A group working to narrow the learning gap between American Indian and white students is close to having a plan that reaches out to Indian students and parents but also provides classroom support for all under-performing kids.

The proposal would equip teachers with more tools to bring Indian culture into classrooms, while tracking the academic progress of all students on a monthly basis and providing them with tutoring. It also outlines potential grant opportunities to secure extra dollars for programming and ways to increase parental involvement.

American Indian Students Special Issues Strategic Team - or ASSIST - members come back together after breaking into subcommittees and meet one more time to gain consensus on the plan before it goes to the board Dec. 13.

The final proposal was developed from a framework created by Cheryl Longfeather - a parent who initiated the group when she brought concerns of Indian student performance before the Bismarck School Board in June 2003. The framework focused on four areas -curriculum and instruction, measuring academic achievement, school culture, and climate and funding.

Board members also pushed for the creation of the task force because of the lagging performance of Indian students on the North Dakota State Assessment. The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction uses the test in determining whether students have sufficiently mastered reading and math.

Bismarck was put on districtwide program improvement this year because Indian and special-needs students failed to make adequate gains in the classroom for two consecutive years. The district is looking to the task force for answers on how to lift Indian achievement.

"We need to find answers to those questions and make sure we aren't just living in a world that we are seeing through rose-colored glasses," said Bill Demaree, Myhre Elementary School principal and task force member.

The framework was unveiled in October and left the group divided. Some members said they wouldn't support it because it created a separate educational system for Indian children. The group needed to help all children who struggle in the classroom, they said.

Assistant Superintendent Rick Buresh, who is part of the task force, said those issues were resolved with changes that were inclusive to all students and group discussion. He expected the task force to support entire proposal when they see it at the next meeting.

The group was expected to bring a proposal to the school board by Nov. 12, which also was the deadline for the district to turn a plan into the state showing how they would be removed from program improvement status. The task force's recommendations were supposed to be part of that plan, but disagreements over the framework led to delays, along with scheduling conflicts, Buresh said.

"We are going to have a product people will be able to support," Buresh said. "What we are going to end up with is a very doable compromise between various positions and beliefs."

(Reach reporter Sheena Dooley at 250-8225 or sheenadooley@ndonline.com.)