Bismarck, North Dakota News

" Having worked in the finance area of a tribal school I found that the teachers and most students really want to change the future. The problem I've found it tribal governments, tribal school boards, and unrealistic expectations. Tribal governments and school boards do not allow the teachers to do what they need to do. These teachers biggest fear is to have a board or council members child in their classroom. Unless that child is a very self motivated individual, the teacher is almost guaranteed to lose their job if the student doesn't like them. These school boards typically spend tens of thousands of dollars traveling throughout the country from one workshop to another while new school books and other education materials wait on wish lists. These two groups also fail to realize that when you hire a new superintendent or principal, they can not change the world in a year. The problems at these schools go back decades. They can only be corrected by hard work on all their parts for decades. My biggest pet peeve while working at these schools was GRANTS. Everyone has this misguided perception that if a person brings in all kinds of grants and money that they are doing a wonderful job. All these grants do is take these kids who are already behind and take them out of the classroom to attend these "special" programs. It's time to get back to the three R's. Until the tribal governments and school boards start looking long term and get back to the three R's as their main priority these schools will never give the students the chance they need to excel after graduation. "

" The educational system was built around white middle class American male priorities. Standardized tests are based on principles that are important to middle class white males. Educational reform copies organizations stuructural functionalism styles of management. Educational systems that follow stuructural functionalisms management styles do so from the top down, rarely leaving room for the students needs. For all educational systems to create equitable and excellenct educational environments for all students, regardless or race,ability/disability, ethnicity, color, gender, or socioeconomic status, all people need to be involved in the education of each student. Communities need to reclaim the children that we teach as our children and stop dividing them according to class size, economic status, labels such as; special ed, ADD/ADHD, FAE/FAS, ELL, ESL, Gifted/Talented or gender. I have taught for fourteen years. I am a member of the Three Affilitated Tribes of Fort Berthold. I have found equity and excellence in the classroom can occur, regardless of NCLB, if all the people involved in the childs life claim the student to be their student and not separate them from the rest with a label. When a student is unsuccessful according to white middle class american standards, then the community needs to work together to devise plans that will help students become successful. When society blames parents lack of involvement in their students education it is called deficit thinking. Deficit thinking has separated students level of acceptance, ability, intelligence, and success for many years. Deficit thinking blames the parents for their childs lack of success because they are poor, or American Indian, African American, Asian American, Hispanic or have a disability of some kind. Failure isn't due to skin color, parenting skills, or race, it is due to communities lack of involvement in an education system taht needs to be changed. America needs to celebrate the differences that are brought to the classroom by students of color by recognizing that childs strengths. Teachers and administrators need to get involved in the communities where they teach. I strongly believe that Indian children can be on the same playing field of average white Americans if everyone workds collaboratively to help them. Stop blaming one another and start working together. We all are aware that more students of color are labeled as special education, or they qualify for free/reduced priced meals, or they are labeld as "At Risk" and many school districts use those numbers to receive funding, but what are the people who are complaining about it or saying "get over it" doing about it? "Getting over it" is another topic. For now people lets work together so all of our students, no matter what color/race can be successful and become better than average, together. When we as educators give up and say "get over being Indian, Black, Asian, Hispanic, disabled, or poor," what chance do the students we teach have of getting over Inequality and injustice? "

" To Language Inspector - I tried to convey the essential information regarding test scores, while still keeping the story withing space limitations and maintaining readability. But you're right, some of the context is sacraficed. Here are links to the studies referenced in this story. Both are PDF pages, but don't take too long to download. http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard//pdf/studies/2006463.pdf http://www.dpi.state.nd.us/news/060106.pdf "

