Volume 23 Number 3
May 1984

Arizona State University

The efforts and concerns of many Indian Education Leaders resulted in the establishment of the Indian Bilingual Education "Super Center." The National Indian Bilingual Center (NIBC) became a reality on October 1, 1983, when the Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Language Affairs awarded the Super Center contract to the Center for Indian Education at Arizona State University. Dr. John Tippeconnic is the Director of the Center for Indian Education. The purpose was to establish and operate a Multifunctional Service Center to provide training and technical assistance to the Indian Bilingual Education Title VII projects throughout a 13 state area. Identified as Service Area 16, the area includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming.

The 80 Indian Title VII projects within this nation-wide scope of responsibility include 19,300 students, kindergarten through twelfth grade. The students represent approximately 40 tribes and as many languages and come from 33 Reservations as well as large urban areas. The projects employ 600 Title VII staff members and serve 164 schools, including BIA, Public, Tribal Contract, Private, and parochial schools.

The National Indian Bilingual Center came about in response to the need for a Support Service Center which would address the specific and unique concerns of Indian Projects. The NIBC specifically was charged with the responsibility of providing training and technical assistance to projects in the areas of project management, documentation and evaluation. Additionally, NIBC was to foster Bilingual Education Capacity Building. This was to be accomplished also through training and technical assistance using a multiagency, multidistrict approach. This approach requires extensive efforts at planning, coordinating and cooperating in the delivery of service to the Indian Title VII projects. These efforts encompass the Local Education Agencies, the Tribes, the State Education Agencies, the Institutions of Higher Education, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other local, state, regional and federal agencies and organizations. Included in the long list are the regional Title IV Centers and the 7 other Multifunctional Service Centers whose areas of responsibility overlap Service Area 16.

A satellite system has been established to facilitate the delivery of services to the local projects. The Montana Satellite Center, coordinated by Mr. Barney Old Coyote (Crow) serves the states of Alaska, Montana, Washington and Wyoming. This Center is located at Montana State University at Bozeman, Montana.

The New Mexico Satellite Center, coordinated by Ms. Alice Neundorf (Navajo) is located at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. This Center serves the Title VII projects in New Mexico and the Navajo Title VII projects in Arizona and Utah.

The South Dakota Satellite, located at National College in Rapid City, South Dakota is coordinated by Mr. Don Allery, (Chippewa). This Satellite Center serves the states of Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

The Indian Title VII projects of California and the Non-Navajo Projects of Arizona and Utah are served by the Arizona Satellite, located at Arizona State University in Tempe. The Arizona Satellite is coordinated by Ms. Teresa McCarty.

Milo Kalectaca serves as the Director of NIBC. Training and technical assistance is coordinated by the respective Satellite Center Coordinators and by the NIBC-Field Service Coordinator, Dr. Sandra Johnson. Four specialists, located at the NIBC-ASU office provide training and technical assistance for the Projects. Ralph Honhongva (Hopi) is the Management and Computer Specialist and Ancita Benally (Navajo) serves as the Curriculum/Materials Development Specialist. The Resource Analyst, Radford Quamahongnewa (Hopi) is responsible for information input, retrieval and dissemination with the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. A position for a Research and Evaluation Specialist has not been filled at the time of this writing.

A Technical Advisory Council has been selected to assist the NIBC. These leaders in Indian Bilingual Education were selected because of their extensive skills and experience. The TAC members are: Lucille Watahomigie (Hualapai), Arizona Satellite; Agnes Holm (Navajo), New Mexico Satellite; Gay Kingman (Sioux), South Dakota Satellite; Martha Teeluk (Eskimo), Montana Satellite; and Agnes Cowen (Cherokee), TAC Member-at-Large.

Capacity Building for Bilingual Education is a major emphasis of the OBEMLA contract. Thus, the focus of the training and technical assistance is dualistic in nature. First, training and technical assistance must enhance the skills of project and LEA personnel to manage existing projects and to effectively teach Indian LEP children to improve their English proficiency and content area knowledge through bilingual approaches. Second, the training and technical assistance must contribute to the capacity and competencies of the LEA's to institutionalize and continue bilingual education if and when federal funds are no longer available. This focus then dictates a broad range of training and technical assistance activities across projects and throughout communities, requiring extensive multiagency, multidistrict coordination and cooperation. This coordination and cooperation touches all levels from the individual community member to the federal program offices in our nation's capitol.

The challenges of operating the National Indian Bilingual Center as the "Super Center" are great and the scope of work is broad. To accomplish the goals of the National Level program it will be necessary to have extensive interaction and coordination through the Service Area 16. The assistance and support of Indian Educators and Educators of Indian children will contribute substantially to the success of Indian Bilingual Education.