutors to provide support to individual and small groups as needed. U.S. Department of Education (1997) research shows that high-quality tutoring programs can significantly increase basic skills achievement. The tutors at the Early College will be recruited from local colleges and tribal community members and will meet the expressed needs of Indian students to learn from knowledgeable Native experts.
Community Engagement
Extensive family and community outreach is also being undertaken to link Native communities with Early College schools. Native American families typically have not participated in the school system, in part, due to perceptions that schools controlled by the dominant societal group lack legitimacy (OSPI, 2000). Multi-faceted approaches to engagement are being launched to forge new relationships between families and schools. Antioch was fortunate in enlisting the support of the Kellogg Foundation to assist in community engagement efforts.
In addition to specifying core components of Early College High Schools, the planning of each local school?s specific curriculum involves additional tribal member input. To secure such participation, announcements about planning sessions are printed in tribal newspapers and newsletters and through meetings with tribal councils, parent committees, and educators. This emphasis on asking community members to guide curriculum development reflects a new and unique opportunity in the Early College High Schools? approach. Not only do Early Colleges make the pursuit of higher education a norm for Native students, they also engage Native communities in taking ownership of how their children are educated.
Yet another community engagement component of Early College High Schools for Native Youth is that parents, tribal organizations, cultural leaders, tribal education committees, and individuals insure that the traditional cultural strengths of their respective communities are reflected in the Early Colleges. The three pilot sites are forming steering committees of parents and community members who identify the cultural aspects they feel are appropriate to include in a school?s curriculum. In some cases, such as at Ferndale, the Lummi language will be taught for college-level, world language credit. At Tulalip Heritage, an intensive summer canoe journey will fulfill college health and fitness requirements, and at Medicine Wheel Academy, a cultural immersion and ceremony experience may result in sociology credits.
Students also have opportunities to give input into the developing Early College programs. Teaching staff at the sites have asked what they would like included in Early College programs. For example, when Medicine Wheel Academy teachers conducted a classroom survey, the high schoolers said they wanted to learn how best to honor their elders, to understand their heritage and cultural traditions, and how to serve as positive role models for others.
Additional engagement work is also underway. As part of the Early College model, each school must partner with a community or tribal college. In the case of the three pilot sites, Medicine Wheel selected Spokane Falls Community College as its partner, Tulalip Heritage chose Everett Community College, and Ferndale High School has identified Whatcom Community College and perhaps an additional partnership as well. Together the schools and colleges are forging seamless, comprehensive curriculum for grades 9-14. The college partners recommend courses, establish and approve criteria for faculty hires, and oversee all associates of arts degree requirements. A welcome challenge for both the high schools and colleges is the integration of culture into the curriculum and the securing of program approval from tribal members, district and college boards, and policy agencies.
The How of Creating New Institutions
At an orientation for the three sites in September, 2002, Antioch University provided a planning grid of tasks and timelines for developing the Early College programs. The tasks fall into eight areas: 1) planning procedures, 2) administrative tasks, 3) community engagement, 4) curriculum development, 5) budget plans, 6) policy issues, 7) student recruitment, and 8) participation in program research. The work is organized by site coordinators at each school. Antioch provides technical assistance at Design Days held at the university every other month. All three sites send their coordinators, college partners, tribal members, and other representatives to the Design Days. The schools update one another about their accomplishments and support each other in program development. Antioch also conducts quarterly site visits at the schools and takes the lead with policy issues. Additionally, Jobs for the Future hosts national conferences twice annually that move the project forward on both state and national levels. Most of the work, however, is done at the school level in between the meetings and conferences. The planning calendar below is used as a road map for the project?s initial planning year.
Figure 2: Early College High School for Native Youth Planning Calendar
Sponsored by: Antioch University Seattle
Project Director: Linda Campbell, Ph.D.
Funded by: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The Carnegie Corporation of New York
EC TASKS FALL QUARTER
WINTER QUARTER
SPRING QUARTER
SUMMER QUARTER
Planning
Processes
Select site coordinator
Identify college representatives
Identify tribal representatives
Identify other stakeholders
Establish planning group, processes, goals, and timelines
Other
Implement planning processes, goals, and timelines
Engage stakeholders in planning process
Monitor and adjust planning as needed
Other
Implement planning processes, goals, and timelines
Sustain stakeholder involvement
Monitor and adjust planning as needed
Other
Complete planning process for first year
Establish program refinement process
Other
Administrative Issues
Sign contracts
Oversee all EC tasks
Identify space needs
Identify staffing needs
Establish inter-school relationships
Identify school board, tribal, union, college, community, agency issues
Other
Oversee all EC tasks
Submit fiscal reports
Pursue space needs
Pursue staffing needs
Maintain inter-school ties
Address board, tribal, union, college, community, agency issues & secure verbal approvals.