" How refreshing it is to read of all the concerns about pupil success. I have several comments as follows: 1. When scores are reported by the press, they are often reported without any context for interpretation. For example, knowing that the average is 248 tells us little until we know the standard deviation, which is the normal range. Is the normal range between 200-300, 240-260, 100-400? We expect reporter to tell the public the percentile rank of the scores, such as 25th, 45th or 75th percentile, etc, We can then compare class, school and pupils. We also need to know how many or what percentage of students scored at an adequate or "proficient" level. 2. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds require much more individual attention, review, explanation, and relevant applications than students from enriched and advantaged backgrounds. Every sentence and unfamiliar word requires explanation and reminding. The content should be relevant, practical and interesting at every grade level. Some great reads are "Freedom to Learn" and "Freedom to Learn"for the '80s" by Carl Rogers (available used online). Accelerated Learning (see www.ialearn.org) uses eyes-closed visualization, music and celebration to imbed memory of content. 3. We have excellent ways of teaching all sorts of learners, but we must take the time to find out what the pupils' learning styles and personal interests are. Some students have serious problems that require skilled individual intervention, and therefore teachers need to continuously upgrade their skills. Success is fun, and Native Americans/Indians have traditions of respect for self-knowledge questing, competence, celebration, recognition awards, and teamwork that are highly useful in schools. We can build from our strengths. Good food, good fun, good activities and products. Go native. Dance. "

" I am American Indian and agree with those emailers who believe learning begins at home. How the tribal student is effected by the formal education process should be accommodated by their experience at home, hopefully this would be a home that encourages living up to your potential in the classroom. "

" Will all of this ever change? "

" I agree with T4aC, change begins inside the person; grants and more welfare, the mantra of our tribal "leaders" doesn't cut it, parents staying home from bingo and casinos and reading, or better yet reading to their kids every night, 365 days a year will do more to build self-esteem about school work, nuture curiousity about lots of stuff, including zambonis (hint: read Snoopy. "

" The comments from Bobby Ann Are misleading and misrepresent the intent of the NCLB act. For example: Funding for schools from the Fed gov't is not decided by students passing assessments. In fact, if students do not pass the assessments schools are provided extra support to improve thier educational programs. School programs and instructional programs are not dictated by the federal governemnt. NO where in NCLB are schools told how to teach students reading and math. The standards that students are expected to reach in subject areas are developed by each state as are the asessments. Bobby Ann seems to be playing to the crowd. Schools are free to decide how to educate thier students in a manner that meets thier local need. The Best pracices she refernces are not as readily available as she makes it seem. We do need a single place to find these resources. I would also like to see the research report (that she never gives the title or author of) that she uses to justify her bashing of schools. "

" Give it a rest, Its hard to convey sarcasm in text which is what that last question was directed with. "

" TO Bart: Man, why didn't you just say that in the first place? "

" Why does everything always turn into a racial issue? It's hard to find anyone in the United States that is a full-blooded nationality! In my opinion everyone born here is American. Not Native American, European American, Asian American....Get over it already! "

" To give a rest: I think you misconstrued my point. I don't think genetics or race play any part in one's ability to learn at a proficient level. While playing the race card to justify lower scores may make them feel better it won't get them anywhere in life. Life doesn't grade on a curve. "

" To Bismarck Native, Without national averages how would they know if they are achieving their goals? BTW, The article stated that it was a couple of points under the national average for Indian students, not all students. So is this acheiving their goal? "

" bart, apparently your genes didn't wipe the stupid out of you. please give it rest. "

" I personally prefere European American to caucasion. White is offensive an makes me feel pigmentally challenged. What about Asians, is that the correct? I know some find the term Chinese offensive if they're Korean or Japanese. "

" Bobby Ann, You make it sound like being an Native/Indian is a learning disorder. My children are part native and while they've never gone to any schools with special native teaching methods have been very productive and above average students. So wouldn't you say that's a product of environment rather than teaching methods? Or did my genes wipe the stupid out of them? "

" I would like an answer to "To a Minority". I too have friends from way back that prefer "Indian" and others find it offensive. I do not find the title derrogatory. It's been that way for years, so why all of a sudden is it derrogatory? If that is the case "white" people could say they prefer to be called "caucasion". I do not feel that using Indian rather than Native American lessens the importance of the article. "

" Regarding this article about test scores vs. Native population: You need to understand their culture and their background first. Secondly, being two points or so lower than the "average" is very good. They are achieving their goals and they are succeeding in becoming adults in their communities. What the "Whites" need to do is fully understand the Indian culture and their ways, then educate them on what they know - not about Zambonis - but what they see and do every day. Teach them mathematics in language they understand. I have found them to be very intelligent people if they understand what you are talking about. Scrap the "national average" nonsense. "

