Susanna A. Hayes

The history of the Lummi Tribal School has its origins in the people's wish to provide their children with an educational program that reflects Lummi's unique cultural heritage and contemporary values. During the 1960s and 70s, less than 25% of Lummi students were completing high school. Tribal education goals were largely unmet (Stein, 1975). As other tribes were experimenting with independent educational programs in the 1960s, the Lummi tribe was carefully studying their options. Non-Indian dominated public and private schools or distant Indian boarding schools did not meet the needs of many tribal members.

Education has always been a crucial issue in the development of the Lummi people. While pre-contact children learned in the context of extended family life, post-contact generations have been expected to adapt to formalized schooling (Nugent, 1977). The responsibility for helping to bridge this cultural and social gap has fallen to the tribal leaders. Knowing their people, their values and needs, the leaders negotiated educational services with agencies such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs, local school districts, and private educators representing religious groups.

As is the case with other Indian tribes of the Western United States, it is important to recognize the progression of events that brought the Lummi people into a consolidated, autonomously governed unit recognized by the United States government. Their ability to plan for current and future generations has been defined by complex relationships with Federal, state, and local agencies. Because it is often seen as a means of bridging cultural differences, education has been a critical part of the negotiations between the Tribe and the non-Indian governments.

After the signing of the Point Elliot Treaty in 1855, the Lummi people continued to live very much as they had before the treaty (Nugent, 1979). There were no reasons to do otherwise. However, between the years of 1890 and 1920, the non-Indian population in Western Washington increased at a rapid rate. As a result, the Tribe suffered serious losses of primary life supporting resources. Land and fishing rights that had been unchallenged were now subjected to relentless erosion.

The non-Indian population in Whatcom County grew from 534 in 1870 to 18,192 in 1890. Census records for 1910 indicated the non-Indian population for the county had grown to 48,464 (Boxberger, 1986). By the 1940s, salmon runs in the traditional Lummi fishing areas were so seriously depleted, many tribal members could no longer rely on fishing for subsistence (Nugent, 1979).

Traditional forms of education were severely restricted due to social, economic, and political changes that were forced on the people (Tyler, 1964). Families were urged, if not required, to send their children away to boarding schools. The federal policy of "deculturalization" and "Christianization" of Native children was the educational philosophy for the curricula of those schools (Hayes, 1973). For the Lummi people, the Tulalip Boarding School at Tulalip, Washington was the closest Bureau of Indian Affairs school. Children from other tribes of the Puget Sound area were also sent to Tulalip (Interview, Isadore Tom, 1979).

The social and educational needs of the community were obvious. Many younger students in pre-teen and teen years refused to enter the local public middle school. Once they completed grade five, many dropped out of school (Interview, George Adams, 1978). With few educational outlets for their energy, these students wandered around the reservation looking for escapes from boredom. Parents and concerned tribal members worked for the development of an alternative middle school program. Public school administrators acknowledged the need and supported the tribe's proposal (Interview, George Adams, 1978).

In a building that once housed the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Lummi Day School, the Lummi Middle School found a home. A Lummi educator, George Adams, directed the school and developed a curriculum that included classes in Lummi language. Other Lummi and non-Lummi staff were hired in order to provide an academic program that included math, social studies, language arts, sciences and graphic arts. The students attended school on their reservation, and received credit from the public school. This was a first.

A short distance from the middle school, the tribe offered a well received pre-school and kindergarten program for children from age three. High birth rates, the lack of early childhood programs in the area, and the progress children made contributed to the popularity of the effort. Parents were included in the education of their children through the home based outreach. Emphasis was placed on the importance of a parent's role as the child's first educator (Interviews with Project Director, Madeline Jefferson, 1978). Training sessions on effective parenting and home teaching techniques were offered to those with children in the program.

Still another educational program brought adults together to study for their GED certificates. Adult Basic Education classes were also offered to enhance reading, math, and life coping skills. There were workshops on financial planning and preparing inexpensive but nutritious meals. These programs, all operating simultaneously, demonstrated that the education division of the tribe could administer a complex system. Students achieved educational successes, and the Lummi people had education options that were within their own social and geographic environment.

Federal grants were crucial to the existence of these programs. The tribe did not generate funds that adequately supported any of the program components (Interview, George Adams, 1978). When extensive cuts in educational appropriations occurred under the Reagan Administration, Title IV, B and C programs could not continue, To maintain the innovations of the 1970s, the tribe requested financial support from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

The request was granted and the Lummi Tribal School opened in the early 1980s. By the Fall of 1989 the enrollment was 119 students in grades kindergarten to eight. To preserve the adult education programs, the tribe sought and was granted a charter for the Lummi Community College on April 1, 1983 (Lummi Community College Catalogue, 1988-90). The college can be traced back to the Lummi Indian School of Aquaculture, a program that taught local Indians the fundamentals of marine biology and fishery management (Stein, 1975).