Other
Oversee all EC tasks
Secure space needs
Hire and orient staff
Maintain inter-school ties
Secure school board, tribal, college, union, community, and agency written agreements
Other
Oversee all EC tasks
Prepare facilities
Orient support staff
Maintain inter-school ties
Keep school board, tribal, college, union, community and other agencies informed of EC
Other
Curriculum Development
Develop mission statement
Participate in staff development
Identify diploma and AA degree requirements
Consider cultural, diploma, and AA degree outcomes
Enlist stakeholder input
Other
Draft curriculum to meet diploma and AA requirements
Specify what constitutes college level work
Participate in staff development
Draft tutoring program
Draft advising program
Enlist stakeholder input
Other
Draft mentoring program
Specify diploma outcomes
Specify AA degree outcomes
Specify cultural outcomes
Determine grading system
Determine class schedule
Secure stakeholder approval
Order instructional materials
Other
Finalize program scheduling
Finalize tutoring, advising, mentoring components
Create plan for ongoing professional development
Create plan for ongoing program evaluation that includes stakeholders
Other
Budget Development
Estimate financial needs
Identify how school, tribe, and college will contribute and/or be reimbursed
Consider state & federal issues
Identify funding sources
Other
Pursue funding options
Revise budgets with informal approval from constituents
Address state and federal issues
Other
Secure funding agreements
Secure budget approval from constituents
Finalize budget
Other
Implement budget to support program
Other
Policy
Issues
Identify policy issues such as:
teacher certification
role of college in high school
tribal governance
transferability of AA degrees
and make plan to address policy concerns
Other
Implement plan to resolve policy questions
Seek policy approval or waivers as needed
Enlist stakeholder support in resolving policy concerns
Other
Acquire policy waivers and approvals
Other
Implement policy procedures
Other
Community
Engagement
Participate in EC network
Identify stakeholders
Specify school, community, district engagement needs
Participate in quarterly event
Develop engagement goals, processes, and timeline
Identify media resources
Other
Participate in EC network
Participate in quarterly event
Implement engagement plan
Meet with variety of stakeholders in variety of ways
Engage media
Other
Participate in EC network
Participate in quarterly event
Sustain engagement efforts
Secure approval of EC model from stakeholders
Engage media
Other
Participate in EC network
Participate in quarterly event
Sustain engagement efforts
Secure media
Other
Student
Recruitment
Identify potential students
Draft brochure and secure stakeholders? approval
Identify admissions procedures
Develop recruitment procedures and schedule
Other
Visit feeder schools & agencies
Train recruiters
Distribute brochures
Implement recruitment procedures and schedule
Engage stakeholders as recruiters
Other
Implement recruitment procedures and schedule
Admit students and secure written family permission
Other
Continue student admissions
Orient students and families
Other
Research
Participation
Work with NWREL
Work with ARI, SRI
Gather and generate data
Document school change
Other
Work with NWREL
Work with ARI, SRI
Gather and generate data
Document school change
Other
Work with NWREL
Work with ARI, SRI
Gather and generate data
Document school change
Other
Work with NWREL
Work with ARI, SRI
Gather teacher syllabi and assignments
Create plan for sharing student work
Document school change
Other
Aside from developing schools that have not existed before, the Early College Initiative is also confronting policy challenges. Early Colleges test the idea that providing increased academic rigor and the opportunity to save time and tuition money will motivate students to work hard and succeed at highly intellectual academic work. At the same time, by changing the expectations for students at grades 9-14, the model challenges the governance and funding structures of current educational systems. As a result, educators and policy makers are considering the following issues:
Governance: The separation of the K-12 and post-secondary education systems often creates a disconnection between what is offered and expected of students at the high school and college levels. One costly example is the high rate of remediation required for many high school graduates as they enter colleges and universities. The Early College model blends grades 9-14, thus creating a welcomed need for collaboration and communication between institutions governed by separate entities.
Funding: College accessibility and affordability are two important goals of the Early College initiative and by blending grades 9-14, Early Colleges raise questions about how public education should be funded. Across the nation, there are currently many examples of ?dual-enrollment? programs in existence, in which high school students? state-funded per student allocation pays for college tuition, in part or in full. The Early College model builds on these policies and is seeking funding models to provide educators and students flexibility in their options.
In Washington State, policies for ?College in the High School? will provide the infrastructure for supporting the schools during their pilot implementation years. Also, since the Early College High Schools for Native Youth is a reverse of Running Start where students leave their secondary schools to attend college elsewhere, the Early College sites will retain the state-allocated per pupil funds and in turn pay the colleges for their services provided on site.
The Benefits of Early College High Schools for Native Youth
Rarely has the integrated vision of academic and cultural achievement been promoted in schools serving Native youth. The students, families, teachers, higher education faculty, and tribal community members involved in the Early College sites across Washington support the single-minded goal of student success. Such sites challenge entrenched beliefs about college-worthy students and the current structure of our secondary/post-secondary systems.