" Bart, your question raises a good point. In fact, there are teaching methods that are highly successful with ADD kids and we should use these methods (though I don't believe reading fast is among the methods shown to be successful). In fact, schools are responsible for ensuring that ADD kids have the opportunity to be successful. Suppose, however, for a the sake of argument, that research showed that the only way ADD kids could learn was by reading to them "really fast." Would you say then that teachers should use that method to teach ADD kids? Or would you say that we should continue to force the teacher to use a method that requires that all children to be read to very slowly? If we didn't use methods that are best for ADD kids, we would just be throwing those kids away—that is, by the the nature of their instruction, they be denied a quality education. Would throwing away the educational possibilities for ADD kids matter enough for us to allow teachers to use methods that are appropriate for them instead of being forced to use a one-size-fits-all approach that actually fits no one? I really hope so. When it comes to Indian kids we are asking the same question. The NCLB programs are not appropriate for Indian children. Research has clearly demonstrated that fact. Should we still continue to force teachers to use NCLB programs and methods? Should we support a program required by a law passed by the federal government without taking into account the educational needs of Indian children? And if we do, are we in effect throwing away Indian kids? I hope we will think better and do better. "

" So if a child has ADD, do you have to read to him really fast to match his/her learing style? "

" It is very easy to see that Mr. Gallagher is not a teacher and has spent little time in schools. He says teachers can't teach to the test because they don't know what's on it. I suggest he get out more. He might start by looking into the very well documented cases that disprove his point. There are many ways to teach to the test, and there are many ways to cheat. I don't know about North Dakota, but in other states, most notably Texas, cheating has resulted in many schools making remarkable "progress" by NCLB standards but in everyday practice, kids still can't read. Schools lauded by President Bush--and even by Oprah—have later been shown to have engaged in overt school-wide cheating. Similar cases have been documented all across the country. Furthermore, NCLB DOES most definitely control both how and what children are taught classrooms across the nation. One who would say otherwise is either dishonest, ill-informed or naive. As a result, teachers are forced to use scripted "teacher-proof" programs that stifle their creativity and--worse--limit student learning to little bits of factual knowledge. NCLB funding can only be used to purchase certain programs, which have been approved by the federal government.And these same NCLB programs are used all across the United States. But do we really think that the same teaching materials and practices are good for kids in the Mississippi Delta, South Central Los Angeles, Appalachia, Harlem, and a small reservation in Montana or North Dakota. Who would think that what works in one of those places with those diverse kids would work in all of those places? The answer is your federal government. Everyone who works with real kids or prepares teachers knows better. So do parents and community members. What is bad for kids in all of these diverse places is only worse for Indian kids. The article about Rocky Boy referred to by reporter Zach Franz says it all. "The students must pass the tests to get funding." That's the purpose of improving test scores—not because improved test scores mean that kids are brighter, because it means there will be funding and schools and teachers will not be harassed by the government. Moreover the principal of the elementary school in that same article says kids "need to learn where they fit in as Indians..." I would say that standardized testing and NCLB programs teach that all too well. That is why I believe NCLB is but one more example in a long, long line of attempts to assimilate Indian kids into the mainstream. In that way, NCLB is very much the boarding schools of the 21st century. And even if standardized tests were fair, and any reasonable person without a political or financial reason to say otherwise would have to admit they are not, NCLB forces teachers to use materials and methods that are the polar opposite of what research tells us are the best practices for teaching Indian children. How children are taught matters as much as what they are taught, and when Indian children (or any children) are taught in ways that are not a good match for their learning styles, they cannot be successful. Ryan Wilson referred to these best practices in this article. Although they are well researched and readily available, few school people on reservations know or apply that research. There is no time. They are too busy worrying about raising test scores to worry about how they can actually best teach their students. And this is not their fault. It is a situation created by NCLB. NCLB will soon be labeled the failure that it is, though that cannot happen while the present administration is still in office. When it is, it will join all the other failed reforms on the educational reform junk heap. It is a matter of a simple fact: reforms that try to force people to teach and learn in tightly controlled and inappropriate ways simply cannot succeed. I would be happy to watch it play itself out and wait patiently to say “I told you so” if it were not true that we are losing a generation of kids in its wake. No one should be that patient, and no one should sit silently by as the process slowly plays its way out. "

