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| An Annotated Bibliography of the BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1973 – 1979 By Thomas R. Hopkins © 2007 Preface The BIA Research Bulletin began its circulation outside of its perceived governmental restriction in releasing any information from most governmental agencies. The Research Bulletin was an exception when it opened new doors to American Indian Education to share with the public the information that would make public the image of positive or negative aspects of education for Indian youngsters. The initial focus of the Bulletin, which began in 1973, was for the governmental arm to reach out to allow educators in our nation who had the interest and time to involve themselves in educational research that addressed for improvement in educating Indian children enrolled in Bureau of Indian Affairs schools. Surprisingly many, if not all, professional educator's work submitted for publication were found to be professionally written, well researched and documented with good data to support their theory. As the Bulletin matured, its popularity began to be accepted as a vehicle to share a good deal of valid information to benefit educators of Indian children, which was the primary intent and objective of this compact publication. The Bulletin was on the cutting edge of new horizons in Indian Education. The editors of the Bulletin searched and printed professional papers that reflected the Bureau's trend of finding a new way to accelerate learning among Indian children. The anticipation of finding education researchers with new data with answers to how best the Indian child could learn was eminent. Learning the English language and preserving the native tongue of the Indian children was one of the major objectives of the Bureau. Also, on the horizon were new movements such as bilingual education to be addressed in teaching multi-lingual children who were entering the American education system. The Indian child had always faced these critical problems and it was apparent that other victims had entered the big picture. Many educators were already searching beyond the bilingual approach and beginning to examine the styles of learning. There were unanswered questions such as: Under what conditions does a bilingual child with a different cultural background learn best in a classroom? These were critical challenges for educators during the 70's and the BIA Research Bulletin was in the forefront to probe into potential solutions to long standing persistent problems. The editorial staff of the Bulletin represented perhaps the most impressive aggregate of professionals the Bureau could assemble in one place. The origination of the idea of a Research Bulletin emanated from Dr. Thomas Hopkins, Chief of Educational Research and Evaluation Division of Central Office. Dr. William Benham was the Administrative Officer in charge of all divisions in the Office of Technical Assistance. Dr. Gene Leitka, under supervision of Dr. Hopkins, was the Chief Editor who had gained wide experience at New Mexico State University working as a Research Associate graduate student at the university's Education Research and Information Center, (ERIC). Reviewing research reports about American Indian Education was Gene's primary job at ERIC. Collectively, this group of educators with the level of experience and professionalism in Indian Education, the Research Bulletin was set in motion. In the year 2008, the Hopkins' collection of annotated bibliography of the BIA Education Research Bulletin and a disc will become a historic collection and will be housed at Haskell Indian Nations University's Museum, Lawrence, Kansas. This consolidated compilation will also be made a part of a reserved collection in the University's student library. Gene Leitka, Ed.D.
An Annotated Bibliography of the BIA Education
Research Bulletin, 1973 – 1979 I worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP), from 1953 – 1956 and from 1958 – 1979. I held various positions including as a teacher of a Territorial Alaska one-teacher day school; supervisor of 21 teachers at the Mt. Edgecumbe High School located across the ships channel at Sitka, Alaska; a Secondary Education Specialist and a Division Chief at the Washington Office. In 1973 I was Chief of the Division of Evaluation and Program Review and initiated the BIA Education Research Bulletin. Having worked for the BIA for many years, I was knowledgeable of the history of its several publications:
There was a gap between 1965 and 1973 during which there was no BIA Education publication. Now, 2007, it appears there hasn’t been any regular publication emanating from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Education since 1979. In my opinion, then and now, mainstream national education publications only occasionally include articles and/or essays on the education of Indians and Alaskan Natives. In 1973 I thought it important to fill the publication void with the BIA Education Research Bulletin. The first issue of the Bulletin was published in 1973 and the cover of this issue is shown on the title page of this Annotated Bibliography. Dr. Eugene Leitka (Choctaw- Creek), a staff member, agreed to be the editor. Dr. Leitka kept the file copies of the Bulletin which, after our retirements from BIA, he generously shared with me. The Annotated Bibliography of the BIA Research Education Bulletin as well as its publication on a CD would not have been possible without Dr. Leitka’s intelligent and professional