Volume 37 1997 Contents
- Issue 1 Fall 1997
[click here for the full text]
[click here for the full text]
Linda Miller Cleary; Thomas Peacock[pp. 7-15]
There is a need for research findings to find their way into schools and classrooms in time to save children and languages and cultures. The paper reports the rationale of the authors of the book, Collected Wisdom: American Indian Education, for using stories to report the findings of their phenomenological (qualitative interview-based) study of 60 teachers of American Indian students, in order to close the gap between the reporting of research findings and the implementation into classroom practice.
[click here for the full text]
Susan Rae Banks [pp. 16-44]
Culturally relevant program planning and evaluation that meets the needs of young American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) children with special needs and their families is interwoven with, and contingent upon, the assessment practices that are utilized. Given the lack of empirical information and the critical need to address cultural issues in early childhood assessment for AI/AN populations, a descriptive study of current practices and the relationship to validity provided the basis for this investigation. Self-report questionnaire research approach was used to conduct this study. Questionnaires were completed by 20 parent/caregiver participants and 11 professional participants. Results showed gaps between recommended practices in early childhood service delivery and practices currently in use. Parent/caregiver and professional participants reported that the assessment process included a heavy reliance on traditional standardized norm-referenced instruments, and that testing was primarily conducted in school settings with limited parental involvement. Additionally, data showed that there were a number of reported practices and related perceptions for which responses given by parent/caregiver participants differed significantly from responses given by professional participants. Early intervention programs serving culturally/linguistically diverse learners must not embrace the downward extension of traditional testing practices. Therefore, the discussion focuses on contrasting current reported practices with “best practices” and provides recommendations to begin to bridge the gaps.
- COLLABORATION, RESEARCH AND CHANGE: MOTIVATIONAL INFLUENCES
ON AMERICAN INDIAN STUDENTS
[click here for the full text]
Henry T. Radda, Dawn Iwamoto, and Carolyn Patrick [pp.2-20]
This article reviews the development and initial work of a research project to study the motivational influences on students from two communities. The focus is on the collaboration between an American Indian reservation and a border town, where most of the children from the reservation attend school. Establishing working relationships between two communities, two leadership boards and many programs was paramount in order for the research to have impact. Discussion encompasses the characteristics of the communities, the process of working together, preliminary results of the quantitative phase with the American Indian students and the purpose of the seven year qualitative study. This paper is based on a presentation at the National Indian Education Association's 1997 conference in Tacoma, Washington. - CONDUCTING RESEARCH WITH AN URBAN AMERICAN INDIAN COMMUNITY:
A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH
[click here for the full text]
Priscilla A. Day, Elizabeth T. Blue, and Margaret Peake Raymond [pp. 21-33]
In 1996, a notable collaboration between tribal and urban Institutions of higher education was established to create systems change to benefit urban American Indian students. This piece describes community wide participation starting with a symposium in which a guiding vision statement was developed and priorities were established. The needs assessment process included a literature review, three community forum sessions and key informant surveys. It utilized knowledge and resources of the urban American Indian communities of concern, which resulted in their investment in the research. Data collected will be used to implement the project. - BOOK REVIEW - A Good Cherokee, A Good Anthropologist: Papers
in Honor of Robert K. Thomas. Edited by Steve Pavlik
[click here for the full text]
Octaviana V Trujillo [pp. 34-36]
- DISTANCE LEARNING IN INDIAN COUNTRY: BECOMING THE SPIDER ON
THE WEB
[click here for the full text]
John Sanchez; Mary E. Stuckey; and Richard Morris [pp. 1-17]
The education of American Indians in the United States historically has been a tool of acculturation and assimilation. Recently, however, new technologies offer new alternatives and new possibilities to tribal communities. This essay examines the potential uses of distance learning for maintaining and sustaining American Indian tribal communities within the United States while allowing access to the information and skills that allow members of those communities employment opportunities within the dominant society and its economy. It includes a brief examination of distance education in general, a discussion of traditional education in tribal contexts, some elaboration of that theme as it pertains to tribal uses of distance education technology, and an analysis of the potential outcomes and consequences of these practices. - LOCAL NAVAJO NORMS FOR THE WECHSLER INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR
CHILDREN -THIRD EDITION
[click here for the full text]
Phyllis Tempest [pp. 18-30]
This project was designed to develop Navajo Norms for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III) in the Gallup McKinley County Schools (GMCS), New Mexico and to examine the differences of the Navajo students' WISC-III profiles (subtest scores) in regard to language proficiency and residency (urban or county). A stratified random sample of 334 Navajo students from 18 elementary schools in GMCS were tested with the WISC-III and The Gallup Language Proficiency Report, a language proficiency instrument designed by the GMCS Speech Therapists. Significance tests comparing means by location of the school and level of English proficiency were calculated using the t-test. Urban Navajo students have higher WISC-III Verbal scores than those Navajo students who live in the county. Navajo students who are proficient in English have higher WISC-III Verbal scores than those Navajo students who are functional in English. There are three Performance subtests (Coding, Block Design, and Mazes) that do not have a verbal overlay; the Navajo students who were proficient in English and the Navajo students who were functional in English scored equally well in these subtests. The Navajo norms for the WISC-III are an additional tool to help separate language and/or cultural differences from learning difficulties; the Navajo norms are used in conjunction with the Standard Norms. Navajo norms are a part of bicultural services. - IS IMMERSION THE KEY TO
LANGUAGE RENEWAL?
[click here for the full text]
David H. DeJong [pp. 31-46]
This article reviews the literature to determine the importance of immersion in language restoration (or preservation). The author argues that a new paradigm is needed to halt the decline in the number of Native Americans speaking their aboriginal tongue. The primary focus centers on displacing misperceptions related to language immersion that may inhibit an Indian community from implementing such a program. It stresses the advantages of immersion, both to language reacquisition and in fostering advanced cognitive and academic skills in both the primary (English) and target (Native) language. The author reviews the success of other Indian nations in retaining (or restoring) their native language and concludes that if nothing is done additional Native American languages will become extinct in the next century.
* Page numbers refer to location in the original published version of the article.
