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A report issued by the National Center for Educational Statistics:  The Status and Trends in the Education of American Indians and Alaska Natives: 2008 examines both the educational progress of American Indian/Alaska Native children and adults and challenges in their education. This report shows that over time more American Indian/Alaska Native students have gone on to college and that their attainment expectations have increased. Despite these gains, progress has been uneven and differences persist between American Indian/Alaska Native students and students of other racial/ethnic groups on key indicators of educational performance.
Demographic Overview
In 2006, there were 4.5 million American Indians/Alaska Natives in the United States, representing 1.5 percent of the total U.S. population. In 2006, almost half (49 percent) of all American Indians/Alaska Natives including those of Hispanic ethnicity, resided in western states.  In 2003, there were more than 560 federally recognized American Indian/Alaska Native tribes, with the largest tribes being Cherokee and Navajo.
Since 1990, the median age of American Indians/Alaska Natives, including those of Hispanic
ethnicity, increased by 5 years, from 26 to 31. In 2006, the median age for the general population was 36 years.  In 2006, 27 percent of American Indian/Alaska Native individuals lived in poverty compared
to 13 percent of the general population. At 36 percent, the American Indian/Alaska Native
poverty rate was higher among families on reservations than among families in other American Indian/Alaska Native areas in 1999.  In 2005, the overall fertility rate for American Indian/Alaska Native women (ages 15 to 44 years) was 60 births per 1,000 women, which was lower than that for women in general (67 per 1,000); however, birth rates for young American Indian/Alaska Native women (ages 15 to 24 years) were higher than among young women overall (53 per 1,000 compared to 41 per 1,000 for 15- to 19-year-olds and 109 per 1,000 compared to 102 per 1,000 for 20- to 24-year-olds). Infant and child mortality rates for American Indians/Alaska Natives were higher
than those for all infants and children under age 20. For example, the child mortality rate for 15- to 19-year-olds was higher for American Indians/Alaska Natives (94 per 100,000) than compared to the general population (65 per 100,000).

One of the 15 Effective Strategies we identified was Mentoring.  In 2004, a Public/Private Ventures study of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America found that of the young people with mentors:

• 78 percent showed improved self-confidence
• 67 percent were better able to make decisions
• 65 percent were better able to express their feelings
• 52 percent were less likely than their peers to skip a day of school
• 46 percent were less likely to start using illegal drugs
• 27 percent were less likely to start drinking alcohol

Teachers reported behavior changes in students who had mentors, as found in Creative Mentoring’s Annual Report of the 2004 – 2005 school year. Of those students:

• 81 percent increased their self-confidence
• 68 percent think more before acting
• 61 percent improved their ability to relate to adults
• 67 percent were better able to express their feelings
• 62 percent demonstrated better cooperation
• 56 percent improved in reading
• 56 percent became more responsible
• 63 percent improved their attitude toward learning
• 60 percent participated more frequently in class

Parents reported behavioral improvements in their children who had mentors as well. Parents stated their children had:

• 88 percent increased their self-confidence
• 85 percent demonstrated better cooperation
• 72 percent increased reading skills
• 75 percent increased their attitude toward learning
• 78 percent became more responsible
• 74 percent improved in language arts
• 74 percent were better able to follow directions
• 71 percent participated more in class
• 79 percent were better able to express their feelings

Educators believe that families do not want to participate in school.  What follows has been excerpted from my Best Practices book.

1. Open Lines of Communication
Meet with representatives of the community including church leaders, and
community-based organizations like the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary,
Lions, etc. Have them announce school events like parent meetings,
sporting events, student performances. Give them tickets to sporting
events and student performances.

2. Have Student translators available for parents who prefer
speaking in a language other than English.
3. Have staff make positive phone calls to parents
Most phone calls made to homes tend to be negative. Parents who get
positive phone calls appreciate it. Call parents and complement them for
having their child come on time, well prepared, or that their child did well
on an examination or at a sporting or school event.