We anticipate that the Early College schools will transition hundreds of Native students into bachelors? degree programs. In fact, by 2007, as many as 500 students may enter colleges as juniors, followed by another 700 undergraduates each fall of the subsequent two years. The expertise of educated young professionals is sorely needed in tribal communities. Chavers (2001), Deloria (2001) and others have observed that tribes have great needs for medical personnel, business managers, entrepreneurs, engineers, and educators. Currently, non-Indian professionals such as doctors, attorneys, teachers, and others hired by tribal organizations typically remain in their positions for less than two years. By contrast, Indian professionals frequently retain their positions for many years and bring stability and pride to their communities. Early College graduates may likely increase their tribes? sense of cohesion and continuity.
Chavers (1998) has found that less than 20 of the 740 high schools located on or near reservations have full college preparatory programs. The emerging eight Early College High Schools for Native Youth have ambitious goals. They plan to make college completion, not preparation, the norm and to do so within a single generation. Further, Early Colleges, by tapping the strengths of Native cultures, may influence mainstream education, not just in programmatic structure and increased student opportunity but in transformed values and world views. Schools and students could benefit from a deepened respect for the strength of community and the fabric of life and the significance of human behavior in relationship to both.
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References
Chavers, D. (2001). Indian Students and College Preparation. Albuquerque, NM: Catching the Dream Foundation.
Chavers, D. (1999). Exemplary Programs in Indian Education. Albuquerque, NM: Catching the Dream Foundation.
Chavers, D. (1998). Indian Teachers and Indian Control. Albuquerque, NM: Catching the Dream Foundation.
Cleary, L.M.and Peacock, T. D. (1998). Collected Wisdom: American Indian Education. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Deloria, V. & Wildcat, D. (2001). Power and Place: Indian Education in America. Golden, CO: American Indian Graduate Center and Fulcrum Resources.
Demmert, W. (2001). Improving Academic Performance Among Native American Students. Charleston, WV: ERC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools.
Leap, W. L. (1993). American Indian English. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah.
Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI.) (2000.) Reading and the Native American Learner: Research Report. Olympia, WA: Author.
Phillips, S. U. (1983). The Invisible Culture: Communication in Classroom and Community of the Warms Springs Indian Reservation. NY: Longman.
Reyhner, J. (1992). "American Indians Out of School: A Review of School-Based Causes and Solutions." Journal of American Indian Education, 31(3), 37-56.
St. Germaine, R. (1996). Drop-Out Rates among American Indian and Alaska Native Students: Beyond Cultural Discontinuity. ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools. Available: http://ericcass.uncg.edu/virtuallib/diversity/1050.html.
Skinner, L. (1999). "Teaching through Traditions: Incorporating Languages and Culture into Curricula." In K. G. Swisher and J. W. Tippeconnic, Eds.Next Steps: Research and Practice to Advance Indian Education. (pp.107-134). Charleston, WV: Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools.
Swisher, K. G. (1990)." Cooperative Learning and the Education of American Indian/Alaskan Native Students: A Review of the Literature and Suggestions for Implementation." Journal of American Indian Education, 29(2), 36-43.
Swisher, K. and Deyhle, D. (1992). "Adapting Instruction to Culture." In J. Reyhner, Ed. Teaching American Indian Students, (pp.81-95). Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma.
Swisher, K. G. and Tippeconnic, J. W., Eds. (1999). Next Steps: Research and Practice to Advance Indian Education. Charleston, WV: Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools.
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Early College High School Partners:
Antioch University Seattle
www.antiochsea.edu
Knowledgeworks Foundation
www.kwfdn.org
Middle College High School National Consortium
National Council of La Raza
www.nclr.org
SECME, Inc.
www.secme.org
Utah Partnership Foundation
www.utahpartnership.utah.org
Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
www.woodrow.org
National Early College High School Coordinator:
Jobs for the Future
www.jff.org
For more information, contact: www.earlycolleges.org
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About the authors
Linda Campbell, Ph.D. is Project Director, Early College High Schools for Native Youth at Antioch University Seattle. lcampbell@antiochsea.edu
Keith Egawa (Lummi) is Community Engagement Specialist, Early College High Schools for Native Youth at Antioch University Seattle. kegawa@antiochsea.edu
Geneva Wortman (Yurok) is Policy Coordinator, Early College High Schools for Native Youth at Antioch University Seattle. gwortman@antiochsea.edu
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? March 2003 Linda Campbell, Keith Egawa, and Geneva Wortman
Posted with permission by
New Horizons for Learning
P O Box 31876
Seattle WA 98103 USA
For permission to redistribute, please contact the authors.
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