Volume 11 Number 1
October 1971

NAVAJO Area Education moved forward on all fronts during the 1970-71 school year, stressing a bicultural, and, in some instances, a bilingual program that holds great promise for further educational strides. The year was marked by the growing power and influence of Navajo school boards and the concomitant increased participation by Navajo parents in the school program.

School boards are in operation at all of the BIA schools on the Navajo Reservation. These boards have a considerable voice in determining school policy and personnel and serve as liaisons between the schools and the Navajo people. Since their inception a few years ago, the Navajo people have taken more interest in the educational program.

Dr. William J. Benham Jr., head of the Educational Division in the Navajo Area, noted that the BIA is constantly experimenting to improve the educational program.

"Much of the progress that has been made over the years has come through trying new ideas," Dr. Benham declared. "Some of the programs that we now employ were used in previous years, under other names, and sometimes employing different methods. But, over the years, we have always used all of the resources at our command to innovate and improve the education of Navajo children.

"The progress has been slow but, nevertheless, real," he added. "The Navajo people and the school employees serving them are to be commended for this progress," he noted.

During the year, school board members have undergone monthly training under a format devised by Wayne Pratt and Dr. Irving Stout, both of Arizona State University. And two of the schools, Rock Point and Borrego Pass, are presently studying the possibility of running their own schools under separate contracts with the federal government.

There has been considerable discussion about private contracting of schools in the Navajo Nation but it is impossible to say at this time how far this private contracting will go. As a corollary development to this new trend in Navajo education is a proposal to establish a Navajo Department of Education. At this point, establishment of such a department is in the proposed stage and would have to be approved by the Navajo Tribal Council.

The Navajo Tribal Education Committee, a standing committee of the council, works with the Division of Education and the Interagency School Board. The new Education Committee, recently appointed under the Peter MacDonald administration, is composed of John C. Martin, chairman; and members Guy Gorman, Harry Sloan, Robert Billie and George Platero. This committee plays the leading role in determining the goals and direction for Navajo education.

Dr. Benham’s optimistic statements about Navajo education are reflected in recent figures which show that more than 90% of eligible school-age children are now in school, compared with about 50% 20 years ago, and that the "drop out" rate among Navajo high school students is actually lower than that among the general population. A study made by the Southwestern Regional Laboratory in Albuquerque showed that for grades 9 through 12 the Navajo drop-out rate was 20.5% compared with the national average of 22.7%.

This indicates, of course, that more Navajo students are finishing high school. And these figures are reflected in the number of Navajo students in college. During the year, a total of 1,321 students were in various colleges and universities on BIA grants and Navajo tribal scholarships. In the coming year—in a reversal of past practices—it has been proposed that the BIA handle grants to undergraduate students and the Navajo Tribe handle grants to graduate students, to the extent possible.

Bilingual-bicultural kindergartens were established in the Navajo Nation three years ago. During the past year, there were 44 kindergartens, of which six were bilingual-bicultural following structured, sequential materials developed by Dr. Muriel Saville of the University of Texas. In these kindergartens, initial learning is in the Navajo language. As the children adjust to school, oral English is introduced gradually, but Navajo will continue to be the language of instruction.

These kindergartens—along with four bilingual-biculturaI first grades, which were begun last September—have not been in operation long enough to determine their full worth. But the teachers are convinced that such education gives the five-year-old Navajo children a greater sense of security; a relation with their own culture and environment and a bridge to cross between the Navajo and English languages.

Another program holding great promise in learning English is CITE (Consultants In Teaching English), for beginner and first grades. These materials were developed by Dr. Robert D. Wilson, a noted linguist from the University of California at Los Angeles, who is a native of the Philippines. Dr. Wilson had to learn a second language when he came to this country as his native language was Tagalog.

The goal of CITE, as defined by Dr. Wilson, is to make the children effective bilinguals, without depriving them of the identification and security of their first language and the culture it embodies.

