Journal of American Indian Education
Abstracts — 1992

#471
DROPPING OUT AMONG AMERICAN INDIANS AND ALASKA NATIVES: A REVIEW OF STUDIES
Karen Swisher; Michelle Hoisch Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 3-23, Jan. 1992

Over the past two years, the Center for Indian Education at Arizona State University has completed two studies examining the dropout rate among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in grades K-12. The first, "American Indian/Alaska Native Dropout Study - 1991" examined the data available on the dropout rate nationwide for AI/AN students. The second study, sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, focused on the dropout and transfer rate of students in schools within the BIA system only. Both studies included an examination of previous research which had been published pertinent to the AI/An dropout issue. This article combines the literature discussed in both studies and presents it as a unified review of the literature. The issues of dropout rates, the reasons given for why students drop out, student transfer are all explored.

#472
CONSTRUCTING FAILURE AND MAINTAINING CULTURAL IDENTITY: NAVAJO AND UTE SCHOOL LEAVERS
Donna Deyhle Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 24-47, Jan. 1992

A seven year ethnographic study of Navajo and Ute youth in a border reservation community analyzed such issues as leaving school, race relations, academic achievement, and culture change within the context of school and community. Data presented are from 179 dropout questionnaires, a data base of 1,489 youth tracked over a 10 year period, several hundred ethnographic interviews, and observations in schools and communities. Culturally specific factors were important in understanding why many Navajo and Ute youth left school. These included: (1) racial and economic relations in the community and school; (2) home child-rearing patterns of non-interference and early adulthood; and (3) cultural integrity and resistance.

#473
THE NAVAJO AREA STUDENT DROPOUT STUDY: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS
Elizabeth A. Brandt Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 48-63, Jan. 1992

The study was designed to answer some fundamental questions about Navajo student dropout: who drops out, how many, for what reasons, how can better data be obtained, how can students be tracked, and what can be done about the problem? Lack of comparable data across schools and districts made determination of the actual dropout rate very difficult. The study found an estimated overall dropout rate of 31% with a transfer rate of 30%. The dropout phenomenon is complex, multicausal, and can only be helped with an approach that brings together schools, families, students, and communities.

#474
THE AMERICAN INDIAN FEMALE DROPOUT
Ardy Bowker Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 3-20, May 1992

Among the most serious problems confronting American Indian educators and tribal groups is that Indian children achieve the lowest educational level in school and have the highest dropout rate among all ethnic minority groups in the country. Current statistics suggest that 50% of the American Indian students currently in school will not graduate. Estimates further indicate that American Indian females have an 8% to 10% higher dropout rate than Indian males. This article reports the results of a two-year study conducted with 991 Indian females from seven Northern Plains tribal groups, five reservations, and three states. The purpose of the study was twofold: (1) to identify the factors which contribute to the educational success of American Indian females, and (2) to identify the factors which contribute to the lack of educational success for American Indian females.

#475
IS CULTURAL DISCONTINUITY AN ADEQUATE EXPLANATION FOR DROPPING OUT?
Susan Ledlow Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 21-36, May 1992

In light of the current anthropological debate on minority student schooling, this paper examined one major issue of concern in American Indian education, namely the high dropout rate for American Indian high school students. In this article it is hypothesized that much of the literature on American Indian dropouts treat the significance of cultural discontinuity between home and school as a basis for explaining the high dropout rate with little or no explicit research to prove the hypothesis. Discussion of the anthropological debate on cultural discontinuity, vis-a-vis structural determinants of schooling, further indicates how even proper application of culturally relevant curricula and pedagogy may have only limited value, and that further research from a macrostructural perspective is needed to adequately describe and ultimately explain American Indian student attrition.

#476
AMERICAN INDIANS OUT OF SCHOOL. A REVIEW OF SCHOOL-BASED CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS
Jon Reyhner Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 37-56, May 1992

American Indian students leave high school without graduating at over twice the rate of Euro-American students. The extent of the Indian student dropout problem is examined along with the theory that minority-culture students drop out of school more frequently than dominant-culture students because of cultural differences between home and school. Based on the theoretical framework of cultural discontinuity between home and school, Indian and non-Indian dropout research, plus testimony from Indian Nations at Risk Task Force hearings, seven school-based reasons are identified that push Indian students out of school. These seven reasons are large schools, uncaring/untrained teachers, passive teaching methods, inappropriate curriculum, inappropriate testing/student retention, tracked classes, and lack of parent involvement. Recommendations are made for each of the seven areas as to how schools can be changed to improve the quality of Indian education so that more Indian students will graduate from high school and more will go on to college.

#477
INSERVICE ACTIVITY THAT EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CULTURE IN TEACHING SCHOOL SCIENCE
Gerry Haukoos; Dorothy LeBeau Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 1-11, Oct. 1992

While changes have been occurring in science and science teaching across the continent, there is little evidence that culture and science are being integrated to better serve non-European Americans. This is a report that demonstrates an attempt to integrate science and culture at the Math and Science Institute for teachers of American Indian children sponsored by the Office of Indian Education Programs. One hundred and fifty-four teachers from 23 American Indian nations participated in an institute that emphasized (1) increased integration of science and culture, (2) decreased content/teacher-centered instructional strategies, and (3) increased hands-on/student-centered instructional strategies. Statistically significant changes occurred in each category when contrasted with overall and other assessment categories.

#478
EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES IN TWO NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICAN INDIAN MISSION SCHOOLS
Karen K. McKellips Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 12-20, Oct 1992

This article reports educational practices in two American Indian mission schools as described in a late Nineteenth Century newspaper published near the Cheyenne-Arapaho Agency in Indian Territory. News items, articles, and editorials in the "Cheyenne Transporter" have been analyzed in an attempt to provide clues to conditions and methodology within the schools and to the attitude of the editor toward the proper role of such schools in "Americanizing" the American Indian.

#479
A SURVEY OF AMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE STUDENTS: PERCEPTIONS TOWARD THEIR STUDY SKILLS/COLLEGE LIFE
John J. Hoover; Cecelia C. Jacobs Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 21-29, Oct 1992

This study assesses American Indian college student's perceptions toward four areas critical to the successful completion of college. These include perceptions toward: (1) high school preparation; (2) quality of college course instruction; (3) personal views toward attending college; and (4) study skill abilities. An 80% response rate was obtained, and results reveal slightly positive perceptions toward college life and study skills abilities. Less than positive perceptions are found for counseling and career guidance in high school. Also, students had significantly lower perceptions toward their study skill abilities than they did toward their college course instruction and personal feelings toward attending college. Recommendations related to these results are provided.

#480
AMERICAN INDIAN CULTURES AND SCHOOL SUCCESS
Jon Reyhner Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 30-39, Oct. 1992

This article is a response to an earlier "Journal of American Indian Education" article by Glen Latham advocating an assimilationist approach to improving American Indian education based on a series of visits to Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools. First, the author argues that Latham's 13 recommendations to improve BIA schools are based on an ethnocentric, dominant-culture viewpoint that ignores the history of Indian education, past studies of Indian education, and current research on bilingual and multicultural education. Second, he reviews relevant research that recommends reducing the cultural discontinuity between Indian communities and schools through the utilization of better teaching practices based on Indian and bilingual education research. Third, he describes a successful Indian school at Rock Point, Arizona that refutes Latham's recommendations. Finally, the author shows that the recent work of the Indian Nations at Risk Task Force on Indian education and the White House Conference on Indian education points to a more culturally pluralistic approach to Indian education than the one Latham advocated.