4. Have school cleaned before parent meetings.
Parents notice.

5. Have student work hanging in classrooms.
Parents and students need a replicable model of what “quality work” looks
like. Create a template by having student work hanging in classrooms and
halls.

6. “We Don’t Want To Brag” bulletin board.
Put positive news on a bulletin board that parents can notice when they
enter the school. The work can include positive news about faculty like
their participation in out-of school events or their achieving degrees.
Newspaper articles about the success of students in contests, sports, or
achievements should be included. Include information or letters from
graduates who are in college, the workforce or the military.

7. Hang graphs of student achievements.
Graphs showing improvements in testing, attendance can be placed in
visible locations in the building. The graph lines should be going up not
down. Graphs should emphasize the positive, not the negative. (For
example, you want to show the number of students who graduate, not
those who dropout.)

8. Celebrate Student Success
Find occasions to celebrate the success of students whether in academics
or sports or student activities. Make sure to invite parents. Take “instant”
pictures of parents celebrating with their children. The success should not
create “winners” and “losers”. Insure that every student can be a winner.

9. Hold a Contest Thru Your Parent Organization.
Prizes can be for the parent who brings the most parents to a parent
meeting or the one who attends the most frequently, or simply to a parent
who shows up. Prizes can include free meals at a fast-food restaurant.
(They are generally willing to give away meals.) “No cost” prizes can also
include tickets to school sporting events or school performances.

10.Organize a Family/Faculty event.
Have parents and faculty sit down to “break bread” together. Have
everyone bring something to eat (even if it store bought cookies.) The
meeting might be held off-site at a community center or church. This
provides an opportunity for people to engage in conversation, which need
not be about what takes place in school.

11. “Everyone, bring one.”
Encourage parents who attend a meeting bring one of the parents of one
of their child’s friends.

Excerpted from Best Practices to Help Students Stay in School by Franklin P.
Schargel, published by Eye on Education in 2005. Copyright © 2004
Franklin P. Schargel. All Rights Reserved.

Major Causes of Students Dropping Out

There are four major causes of students dropping out of school:
a.    The child him/herself
b.    The family situation
c.    The community they live in
d.    The school environment

In order to prevent students from dropping out of school, we must attack the causes listed above.  Some of them are out of our control.  For example, we cannot address the community they live in or in most cases, their family situation.  But we can address the choices they make and the school environment. One of the ways of doing so is for educators to ask a serious of tough questions.

How inviting a classroom environment is there for the student?  Are the walls painted in “happy colors” or are they drab institutional gray or green?  Are your bulletin boards filled with student work, left blank or with commercial advertisements?

Are all students encouraged to learn? Has the school created different classes for students ““ those designed to pass and those designed to fail?  Those who will go on to college and those who will drop out.  What role can you, as a classroom instructor, play in overcoming this paradigm?

How many students start in your school or system, graduate?  Does the school track their progress through the system?  Are “safety nets” built in for those who are identified as at-risk?  What “pillars” support these safety nets?  Are you one of these safety nets?  Do you know how to get additional assistance in helping students graduate? (Is there additional counseling, mentoring, after school learning activities, service-learning projects designed to connect school to the world of work? As you track, is the largest reason for kids leaving school, “miscellaneous”?

How many students who dropouts are actually pushed out?  (Students who are told, by word or action, “I do not want you in my class” or “I don’t need you in my school.”)  How close to graduation are students who dropout?  Do they need one credit or ten?  What has the school done to help them make up the credit? What role can you, as a classroom instructor, play in overcoming this paradigm?  What is done to support the “psychological” dropout ““ the child who is physically in the school but mentally is miles away. What role can you, as a classroom instructor, play in overcoming this paradigm?

According to Newsweek Magazine, “principals and teachers are increasingly concerned about what they call the “fourth grade slump”.  Around the country, students are demonstrating a declining interest in reading and a gradual disengagement from school.

What can be causing this?  There isn’t any specific data but teachers indicate that students are being distracted by viedeogames, after-school activities and the switch from learning to read to reading to learn.

