Washington State Tribal
Leaders Speak out on Standardization
By Kathleen Hagans Jeskey
Standardized education for
Native youth: Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Pennsylvania (c. 1900) one of
many "Indian Boarding Schools", where official policy was to attempt
to strip children of their Native language and culture, during the late 19th
and early 20th centuries.
The sentiment in this
letter can be broadly applied not only to Native students but to all
students. Our public schools are
diverse. Students deserve to have their cultures recognized and respected. They
deserve lessons that engage and speak to them, and they deserve to be evaluated
in an authentic way. We must bring the humanity back to our schools.
We, the governing tribes
of the Washington State Tribal compact schools, hope to break the chronic cycle
of failure among schools serving American Indian reservations. We intend to
capitalize upon the opportunity presented by this new Tribal Compact School law
by promoting the adoption of teaching practices which we believe to be more
congruent with tribal cultures. In support of this effort, we intend to foster
some important reforms in educational accountability methods that will
encourage and reward a change in practice.
In recent decades, state
and federal educational policy has focused on raising test scores for poor and
minority students up to the general population average by the third grade (or
soon after) in an effort to minimize the dropout rate. This policy has been a
particular disaster for most public schools serving Indian reservations. The
result has been a system that labels Indian children early; subjects them to
continued remedial instruction; and fails to keep them engaged after the 4th
grade. The over-emphasis on early grade test scores has evolved into a
self-fulfilling (and self-perpetuating) prophecy of failure for Indian
students. We believe it is this labeling effect, coupled with limited
instructional methods that cause many if not most dropouts.
The Iroquois Sachem
Canasatego once said to the English colonists of his time, “...you who are so
wise must know that different Nations have different Conceptions of things and
you will, therefore, not take it amiss if our Ideas of this kind of Education
happen not to be the same as yours. We have had some Experience of it...”.
Our experience has been that our schools have diligently tried to adopt “research based” models and “data based decision making” as primary methods for school improvement for years now. For the past 15 years, federal policy has placed more and higher stakes on test results. So much weight has been placed upon them that, standardized tests have become an end unto themselves. Something must change. We do not accept that standardized testing defines the potential or truly measures the growth of our children in any meaningful way. Therefore, as sovereign tribal governments, shouldering the new responsibilities under the state compact, we feel it is our duty to make a change toward authentic assessment and accountability. If Indian students are motivated, they will succeed. It is our goal to create places where our children and young adults wish to be and where there is an inherent expectation and tradition of success.
In recent years, the state
has commissioned and adopted assessments, such as the High School Proficiency
Test (HSPE) and End of Course (EOC) exams, which have only served to make the
student disengagement and dropout problem worse. Now, with the coming adoption
of the Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBA) testing will take a quantum leap
toward becoming much longer, more difficult, and demanding even greater
attention. We believe that we cannot test our way to success. We have walked
far enough down this path and are determined to change direction. Therefore, we
are proposing a five-year moratorium from standardized testing in Tribal
compact schools. During this time, we propose to develop a new evaluation
paradigm based on applied learning and public demonstration. During this
development period, we will use formative tests and/or other tools chosen by
our staff to monitor progress and assist in teaching. We will develop a viable
alternative evaluation system equaling or surpassing the rigor of state adopted
testing. In addition, we will demonstrate American Indian student attendance
and graduation rates that match or exceed state averages. Although intended for
reservation-based districts, we hope such a system might be used by any
district experiencing this chronic syndrome of failure.
We will call upon our schools to develop ways to teach content and to hone student academic skills through authentic work for real life purposes rather than to depend mainly upon passive and abstract classroom instruction. These methods may further enhance Indian student learning as they more closely resemble historical tribal teaching practices. Traditionally, our children learned specific skills within the context of an immediate and worthwhile task. As students progress toward later grades, authentic instruction should increase and passive classroom instruction decrease. To support these proposed reforms, we intend to provide our schools an evaluation model based upon public demonstration to the community. We will give our professional educational staff the flexibility to re-organize as necessary and to experiment in developing more deeply engaging educational experiences. In addition, we will find new ways to evaluate and award credit for the work completed outside the classroom. The teachers will work in teams to share the burden and include high school students in yearly planning.
We will require our
schools to initiate formal public demonstrations of student work that meet the
highest level of state standards, so that the tribe and community may
appreciate the quality and value of the school. The demonstrations may include
but are not limited to: individual or group projects in science and applied
math; performance in music and dance; displays of art and literary work; student
enterprises and worthy deeds for the school, tribe or community. The
demonstrations will be challenging enough to show high skills and/or thorough
understanding by students. Such demonstrations will also serve to help WOSPI to
evaluate student accomplishments in terms of the state standards. We anticipate
that the institution of such events will not only serve as a new method to
evaluate student work but will also help rally our communities to support their
schools.
To us, making sure all
students graduate “on time” is not as important as making sure that all do
indeed graduate as mature capable individuals with knowledge and skills to go
forth in their chosen path. Our students will receive a diploma when each is
ready to present herself or himself before the community with a portfolio that
shows she or he is ready for college, skilled career training or the everyday
work world. By the same token, this also means a student may graduate early by
petition if they demonstrate extraordinary ability or talent and can meet the
standards. As the vision stated in: From Where the Sun Rises: Addressing the
Educational Achievement of Native Americans in Washington State--Delivered to
the Washington Legislature, December 30, 2008--"Indian education dates
back to a time when all children were identified as gifted and talented. Each
child had a skill and ability that would contribute to the health and vitality
of the community. Everyone in the community helped to identify and cultivate
these skills and abilities. The elders were entrusted to oversee this sacred
act of knowledge being shared. That is our vision for Indian education today."
