Quinnehtukqut Legal News
| A publication of Pine Tree Legal Assistance |
Summer 1998
Issues in Native American Education
By Bonnie S. Bostrom
Bonnie is the Chief of Education for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. She is a member of the Alabama Band of Cherokee. Bonnie has her Master's Degrees in Special Education and Educational Administration. She is currently a Doctoral Candidate in Leadership and Educational Administration from the University of New Mexico. She has worked in many pueblos and reservations.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Special Education and Due Process
The Economic Factor
Parental Involvement
Staff Development
Higher Education
There are many important issues in education facing Native Americans today. This article will cover some of those issues. The issues are: special education services, parental involvement, economic issues, staff development, and political coalitions. This article does not cover all of these issues in depth. It will, however help readers understand them.
Special Education And Due Process
Parents must understand their rights when it comes to Special Education referral, testing, and placement. The percentage of Native American students who are getting Special Education services is, in some places, much higher than the national average. You, as a Native American parent, should be aware that special education is not always the most helpful placement for your child.
There are steps that a school must take before placing your child in Special Education. If your child is referred to a school committee because of lack of achievement, the committee is required to gather information about your child and to offer intervention strategies before making a referral for diagnostic testing.
Children who are identified as needing help are often fast-tracked into Special Education without being given a chance to get other kinds of support. If you have been asked to sign for diagnostic tests, be sure to ask if alternative strategies have been put in place for your child. For example, if your child is identified as having problems in math or reading, ask if tutoring services have been tried. If you use a different language at home, ask whether a bilingual program or an English as a Second Language program might be better for your child.
If you decide to allow your child to be tested, you need to know that giving permission for testing does not mean that you are automatically giving permission for a Special Education placement. After any testing, you have the right to meet with the committee again. At the meeting, the results of the testing should be explained to you so that you understand them. If you do not agree with the results of the testing, you can ask for another assessment at the school's expense.
Even after the tests have been explained to you, you do not have to agree to have your child placed in special education. You may decide that there are other options which are better for your child. In fact, it is often a good idea to have an advocate with you who is not hired by the school. This can help you understand what is really happening with your child. There is a lot of jargon used in special education testing. This can be very confusing and intimidating and can make you highly concerned when, in actuality, your child may be having difficulty in school but may not be "disabled."
The term "Learning Disabled" can be very misleading. In most states, if there is a significant difference in scores between your child's achievement test and his or her intelligence test, your child can be labeled as Learning Disabled. For students through third grade, that difference must be 19 points; for all other grades, the difference is 23 points. There can be many reasons for this difference in scoring. Not all of them mean that there is a real disability. For example, low attendance, changing schools, language differences and cultural differences, to name a few, can also cause the difference in scoring.
In one school district in a nearby state, the number of Native American students who were placed in Special Education was three times greater than the national average of 12%. This is a severe problem. We must be vigilant that it does not happen in Connecticut.
For more information on this subject you can write to the Special Education Resource Center, 25 Industrial Park Road, Middletown CT 06457. This group can also send you parent guidelines.
The Economic Factor
There are many children across the United States in Special Education classes who do not belong there. However, many school leaders are finding that, while they have money to fund Special Education, they do not have adequate dollars to provide a regular curriculum that covers the real needs of these students. This economic reality may, in fact, be a driving factor behind placing a child in Special Education.
There are not enough sources of additional dollars to give services to students who need help but are not really learning disabled. These students need services similar to those provided for special education. For example, the lower pupil/teacher ratio in special education classrooms is also important for the student who needs more support than can be given in a regular classroom. We need to ask questions about our schools' regular curriculum. How can the student get the extra attention and support without the stigma of being in Special Education? Where can we get funds to use for the development and implementation of programs specific to student needs?
As it stands, the Federal Government gives additional dollars to public schools for children who are identified, tested, and placed in Special Education. This allows a school district to hire special personnel to provide services. Sometimes this is indeed the best setting for your child to get help in the form of special experts to work with them.
You should know, however, that you can take your child out of Special Education at any time. If you do not believe that your child is making sufficient progress or if you have any other reason for being dissatisfied, your child can be removed from the Special Education program. Special Education should not be a final placement. There should be an exit plan developed at the same time as your child's Individualized Education Program is developed. This exit plan can be used to decide whether your child is making sufficient progress.
Parents should also know that there are sometimes disadvantages to getting Special Education services. If your district gives a Certificate of Completion instead of a high school Diploma to its Special Education students, you should understand what this can mean to your child in the future. A Certificate of Completion cannot be substituted for a Diploma for jobs with federal, state, or local governments, the Armed Forces, or for any commercial venture that requires a Diploma. This can cause severe problems for a young person looking for a job. Many parents do not know about this possible problem.
Parental Involvement
Parental involvement with a child's education is also a major issue of concern to Native American parents. There is some confusion about the term "parental involvement." Recent research about parental involvement in education has been interpreted to mean that parents should be involved with their children's schools. That's not what the research says. In fact, research says that parental interest and support of the child is the primary factor behind a child's success in school. The research also shows that a family's socio-economic status is not the primary reason for success.
Many school personnel are trying to improve student achievement by trying to get parents to come into the school. This can be helpful, but it may not make a significant difference. Parents must be interested in their children's education. This means talking to your children about school work, listening to them read, letting them know that school work is important, and helping with homework.
You are your child's first and best teacher. When children know that their parents care and are interested in them, their self-esteem and confidence levels rise. You child wants to do well so that you will be proud of him or her.
Staff Development
Yet another issue of concern in Native American education is that teachers and administrators need a far greater understanding of cultural differences, learning styles, and diversity. Native American children bring characteristics and values to the learning environment that should be acknowledged and affirmed, not eradicated. If teachers don't understand cultural differences, they can misinterpret children's behavior. This can cause simple interactions to turn into conflict and hurt feelings.
We cannot expect school personnel to do all the work in understanding our various Native cultures. We must build relationships between our tribal communities and the schools that serve those communities. This can help turn our schools into caring environments where our children can flourish. The schools cannot do it without our help.
We have the chance now to sit on planning committees at our schools. If your school district gets Federal funds designated for Native American children, the district is required to include parents in part of the planning for how to use those dollars. Call your local school and volunteer to be on the parent committee. One of the issues that can be explored on the committee could be whether this money can be used for programs which would provide better alternatives than placing children in Special Education classes.
Higher Education
Native Americans must also be concerned about increasing the numbers of Native American students who graduate from high school and college. According to the 1995 edition of the American Indian Digest, only 52% of Native Americans graduate from high school; 17% attend college; 4% graduate from college; and 2% attend graduate school.
It is imperative that we do better. We need successful Native Americans to be models to give hope and encouragement to our youth. We must have new skills and knowledge to carry our Nations forward in economic growth and prosperity. We also deserve the opportunity to realize our dreams and potential as individuals.
It will take new ways of working and collaborating to improve our rate of college completion. Some positive actions we can take are:
Find mentors for our young people in high school and college.
There is much work to be done. No one can do it for us. Perhaps we can join together and share information on strategies to improve education for all Native American people in our State.
If you are interested in helping to form a Native American Educational Coalition, please contact Bonnie Bostrom, Chief of Education, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, 2 Matt's Path, P.O. Box 3060, Mashantucket CT 06339. You also can call 860-572-6252.