" I am a native american educator in a native american school system. I have seen first hand unqualified teachers in these school systems because their are just not enough native american teachers out there, or teachers that want to work in these schools. There was a teacher at one school that just sat at her desk and read novels all day while the kids played with toys. It seems that we get 2nd rate teachers because we are a NA school system. Don't get me wrong we do have some great teachers but we are not the majority.Also our school systems seem to see increasing numbers of children that are FAS/FAE and of course in a few years we will be seeing the children affected by meth. It sometimes seems very bleek. "

" First of all I would like to address the comment about the headline. I am a white person from a reservation. I have no bad feeling towards any race just people. My question is this, why is it that the INDIANS I grew up think it is stupid to start calling them Native Americans and some Native Americans find it offensive to be called INDIANS. I think that it is a horse a piece Indian or Native American. Who really cares there could be worse things. So how are we Whites suppose to know what is "right". Next, the education issue will never go away. The tests are important and everyone should be tested the same way. The average score should be the same for every student but we need to look at each school. One school in ND can have high scores and at the neighboring school could have low scores, that is the educator's problem. My mom is a teacher and actually cares about these scores. She is paid close to nothing and still CARES. Parents and teachers working together and caring, that is the answer. "

" These people have a prejudice against Indians in that they don't believe Indian kids have the ability to learn as well as white kids. Fooey. Expect more and you'll get more. Expect them to fail (as they now do) and they will fail. I'm from the res and we didn't have Zambonis and yet I knew what they were. We didn't have Boeing 747s and yet I knew what they were, too. No...these people are just making excuses for these kids failing. They need to start emphasizing reading, writing and math, which according to Starnes aren't "things worth knowing". I think you can see the true problem, right there. "

" Iam a native american, as are my children. It is not just native american children!!! It is the green, pink, orange and any other color child that need help!It is not JUST the RESERVATIONS!!! I AM WITH BLB!! "

" Lets give them more money and build bigger schools. I am sure it is our fault. Please dont forget the 8 foot, compound-like, chain link fence around it. "

" Is the headline derogatory? INDIAN? How about Native American? "

" "WE" can't do anything to help the people. People need to learn to help themselves. The things kids do outside of their home reflects what is being taught to them inside their home and families. Drug and alcohol abuse won't give you higher test scores. The tests themselves don't matter to anyone, it is the person taking the test, granted, if you have a middle class suburban student versus a Native American who most likely isn't middle class and very rural, who do you think will do better? There are more opportunity's to succeed for the middle class kid because there are more resources available to them. On the reservation, once school is out, there isn't a YMCA or a Youth Organization that provides things for the kids. Maybe that's what the Standing Rock needs to be looking at in tribal council meetings; providing more resources for their children so they can improve their education, rather than fighting over a stupid nickname or allowing UND to buy you off with giving you a certain number of spots for our members only so that they may use the nickname. Which is dumb because the name Sioux itself has nothing to do with the Lakota people, the Lakota people didn't make it up; it's just a "deragatory" term used by enemies of the Lakota people. "

" I agree also that it starts at home. I also see in our school where the indian population is majority, that our children are failing in math and sciences. After repeated calls, visits and even school board meetings, I have hired a private tutor over the summer months. Some of these schools get federal funding, is it too much to ask to have the teachers also "tutored" over the summer. Times are changing, and teachers also need to have continuing ed. So, yes, as a parent I have taken an active roll, but without the support of the school, we are on our own and I for one, will not leave my children behind! "

" Why is it when they fail they question the validity of the tests? All students take them and its a way to compare and measure progress. If they are proficient in reading they would figure out that the "Zamboni" was a noun and represents an object. Students need to be able to think abstractly. There's no such thing as green eggs, but if there were, I'd not like them, not even with Ham. "

" Come on. It's a good thing there are these tests. If the students aren't passing these tests there is another child falling through the cracks. We all need to do our part in educating these children. Also there is an all different life outside the reservation and these tri-states such as colleges and universities and bigger paying jobs that will help employee these outstanding individuals . We need to prepare them so they are not discourage to further the education that they earn and have the right to. The scores have improved from over the years and are just a little below the average. It's better than before but there is still room for improvement. Sounds to me someone is not willing to accept some responsibility. "

" I as a Native American Woman I find this really sad, We need to provide the education they deserve by giving them better role models and help there home life improve, you can't blame it on tests that are provided for everybody, we need to treat everybody the same and quit finding excuses. It all begins in the home, we need to give these children a better future "