Journal Home
 

Volume 33 1993 Contents

  • Issue 1 Fall 1993
    • INSTRUCTIONAL PREFERENCES OF CREE, INUIT, AND MOHAWK TEACHERS
      Lynn McAlpine; Donald M. Taylor[pp. 1-20]
      This study investigated the teaching style preferences of Cree, Inuit, and Mohawk teachers. The results substantiate that mainstream and aboriginal teachers share a number of teaching preferences. Nevertheless, distinctions can be made 1) between mainstream and aboriginal teachers and 2) across aboriginal groups. Confirmation of these differences in teaching preferences provides further evidence of the ways in which aboriginal teachers transform their class-rooms away from mainstream patterns towards instructional preferences which may better meet the needs of their students. Of greater significance, the differences across groups highlights the importance of attention to local social and educational factors in understanding the preferences that guide teachers in their classrooms.

    • INCREASING THE RETENTION OF AMERICAN INDIAN STUDENTS IN PROFES-SIONAL PROGRAMS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
      Donald S. Tate; Charles L. Schwartz [pp. 21-31]
      Research literature to date has not documented the barriers American Indian students face over the course of their graduate and undergraduate education while in professional programs such as Social Work, Medicine, Law, and Nursing. To increase the knowledge base surrounding this population, a national survey of 84 American Indian Social Work students was conducted to ascertain the main factors associated with difficulties in student retention. Results indicate that three factors emerged as posing the most difficulty for students in professional Social Work programs: difficulties in acculturation, problems associated with being a non-traditional student, and the presence of faculty support. Although the study only focused on American Indian Social Work students, the results have implications for other professional programs that are trying to increase the success of the American Indian student in their programs. Suggestions for programs that address the concerns of the American Indian student are discussed.

    • THE RAVEN MATRICES AND NAVAJO CHILDREN: NORMATIVE CHARACTERIS-TICS AND CULTURE FAIR APPLICATION TO ISSUES OF INTELLIGENCE, GIFTEDNESS, AND ACADEMIC PROFICIENCY
      Jim MacAvoy; Stephanie Orr; Craig Sidles [pp. 32-43]
      Navajo students attending grades 2 through 12 in the Flagstaff Unified School District #1 were assessed using the Raven Coloured and Standard Progressive Matrices. Analysis of normative data compiled for this large scale student population suggests that the Raven Matrices are developmentally sensitive measures that have limited application to gifted populations because of score ceiling considerations. The Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices (RCPM) was found to be appropriate for use through grade 2 and the Raven Standard Pro-gressive Matrices (RSPM) from grades 3 through 9 when assessing giftedness for Navajo students attending school "on" and "off" the reservation. Correlational analyses revealed positive correlations between the Raven Matrices and group achievement measures with higher levels of concordance noted with the RSPM and secondary students than for the RCPM with elementary populations. Gender comparisons of Raven performance revealed significantly higher RCPM scores by males at the elementary level but equivalent RSPM scores for female and male students at the secondary level. Further comparative analyses revealed a significantly higher RCPM and RSPM performance for Navajo students attending Leupp School on the Navajo reservation than for their Navajo counterparts attending schools in the City of Flagstaff.

     

  • Issue 2 Winter 1994

    • TOWARD TRUE NATIVE EDUCATION: A TREATY OF 1992. Final Report of the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force Draft 3
      G. Mike Charleston [pp. 1-23]
      This manuscript was the culmination of G. Mike Charleston's work as Project Director for the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force, established by the U.S. Secretary of Education. Written and presented as a final draft report of the project, it was never published by the United States Department of Education. Through strong and often harsh rhetoric, Dr. Charleston portrays the urgency expressed by the voices of hundred of Indian people who met and spoke with the Task Force concerning the need for change in Indian education. It is published here in its entirety to offer hope and inspiration to those committed to such change and to stand as a tribute to Dr. Charleston's passionate commitment to the critical issues in Indian education until his passing in March of 1993.

     

  • Issue 3 Spring 1994

    • THE FOUNDING OF CIULISTET: ONE TEACHER'S JOURNEY
      Esther A. Ilutsik [pp. 6-13]
      In this autobiographical account, the author describes her development as a learner and a teacher - roles which are intertwined and which, especially for indigenous educators, also are infused with issues of cultural identity and the role of culture in schooling and teaching. This personal history is then used as a foundation to discuss a Yup'ik teacher-leader group, the Ciulistet, in which Yup'ik teachers are studying how their tacit and explicit cultural knowledge can be used in the classroom. The Ciulistet continues to examine everyday experience, with the ultimate goal of transforming the conditions of learning and teaching for Alaska Native people today.

    • CULTURALLY NEGOTIATED SCHOOLING: TOWARD A YUP'IK MATHEMATICS
      Jerry Lipka [pp. 14-30]
      This paper describes one aspect of a long-term collaboration between the author and a Yup'ik teachers' research group, Ciulistet, focusing on the processes and development of Yup'ik culturally based mathematics. The premise behind this work is that the Yup'ik language, culture, and worldview, particularly subsistence activities, contain mathematical concepts. The concepts include a number system that is base 20 and sub-base 5, and ways of measuring and visualizing. This has direct applications to school math. However, just as important, the project participants are increasingly realizing the potential of using their culture and language as a means to change the culture of schooling.

    • SAAD KAAKIH BEE'ENOOTIILJI NA'ALKAA: RESTRUCTURING THE TEACHING OF LANGUAGE AND LITERACY IN A NAVAJO COMMUNITY SCHOOL
      Galena Sells Dick; Dan W. Estell; Teresa L. McCarty [pp. 31-46]
      In formulations of school improvement and change, teachers all too frequently are positioned as the passive recipients of top-down curricular mandates. This is especially problematic in indigenous settings when school administrators are imported from outside the community. Here we describe one school change effort in which those relations are being reversed, as Navajo bilingual teachers take charge of pedagogical transformation. Especially significant are the ways in which teachers use their own language and culture resources to create classroom environments in which students can do the same. The process and mechanisms for these types of change are related to larger issues of bilingual/bicultural/biliteracy education in indigenous schools.

    • CRITICAL LITERACY FOR NAVAJO AND OTHER AMERICAN INDIAN LEARNERS
      Daniel McLaughlin [pp. 47-59]
      In explaining the low achievement levels of American Indian and other minority learners, most educational theorists hold one of three views: that students themselves are deficient; that schools are ineffectively organized; or that home-school cultural differences produce missed opportunities for academic achievement. Here a fourth view derived from critical theory is advanced. It is argued that Navajo and other American Indian students succeed to the extent that schools reverse relations of power and domination that characterize dominant and minority groups as a whole. A model for literacy program development is discussed which operationalizes critical notions of language, empowerment, and voice.

    • SYNTHESIS AND DISCUSSION - VITALITY, VERSATILITY, STABILITY: CONDITIONS FOR COLLABORATIVE CHANGE
      Nancy H. Hornberger[pp. 60-63
      This article is a synthesis by Dr. Hornberger, who relates each of the cases to her work with Quechua-speaking communities in Peru. With over 10 million speakers, Quechua offers a contrast as well as many parallels to Yup'ik, Navajo, and other indigenous North American language groups. In drawing these comparisons, she argues that three ingredients are essential to sustained and lasting improvements in indigenous schooling: a vital native language valued by the community, bilingual personnel who take the lead in effecting change in their schools, and a stable setting within which change can be nurtured.
    * Page numbers refer to location in the original published version of the article.

[    home       |       volumes       |       editor       |       submit       |       subscribe       |       search     ]