The CITE program was piloted during the 1970-71 year with 20 beginner teacher and teacher-aide teams and seven first-grade teams.

Navajo Area schools continue to use Fries-Rojas English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) materials, which were established in all of the schools several years ago. This is a linguistic system of teaching English to non-English speakers and was first used in Miami, Florida, with Spanish-speaking children. It was adapted for use with Navajo children a few years ago after being introduced through the Shiprock Agency.

The area has a few programs for mentally-retarded or emotionally disturbed pupils, as well as an accelerated program for students with high IQs. But special education programs are limited due to lack of funds for other than the regular educational program.

The accelerated class is at Chuska, a demonstration school, and contains students from various parts of the reservation. Most of these students have IQs of at least 125. Generally speaking, they follow a course of study that permits them to advance at their own pace. Field trips are much a part of this program and the high point of the year for these students was a visit to southern California.

A program for physically-handicapped students is in operation at Crownpoint Boarding School, where some 2,500 children were screened for hearing loss. A special class contains students with hearing defects.

Special education on the Navajo Reservation was pioneered six years ago at Teecnospos, in the Shiprock Agency, where a group of students, after testing, were placed in special classes. These classes continue there, as well as self-contained special education classes at Toadlena, Low Mountain, Tuba City and Many Farms Elementary School.

Such materials as "White Horse," "Willow Woman’s Family," "The Quest for the Four Parrots," "When I Come to School," and "All About How Dennis Todacheeni Came to School," were developed by UNM under contract with BIA. This was done upon the recommendation of the Education Committee of the Navajo Tribal Council.

Title I of PL 89-10, which is designed to provide educational enrichment programs for educationally-deprived children, has played a major role in the Navajo Area Education program for several years. During the 1970-71 year, some $4,250,000 (M) was received under Title I, and the area expects more than $5 million for the next school year.

Some 80 different programs were funded under Title I during the past year, including remedial reading, bilingual aides for beginner classes, special education projects and field trips. During the year, many Navajo children visited a distant city for the first time.

The guidance program (the dormitory phase of the education program) was aimed at strengthening home living, counseling and student activities programs.

In Bureau schools, the guidance program is fully as important as academics, as life in the dormitory directly affects achievement in the classroom. Seeking to find ways to improve dormitory living, a model dormitory was established at Toyei Boarding School. Funded under Title I at a cost of $157,589 for the past year, this model dorm had 36 staff members to 154 beginner and first-grade students. This was an actual ratio of one staff member to every four children, and an on-duty ratio of 1-to-12. This is an ideal situation, allowing each child to receive special attention. Aimed at smoothing the child’s adjustment to dormitory living, the model dorm program also involves the parents in the overall program.

The food program in the Navajo Area continued to be outstanding. A study by the National Clearing House for Nutrition and Health showed that Navajo boarding school students are better fed than most children in the United States, receiving a balanced, high-protein diet.

The agency’s report to the U. S. Public Health Service said: "Boarding school children in age group 6-16 had the best bio-chemical levels of any of the population we have studied in the national nutrition survey. In general, this age group has shown the highest rate of low values for Vitamin A, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and for the urinary excretion of thiamine and riboflavin."

Other projects in operation during the year included:

• Special program for pregnant, unwed school-age girls at Toyei Boarding School.
• Teacher Corps units at Dilcon, Toyei, Chuska-Tohatchi and Greasewood.
• Students from five colleges served as "guest workers" in area schools. They came from Defiance College in Ohio, Fort Lewis College in Colorado, Central Methodist College in Missouri, San Francisco State College and Loretto Heights College in Denver.
• Dilcon, Teeenospos and Wingate High School were recipients of the services of practice teachers from three colleges, Northern Arizona University, Fort Lewis College and the University of New Mexico.

Navajo Area teachers were kept abreast of rapidly-changing innovations in education through intensive, year-round training. This training included the annual orientation for new teachers, who are recruited from throughout the country; and training throughout the year in all of the disciplines in which the area is engaged.