Journal of American Indian Education

Volume 6 Number 3
May 1967

A DEMONSTRATION IN NAVAHO EDUCATION

Thomas R. Reno

A graduate of Arizona State University, where he earned his B.A. and M.A. in Indian Education degrees, Thomas R. Reno was in the Peace Corps in Iran for two years. Following his tenure as deputy director of community services at the Rough Rock Navaho Demonstration School, Reno will be in Flint, Michigan, as the recipient of an $8,000 Fellowship from the Mott Foundation Inter-University Clinical Preparation Program for Educational Leadership.

Part One

Several years ago, Mr. Allen D. Yazzie, chairman of the Navaho Tribe Education Committee, and other tribal leaders discussed at length the needs of Indian education. They felt that many important areas of Indian education were being neglected in existing schools. The needs, as identified by the tribal leaders, included the following: meaningful school boards, cultural identification programs, community education and community development through the community school, Navaho language learning, home and school visits, guidance and counseling, and in-service training.

Mr. Yazzie followed up this meeting by contacting Dr. Robert A. Roessel, then director of the Indian Education Research Center at Arizona State University, Tempe. Dr. Roessel assisted Mr. Yazzie in putting into words these identified needs. The outcome was a formal research proposal.

At the same time, the Economic Opportunity Act was passed, providing funds for demonstration projects in so-called poverty areas. Mr. Yazzie, Dr. Roessel et al., presented their proposal to the Office of Economic Opportunity; the OEO felt that it would be significant to demonstrate these ideas about Indian education and community schools.

A Bureau of Indian Affairs school at Lukachukai, Arizona, was selected as the original site of the demonstration project. The Navaho Tribe was granted $214,300 for the operation of the project for one year—ending June 30, 1966.

Evaluation of the Lukachukai project showed some successes and some disappointments. Perhaps the biggest disappointment lay in the fact that the school board could not function as the tribe wished it to. Bureau of Indian Affairs schools are federal government schools and must abide by civil service regulations. The school board, therefore, could not do the hiring and firing and were forced to play less of a role than their interest and knowledge allowed.

The Navaho Tribe, the OEO, and the BIA still felt that the demonstration project warranted further investigation, and all three agencies exhibited interest in giving the demonstration a better chance for success. With this in mind, the BIA turned over to DINE, Inc., a non-profit, private organization of Navaho leaders created for just this purpose, a new $3 million school in one of the most remote and traditional areas of the reservation—Rough Rock, Arizona. Along with the school, the Bureau gave a $307,000 budget allotted for operation and the food supply for the year. In addition, the OEO granted $329,000 for intensive experimentation and demonstration in the following areas:

1. School-community relations and parental involvement

2. Cultural identification

3. Home and school visitation

4. Language development and teaching English as a second language

5. Navaho language learning

6. In-service training and staff orientation

7. Adult education

8. Dormitory living

9. Guidance and counseling

10. Auxiliary services:

a. Evaluation

b. Recreation

c. Art

d. Finances

e. Social worker

f. Library

 

The Rough Rock Demonstration School belongs entirely to the Navaho people, through the local school board and the Board of I Directors. BIA and OEO have turned over all funds to DINE, Inc. with "no strings attached." The local Board of Education operates the school and sets all broad policy.

The school recently completed its sixth month of operation. The half-year evaluation shows all areas Of involvement running well, a: and some rather revolutionary programs and policies in Indian education being extremely well demonstrated.

Part Two

Rough Rock Demonstration School is unique among Indian schools for several reasons:

1. The Navaho people are actively involved in the operation of the school.

a. The funds for the school have been assigned to the governing body, DINE, Inc. (Demonstration in Navaho Education), an all-Navaho group.

b. The policies of the school board are established by the all-Navajo school board, elected by the community, and the Board of Directors. In most other schools, school officials or other professional personnel establish policies and initiate activities, often without advising or consulting the community.

c. The school board meets with the chapter (local government unit) to discuss school affairs and holds regular school-community meetings to discuss school affairs and to work out school-community relations and projects.

d. Parents from the community work in the dormitories on a rotating basis, living there for four weeks, acting as foster parents and adult counselors to the boys and girls.

2. The school maintains close contact with the home.

a. Students are not only allowed but encouraged to go home for weekend visits as often as possible. In many schools, only one home visit a month is allowed on designated weekends.

b. Teachers visit the homes of their students to explain the school’s program and to discuss the child’s work. At least, four times a year, the teacher, accompanied by the child, goes to see the parents of each student.

c. Parents are encouraged to visit the school and classes at any time. In many Indian schools, the parents are not encouraged to visit the classroom since, it is thought, their presence detracts from the education of the child.

3. The cultural identification program makes Navaho culture a significant and integral part of the school program. In many Indian schools, students are directly or indirectly pressured into giving up their Navaho cultural heritage. At Rough Rock, where a "Both-And" approach is used, students are exposed to important and helpful values and customs of both Navaho culture and the dominant Anglo society.

a. There is instruction in the Navaho language.

b. Students are taught Navaho history in both the classrooms and the dormitories.

c. Formal instructional sessions, as well as informal conversations with dormitory parents, acquaint students with Navaho etiquette, beliefs and lore.

d. Students may use their native Navaho language in the dormitory, in the dining hall, on the playground, and in the school. In many schools, students are forbidden to use Navaho; often they are penalized if they do so.

4. The school provides in-service training to staff members.

a. Many Navahos who could not be employed at other schools because they are not high school graduates or do not even speak English have been hired in various capacities -dormitory instructional aides, janitors, dormitory parents, kitchen aides, maintenance helpers.

b. Inexperienced Navaho employees are given instruction in their jobs while they are employed.

c. Other employees are given the opportunity to take high school work or extension college courses at the school.

d. All employees were given a three-week orientation before school opened to acquaint them with the history of the Navaho people, the philosophy and objectives of the school, and the unique features of Indian education, with emphasis on those things to know when working with Navaho children.

5. The school provides meaningful adult education opportunities for community members. Most schools offer instruction which requires adults to be familiar with English; the Demonstration School makes it possible for non-English-speaking adults to learn necessary skills.

a. Instruction in the English language and in English literacy is offered to employees and to community residents.

b. Adults may learn how to repair automobiles and trucks.

c. Instruction in home economics gives basic instruction in nutrition and food preparation to the women of the community.

d. Woodworking instruction makes it possible for men to learn a marketable skill and to learn to construct items needed in their homes.

e. Women in the community can learn to use the electric sewing machines in the dormitories and can use those machines to make and mend clothing for their families.

6. A variety of auxiliary services provides assistance to the community.

a. Laundry facilities are available for community use.

b. Shower facilities can be used by community residents.

c. The recreational department plans activities to which community members can come and which they will enjoy.

d. The school library is open in the evening for the use of staff members and community people.

7. The school encourages community members to know about and become skilled in traditional Navaho arts and crafts.

a. Skilled Navaho craftsmen are on hand to demonstrate the arts and crafts of the Navaho people.

b. Interested adults of the community are invited to learn any of those crafts.

c. Examples of Navaho arts and crafts are displayed in the school.

d. Sale of crafts provides income for craftsmen and trainees.

8. The school constantly attempts to provide employment opportunities for community members.

a. Its employment policies enable the school to broaden its economic role in the community.

1) By offering reduced wages, Rough Rock Demonstration School is able to employ increased numbers of people.

2) Many positions are filled on a rotating basis, thus giving experience and wages to many members of the community.

b. Local people are hired as dormitory parents, laundry workers, arts and crafts trainees.
 
 
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