Members of the Tribal Business Council and tribal elders continually face the consequences of the under-education of their people. With the charter of the Lummi Community College came added challenges to identify and hire qualified Indian administrators and instructors. Courses in tribal language and arts are taught by Native instructors with demonstrated mastery of their subject area. Qualified Indian teachers for other subject areas are difficult to find (Interview, Wayne Siegel, 1987). However, the Community College represents a major achievement in the tribe's effort to create programs specifically designed for members of the Lummi and neighboring tribes.

There am several difficult questions tribal leaders are addressing. How can they attract qualified Native American educators to the reservation-based programs? How can they encourage capable Lummi youths to consider careers in education? How can they provide schooling that encompasses tribal values and traditions if most of the professionals hired are non-Indians?

No ready answers have been found for these questions. However, the Board of Education for the Lummi Tribal School have determined they will take an active role in both the hiring and evaluating of the professional and paraprofessional staff (Interview, Bernie Thomas, 1988). Until qualified Native American educators are hired, the board can select qualified non-Native persons who are able to work effectively with students and community members. Research has verified that positive relationships between students, community members, and teachers are critical to the educational success of Native American students (Kleinfeld, 1975).

The board of seven (7) persons elected by the community, recognize the potential limitations to local educational control and responsibility when their funding source is a large federal bureaucracy. However, staff selection and evaluation is one means of implementing formal and informal curricula that are in conformity with tribal goals.

At the start of the 1989-90 academic year the board sought assistance from Western Washington University to develop a comprehensive teacher evaluation plan. None of the members hold teacher or administrator certification. Therefore, open and effective communications with teachers about their professional role and performance was a sensitive issue. In addition to the personal and cultural differences between the board members and all but two teachers who are tribal members, there was concern for the ease and openness of communications between the faculty and community members.

The School Board wanted to employ teachers who would be aware of their important role in the lives of their students and the total community at Lummi. The basic rationale for teacher evaluation adopted by the board was based on the philosophy of Madeline Hunter. Essentially, the teacher is regarded as the critical activator of effective instruction (Duke & Stiggins, 1986). Positive teacher to student communications are crucial to instructional content and methods. The dialogues, the non-verbal messages are also critical aspects of the learning climate for both students and teachers.

Specific skills that support the teachers' instructional capabilities were adapted from the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (Covert, 1986). These included general educational skills like effective oral and written communications, making informational presentations that interest and engage students, and effective use of various teaching strategies, media, visual aids group activities. Skilled teachers are also expected to diagnose student needs teach prescriptively to those needs, and control inappropriate or disruptive student behaviors.

Other management aspects of teaching skills included being prepared and organized for the daily instructions. Effective teachers lead students in cooperative activities, express enthusiasm about learning and sharing, and are respectful of individual differences among students. Teachers are expected to have clearly identified goals for themselves and their students with high expectations of achievement. These teaching behaviors have been identified in studies of effective schools with high percentages of students from low income and minority backgrounds (Garcia, 1988).

In the Hunter model of effective teacher development, evaluators give teachers accurate feedback on their observations of classroom and instructional behaviors. Effective practices are discussed and reinforced. Teacher behaviors that need to be changed are also identified (Hunter, 1967). Prescribed remediation strategies are suggested to provide direction for the desired changes.

This phase of evaluation is obviously impacted by the quality of the interpersonal communications between the observers and the teachers. Common pressures such as continued employment, professional status, and promotion are part of most evaluations. However, in the case of the Lummi School, there is the added complexity of cross-cultural communications between board members and teachers.

Part of the overall evaluation plan developed with consultation from Western Washington University included training for the board as teacher evaluators. Given that one of the major goals of the tribal school was to provide an academic education that was comparable to any received in local public schools, teachers had to meet minimal requirements for state certification before they could be hired. As observers of classroom activities, board members needed to focus on the extent to which the teachers motivated students and presented subject matter that was both interesting and understandable.

In addition to the academic goals, the tribal school was regarded as a center of cultural formation for the students. Part of this goal could be achieved by the inclusion of community members in the school's daily work with students. Tribal members are the source of stories and legends that make up part of the Lummi culture. Effective teachers who are sensitive to the cultural values of the community would invite its members to share their knowledge and beliefs that are specifically Lummi.