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading schools improve for the early grades but flatten out by the fourth grade.

In a 2006 survey by Scholastic Inc. 40% of children between the ages of 5 and 8 read everyday.  By the fourth grade, the rate declined to 29%.

A recent report,  21st Century Skills, Education, and Competitiveness: A Resource and Policy Guide available at www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php indicates that schools need to prepare young people with skills that will dominate the 21st century.

“Our ability to compete as a nation — and for states, regions and communities to attract growth industries and create jobs — demands a fresh approach to public education.  We need to recognize that a 21st century education is the bedrock of competitiveness — the engine, not simply an input, of the economy. And we need to act accordingly:  Every aspect of our education system –pre k-12, post secondary and adult education, after-school and youth development, workforce development and training, and teacher preparation programs –must be aligned to prepare citizens with the 21st century skills they need to compete.”

All educators can agree with the above quotations in this worthy and well-intentioned report.  What becomes a problem for educators and the rest of society is how is this to be done in light of:

1.  Students who lack the ability or desire to reach today’s minimal standards.

2.  Parents who prize summer vacations over year-round schools.

3.  A society which gives higher pay for most jobs, with the same educational criteria, that educators possess.

4.  An inability or a lack of desire to create proper working conditions to fill science, mathematics and special education jobs.

5.  Budget cutbacks in education, in a falling economy, which are disproportionate to the rest of the demands of state and local funding.

6.  School budgets which are still funded by property taxes giving greater funds to affluent areas than school districts educating those with greater needs.

Unfortunately, the report fails to address this problem.

Til next time,

Franklin

The New York Times reported (10/13/2008) that Prairie Elementary School in Sacramento, CA had moved each of its student groups – Hispanic, Blacks, Asian, Whites, American Indians, Filipinos, Pacific Islanders, English Learners, the disabled – toward higher proficiency in recent years.  Overall the number of students passing statewide tests had increased by more than three percentage points annually.  But California schools are required, by the terms of No Child Left Behind, to increase student proficiency in every group by 11 percentage points.

The original improvement required by NCLB was a modest amount of improvement.  But now, a “balloon” payment of 11 percent is being required in the state of California and some other states.

The New York Times reported that “in 40 states that reported on their compliance so far this year, on average, 4 in 10 schools fell short on the law’s testing targets,up from about 3 in 10 last year.  Few schools missed targets in states with easy exams, like Wisconsin and Mississippi, but states with tough tests had a harder time.  in Hawaii, Massachusetts and New Mexico, which have stringent exams, 60 to 70 percent of schools missed testing goals. And in South Carolina, which has what may be the nation’s most rigorous tests, 83 percent of schools missed targets.”

I had a woman in one of my workshops who said that she wanted to live until December 31, 2014 because she wanted to see the day when ALL students would read on grade level.  Expecting 100% perfection is unrealistic.  We do not have 100% achievement in any field – not in science, medicine, law or manufacturing.  It is not that we should not shoot for the ideal.  But the reality, especially when you deal with people, is that to achieve 100% is beyond expectations and merely causes frustration and anger.

I do not know how many of my readers read Jay Mathews, the education reporter from the Washington Post (a free online publication which requires registration) but you should.

In an article posted on September 1, 2008 Mr. Mathews wrote about schools in Alexandria, Virginia and Washington DC.  He correctly pointed out that “It is not the building, but the teaching which makes schools great.  Under a school-improvement plan in the 1980’s and 1990’s Kansas City, MO., built schools with such amenities as an Olympic-size swimming pool with an underwater viewing room, television and animation studios, a robotics lab, a 25-acre wildlife sanctuary, a zoo and a model United Nations with simultaneous translation capability.  It didn’t work. Poor performance continued.”

When we look to improve our nation’s schools, the obvious isn’t always obvious.  We look to improve our hardware – our buildings, while ignoring that the most precious commodity a school building should have a capable, highly qualified but more importantly, highly effective educators.