BISMARCK, N.D. – When talking about education in Indian country, nearly identical language is used – it’s the future for the children, language and cultural classes are important, and everything leads to a better economic future.

The BIA and tribal schools across the country have experienced checkered success with test scores that are designed to show success, or Adequate Yearly Progress, as part of the No Child Left Behind Act. Some blame funding problems, inadequate facilities, a curriculum not designed for the American Indian student, and teachers not familiar with the social climate of a reservation.

Some problems in education can be blamed on the local schools, the school boards or tribal leadership.

“I’m disappointed in the Indian school boards – they don’t hire the best people, they micromanage and abuse spending,” said Ken Davis, chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.

“After 25 years of local control, the test scores don’t show improvement,” he said.

New BIA Director of Education Tom Dowd told a large crowd at the recent United Tribes Intertribal Council Summit X that he was very interested in partnering with the tribal governments and education programs.

His talk of partnering was tempered by the reminder that the tribes and some schools of the Plains had filed an injunction against the BIA’s Office of Indian Education Programs this year to stop reorganization of the program by removing line officers from the local levels.

“I am willing to sit down with tribal leaders and share what the restructuring is all about. I want to hear ideas; we are all committed to the same purpose, we are committed to bringing stability to education,” Dowd said. “I want to see us get things done together.”

Many schools are criticized for not meeting the AYP guidelines but are not given credit for the successes made in improvement toward that goal, or for successes from other areas.

Dowd was invited to visit a middle school on Turtle Mountain to see what the school is doing to improve, yet still gets no recognition.

He said he wanted to get into the field to discover the successes and to pass along what works to other education programs.

“We have three or four areas with a large number of students and we look at a number of schools not meeting AYP. I want to know what good is done, then we find a way to export that effort so others can do it,” Dowd said.

Some American Indian students in public schools are often in the lower percentage of achievement goals. The OIEP has no authority over public schools, but Dowd said he was willing to sit down and work toward cooperation and partnership with public schools.

Problems and solutions

Absenteeism among teachers and students, and classes that have an early out for the day, occur all too frequently, Davis said.

“Some [teachers] don’t have good classroom management and they send too many students to the principle for discipline,” he said.

If the problem lies at the local level, the solution is also located at the local level, according to Cynthia Lindquist, a member of the National Advisory Council on Indian Education and the president of Candeska Cikana Community College on the Spirit Lake Reservation.

“We need to be much more proactive and heard. We know what we are doing, we are cognizant of the problems at home and we know what we need to do to remedy the problems,” Lindquist said.

Lindquist was president of NACIE but stepped down because, as she said, she didn’t want to waste her time. She told summit attendees that the Department of Education pays little attention to NACIE and its recommendations.

“American Indian education is not on their [the Department of Education’s] agenda. I don’t know how to get on their agenda.”

At the local level of education, sometimes non-curriculum issues take precedence, such as suicide, attendance and just keeping the lights on.

“The people struggle to have their voices heard. We can better educate ourselves and our own people,” Lindquist said.

Rose Davis is a BIA education line officer who was in that position for just a few weeks before the injunction put her out of work. Davis said she asked that schools in her area be observed, and found that many teachers did not use lessons plans and those who had lesson plans did not teach to the plan.

“They had a lack of knowledge and have low expectations of themselves and of the students. Indian children are not born with ‘stupid’ stamped on their forehead.”

It took a three- to five-minute walkthrough before a warning was given to the teachers to raise student achievement.

What becomes of a student after secondary education is very important, and tribal colleges are in the business of training the next generation of leaders, said Cheryl Crazy Bull, president of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium and Northwest Indian College in Washington state.

“We have to equip our leaders to address social issues, economics and infrastructure, and to encourage traditional values,” Crazy Bull said.

She said a high percentage of the students coming to tribal colleges are required to take remedial classes, and that young people are losing the abilities passed down by their ancestors to cope and survive.

What is taught is as important as how. She said that for economics American Indian students are taught how to balance a checkbook, while others are taught how to invest resources.

“Step up to the fact that young people need to learn to invest our money, promote prosperity,” Crazy Bull said.

One problem could be that parents of young children are not directly involved with education or with some parts of their children’s lives.

“I went through public education and we did just fine. My parents worked. I knew I would be fed and education goes hand-in-hand with economic development,” she said.

To improve education in Indian country, creative thinking has to take center stage and a dependency on the BIA is not the answer, according to Ron His Horse Is Thunder, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. His Horse Is Thunder is a past president of Sitting Bull College.

“The BIA is not a good trustee; we need to look beyond the BIA,” he said.

He recommended looking to other federal agencies for resources because to ask the BIA for money means that other programs get cut due to a ceiling to funding from the BIA.

“We know the BIA has not done a lot for higher education There is not one agency that has all the answers, but they won’t know our needs unless we ask,” His Horse Is Thunder said.

“I must echo the disappointment: in three years nothing has been done, there have been four directors and three executive directors and they didn’t do anything, they were political appointees, and there was nothing for tribal colleges,” His Horse Is Thunder said.

Dowd’s presence at the summit, however, was well received, and Davis said of Dowd’s appointment: “I see a breath of fresh air.”