Unlike other schools where students are usually prepared to become members of a wide variety of communities, Lummi students have only one community that is truly their own. Pride in their tribal identity, their extended family network, and their traditions need to be evident in their school.

The challenge to help students achieve all that the board proposes is difficult. Teachers are seldom well informed about Lummi history, culture or current conditions when they are hired. The large number of people living in poverty and experiencing related problems is often shocking to non-Indians (Stein, 1975). Non-Indian teachers need time to become educated about the people and their community. Often, staff turnover is frequent and does not allow time to learn about the more subtle aspects of life at Lummi.

Board members acknowledged that teachers are working with students who frequently lack family support for and involvement in education. When presented with the following list of variables that impact academic achievement, board members stated that a high percentage of their students were adversely affected by excessive alcohol use by family members and subsequent conditions of economic poverty.

The variables that impact academic achievement were:

Most teachers recognize how important this information is. However, when much of it is unknown, teachers are disadvantaged in terms of meeting specific needs or understanding some of the behaviors students exhibit. The board agreed that part of their feedback to teachers would include provision of community specific information that is difficult for non-Lummi teachers to obtain.

A major concern of parents, teachers, and board members is the discipline policy and practices at the Lummi school. This is an area of school relationships that clearly reflects teacher sensitivity (or lack of) to the socio-cultural norms of the local community. Teacher expectations of student behavior are usually extensions of their own socio-cultural values. Some of the issues critical to an effective discipline policy and a positive learning climate at Lummi are as follows

Student attendance and academic achievement are closely inter-related variables (Fuchs, 1970). However, Lummi values regarding schedules and clock-time can result in tardiness and/or absenteeism. Informal surveys of Lummi households indicate that many of them do not have or use alarm clocks. Many families living on the reservation are not oriented to the time systems that are common among non-Indians.

Culturally sensitive teachers know they must reward attendance through acknowledgement of the effort and cultural adjustment it requires of the students. Thanking children and parents for good attendance is an important means of reinforcing attendance. Scolding or reprimanding students for absenteeism negatively reinforces that behavior. From the student and parent perspectives, the quality of interaction with the teacher is more important than counting days or hours of attendance. The important message to the student is, you are valued and welcomed. You are needed here because of who you are and what you contribute to our school community.

While the teacher is the educational planner and leader in the classroom, the nature of the teacher-student and student-student relationship that is culturally acceptable is one of teamwork and cooperative interactions. Observations of Lummi family life reveal that children are granted a high level of autonomy in decision-making regarding their activities.

By contrast, non-Indian teachers are accustomed to giving students directions which they are expected to follow specifically. When students relate with adults in their community life as individuals who allow them freedom to make choices and teachers ask for conformity to processes or activities without exception, conflict results. This can obstruct participation in all aspects of learning. When teachers refer to severe discipline problems, they are usually acknowledging that they have failed to understand the social and intellectual needs of their students.

From the Lummi perspective, the child has learned to do what is of interest or meaning based on individual perceptions and priorities. Teachers who reprimand autonomous behavior are violating a cultural norm. Preferably, a teacher would be flexible, solicit the child's rationale for his/her choice, and use that as the basis for supporting the learning that takes place. The alternative is to offend the child, build negative tension into an important relationship, and inhibit learning.

The opportunity to build on the extended family values of the Lummi community is clearly presented in a school setting. Most of the children are related to each other. They know their lineage well. Incorporating the family histories of tribal members with the process of researching the history is one example of incorporating cultural content, academic discipline, and sensitivity to the personal reality of the students.

Teachers who can encourage students to relate what they know about their particular social and physical environment to general curricula topics can stimulate student interest and participation. The stories and legends of the tribe have been used in the early childhood and middle school experimental programs at Lummi. These stories come from family members. They have very clear personal/cultural value implications. Rather than reading these stories at literal levels or like another page in a basal reading program, the story can be read, discussed, dramatized, and shared with elders and community members as personal experiences.

Expanding on expressive language development, children can be encouraged to create stories of their own. This form of teaching allows for enhancement of academic discipline within a context that is specifically Lummi. Life on a saltwater peninsula in the Pacific Northwest is the context students know very well. If encouraged to express that knowledge verbally, write about it in a variety of forms, and dramatize it, a comprehensive cultural language arts program is created. Culturally sensitive teachers can provide students with opportunities to master the academic aspects of reading. However, the content of the language arts curriculum can be based on Lummi observations, experiences, traditions, and expressive conventions.

