Volume 1 Number 3
May 1962

C. M. Charles

Assistant Professor of Education

San Diego State College

About 75% of all Indian students who enter the University of New Mexico drop out of school before completing degrees. Of those who do obtain degrees, the majority are at some time placed on academic probation. In terms of innate learning ability, these students are not inferior to their more successful Anglo counterparts. However, certain factors, believed by many authorities to be inter-cultural differences of various sorts, have resulted in marked academic retardation in those areas which require a high degree of facility in English.

In an attempt to improve the Indian's prospects for success at the University of New Mexico, a tutoring-counseling project (see Note 1) for Indian students was set up in the College of Education. This project was designed to take the form of individual tutoring-counseling sessions in which students were to receive instructional aid in the efficient use of time, in the development of desirable study skills, and in the improvement of general language usage, especially in the area of reading. A highly emphasized aspect of the program was to be the building and maintenance of student morale through encouragement and tangible evidence of improvement.

Personnel and facilities. A graduate research assistant was appointed by the director to work with students requesting help. An office with two desks and a table was made available for use as a conference and work area. A tape recorder, three SRA Reading Laboratories, and various other materials to be used by students in the areas of reading and spelling were placed there permanently.

Participants. Participation in the program was voluntary. Details of the program were made known to Indian students on the campus. All who were interested were invited and encouraged to participate.

Nine students requested help soon after the beginning of the fall semester. These students were interviewed individually, and schedules for regular sessions with the tutor-counselor were set up. Seven of these students subsequently attended appointments as scheduled. One student stopped attending after the third. Six new students participated in the spring semester.

Each individual's program was developed in terms of (1) needs of which he was aware and (2) specific weaknesses revealed by testing. Expressed needs included one or more of the following: reading speed, spelling competence, vocabulary enlargement, help in special course work, help in oral and written expression, and help in improvement of study skills.

Richard is a Navaho student who, at the time of initial contact with the tutor-counselor, was classified as a sophomore even though he had been attending the University for two-and-one-half years. Richard was a student greatly in need of remedial instruction. His scores on the college entrance exams revealed the typical language problem which confronts the majority of, Indian college students. That is, while he scored in the 5^th stanine on the quantitative portion of the ACE, he scored in the 1^st stanine on the language portion. He scored in the 6^th and 5^th stanines on the two sections of the math lest used, but only in the 2^nd stanine on the reading test. His total English score fell in the 2^nd stanine.

Richard showed promise of becoming the first Indian student to succeed in the College of Engineering. However, in four separate attempts he had failed to pass the English Proficiency Exam necessary for official admission to the College of Engineering, and he was faced with the necessity of dropping out of school because his time limit for remaining in the University College was being reached.

Richard judged that his weakest areas on the English Proficiency Exam were reading comprehension and vocabulary. He was given the Diagnostic Reading Test, Survey Section, and on the vocabulary portion his score fell in the 22^nd percentile for college freshmen. His comprehension fell in the 43^rd percentile. However, all three separate trials his speed of reading (lid not exceed 150 words per minute on material written at the seventh grade level of difficulty. He was also given the New Standard Vocabulary Test, and his score fell in the 35^th percentile for high school seniors.

Richard and the tutor-counselor came to the joint conclusion that lie could best profit from an intensive program of vocabulary development along with instruction in general reading skills.

The SRA Reading Laboratory was used extensively in working with Richard. His performance on the starting test indicated that he could profit most from working with material in the Secondary Lab at the sixth-grade level of difficulty. He completed three Power Builders per week. By the end of the spring semester he had successfully gone through materials at both the sixth and seventh grade levels of difficulty.

In addition to the SRA exercises the tutor-counselor provided vocabulary building lessons from other sources, including textbook material from courses in which Richard was enrolled. Work was also done to improve rate of comprehension. Little stress was placed on formal grammar as such, but Richard wrote numerous compositions using words being studied and helped the tutor-counselor evaluate them.

Richard was characterized by good learning ability and high motivation, two factors of considerable importance in making rapid progress. Therefore, it was not surprising that he succeeded in passing the English Proficiency Exam at the end of the spring semester. His speed of reading rose to a consistent 350 words per minute with 90 per cent comprehension in light reading material. His academic load included two courses in physics, two in engineering, one in math, and one in English. His final semester grades in these courses were five C's and one D. He became eligible to enter the College of Engineering, and it is possible that he will be the first Indian student to obtain a degree from that college at the University of New Mexico.

The results of the fall semester tutoring-counseling program are evaluated on the bases of student reactions, semester grades, and number of student drop-outs from the University.

Only one student of the total group dropped out of school at the end of the fall semester. This particular student obtained a grade-point average of .60, with two Cs and two Ds.

Of the six new students who participated during the spring semester, five attended sessions regularly. In the judgment of the tutor-counselor, the student who did not attend regularly did not possess the learning ability necessary to succeed in college. He received a grade of F for each of the five classes in which he was enrolled. Grades made by the five students who did attend regularly included one A, three Bs, 21 Cs, two Ds, and two Fs. Their combined grade-point average was slightly in excess of 1.00, which corresponds to a C average.

As previously stated, work was so structured as to attempt to remedy areas of weakness recognized by the students. Recognized needs, however, were not always in accord with the needs revealed by diagnostic and survey tests. For example, almost all students felt that their primary need was to improve speed of reading. In most cases speed of line coverage was not the basic problem encountered by the students in reading college materials. Improvement in comprehension and enlargement of functional vocabulary were, in the opinion of the tutor-counselor, of greater concern and in need of greater emphasis.

Several of the students were reluctant to receive tutoring in developmental reading skills even though they apparently recognized the necessity for learning to read better. When this appeared to be the case with individual students, lessons in vocabulary improvement, word attack skills, and comprehension improvement were included inconspicuously in each student's program. By and large students were willing to do work at the appropriate levels in the SRA Labs.

The procedures followed and the results achieved provided insights into factors related to the academic success of Indian students at the college level. It appeared that active participation in the program resulted not only in some increment in basic skills, but also in improved morale, increased motivation, and a healthier outlook upon college in general.