Examples of successful inclusion of cultural content with conventional academic discipline have been clearly demonstrated at the Lummi Early Childhood Education Center. Teachers invited a tribal elder, a grandmother of many children, to share her knowledge as an herbalist with the staff, parents, and students. The grandmother gathered local plant samples and brought them to the school for a session with the adults. Her manner of presentation was to relate some of her experiences as a child when her mother took her out to gather plants. The Lummi language name and English names were used for identification. Preparation and use of the plants as medicines was explained. The elder grandmother kept her presentation very clear and lively with her humorous stories.

The teachers recorded the presentation and also documented the factual content for future reference. They planned a presentation for the children that would bring them this special body of information shared by a person who knew them well. Plant textures, colors, root systems, shapes, sizes and locations were shared with the children. In a manner similar to her presentation to the adults, the grandmother shared her knowledge as a part of her life experiences.

As a way to thank their elder and to keep her information alive, the children and teachers developed a small book. Each page presented one of the plants they examined. Pages began with the phrase, "Grandma says," included a pertinent statement the children remembered, and an illustration. Multiple copies of the text were distributed and enjoyed.

This curriculum innovation integrated language arts, science, art, personal and tribal history. While this form of instruction requires considerable planning time and effort by the teachers, it enhances the children's and the community's involvement in learning. It emphasizes learning in the context of community relationship and service to each other. It also is consistent with the philosophical traditions of learning to appreciate nature and the spiritual relationship of human life with all other forms of life (Morris, Sather, & Scull, 1978).

If the Lummi board wants culturally developed curricula for their students, they have to ask for it and support community involvement in the developmental process. As part of, the board training, their role as educational policy leaders was stressed. This leadership role includes working with the faculty outside of classroom activities in planning sessions for, curricula reviews and updates. It also includes being in the classrooms as observers of the instructional processes and student-teacher relationships.

Since a tribal school is relatively new to the Lummi community, part of the transition the board needs to make is to realize they do have authority and power to direct policy and programs. The common policies of public schools have consistently placed Lummi input in the realm of, separately funded Indian programs. Parent Advisory Committees were mandated in the legislative component of the Johnson-O'Malley Act and the Indian Education Act.

True educational participation of tribal members in public education has been limited at best. This is a condition Lummi parents and leaders have endured for several generations. With the formation of the tribal school, the only limits are those which the tribal board chooses for themselves. This new role requires re-thinking the board's responsibilities and patterns of involvement. A high level commitment of time and energy is particularly required for effective staff evaluations.

Assisting the board in the development of their role as teacher evaluators is a sequential process. The initial steps included identifying the qualities of educational flexibility, and openness to cultural differences that are important for teachers of Lummi students. Another step involved preparing board members as non-participant observers of classroom instructional sessions. This included training on objective note taking. The notes provide the documentation needed for follow-up discussions.

Training on giving feedback to teachers is a critical aspect of developing positive rapport and clear communications between board members and teachers. It is the board member who is responsible for balancing the emotional elements of evaluation with factual observation notes. Keeping the personal/educational welfare of the children as a consistent theme allows the feedback process to remain positive, even when changes in teacher behaviors are recommended. However, pacing the feedback so that the meaning can be clarified and discussed is particularly important in crosscultural communications. Non-verbal messages are also critical to effective interaction.

Using a document of behavioral notes as the source of the discussion maintains a content and context of objectivity. Board members ate clearly power figures in their role as employers and evaluators. Teachers who are relatively inexperienced could be intimidated by board members' observations and feedback sessions. Setting a tone of supportive interest can help prevent heightened anxiety levels.

Being trained as evaluators can help the board members feel more confident and provide them with competencies they lacked in teacher evaluation processes. As with any human relations experience, the more the activity is carried on with the support of preparation, clarity of purpose, and openness of attitude and feeling, the more successful the evaluations become. As new board members in a newly developed training program, positive results will be realized if adequate support is offered in forms of regular and consistent feedback.

Despite the social, economic, and cultural changes that have been forced upon the Lummi people in the past century, the tribe has demonstrated the ability to work together to nurture their most valued resources, their children. In the past 25 years, the growth of tribally directed education has provided a comprehensive system that spans early childhood to college.

The experience of educational success is building further success. In a tribal school that began with only one certified teacher who acted as the program director, there are now two certified classroom teachers who are Lummi members. Tribal members are also taking positions of leadership at the newly founded Lummi Community College. All of this has been accomplished through careful planning and management of resources, popular support of tribal education, and commitment to the continuation of Lummi cultural values.

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