work. Not all the articles in each Number have been selected for this bibliography. Usually, those not selected were of a bureaucratic nature, i.e. names of officials and their brief statements of support, etc. I scanned all the issues and turned them into pdf computer files and named them by calendar year. Hence, the first file is named “Research Bulletin 1973.pdf.” In this annotated bibliography each entry is followed by the file year and page number of the article in the pdf file, i.e. (1973, 21) which means page 21 of the file. It is recommended that researchers use the original volume, number and page for their citation. The pdf page numbers are merely to help find the article in the computer file. Otherwise, the American Psychological Association (APA) Style Manual has been followed for the bibliographic entries. Also, the articles may be read and sections copied using Adobe Reader which is also on the CD. The reader will notice that the style of each article is almost unique. We did not think that following a single style format would help the publication of the articles. However, each article does have a reference system. On the other hand, scanning tables can be tricky and the format of them does comport to the published texts. Sometimes alignment is off, but the content of a Table is understandable. After most of the entries there is a Comment section which contains the annotation, my thoughts and observations regarding the article. Occasionally, a reference is made to an additional publication which supports and/or expands the article content. These references will be made in footnotes at the bottom of the page. There are 94 articles included on this CD version of the BIA Education Research Bulletin. Further, if one prints all the files from 1973 – 1979 it will total just over 500 pages. There is not an Index but a separate file of the Tables of Content has been included. The topics covered in the articles is extensive. As one reads the annotations and titles of the articles in the Bibliography they will soon learn that most issues in education were covered and include several tribes as the focus of research. Reading, math education, science education, teacher education, community action programs, bilingual education, culture education, to mention a few, are written about. I was especially interested to find articles devoted to NCLB “Accommodations” related to adjusting aspects of standardized tests to take care of language and cultural differences between the test and Indian children. A final observation, Indian Self-Determination has been the official policy in Indian Affairs since the Navajo Rough Demonstration School was first contracted to an Indian school board in 1966. Since 1979 the Federal Government (BIA and its Education Program and the Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education) has not published anything on a regular basis. In a contact with the BIA’s current Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), it was learned that notices are posted on the BIE’s website. Also, the Family and Child Education program prints a monthly newsletter, but this is all. Based on the experience of the BIA’s publications, there is little doubt that given the opportunity, Indian contract and grant schools and their employees; BIA federal schools and their employees and public schools and their employees would submit articles to such a publication. There is a need for Indians and Alaska Natives to know more about how Indian Self-Determination is working and such a publication would help meet this need. Annotated Bibliography of the BIA Education Research Bulletin Selections Akiachak, Alaska, Bethel Agency (1974, January). Community Child Development Program. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 2, 1, 24-27. (1974, 15) Comment: This was a report following two years of the operation of the program. The following will describe the nature of the program: Lessons are designed to improve the child's ability in the cognitive, affective and psychomotor areas. Among the activities the child will participate in are the following developmental experiences:
It would be interesting to visit Aciachak today (2007) and
see if any of the materials Anderson, Beverly I. (1974, May). Pine Ridge Reservation: Assessment of Educational Needs. BIA Education Research Bulletin,, 2, 2, 34-47. (1974, 48) Comment: Anderson has provided an excellent description of a needs assessment activity on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The assessment reflects the findings based on a questionnaire with responses from administrators, teachers, parents and students from eight day schools. The table numbering could be confusing as Table 1, the questionnaire, is provided at the end of the narrative. Nonetheless the rank order of goals, based on the mean responses of the total, was as follows:
Table 2 is confusing until one understands that the capital letters reflect the parenthetically listed goals above. Bartelt, Guillermo (1978, September) Bilingual Education Versus Remedial E.S.L. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 6, 3, 12-22. (1978, 69) Comment This article is an excellent discussion of bilingual education and cites the leading linguist, psycholinguists and bilingual educators of the 1970’s. He defines concepts, e.g. compound and coordinate bilingualism. Compound bilingualism is based on a single meaning system where the second language is learned in a single location, i.e. a Reservations such as Navajo. On the other hand, coordinate bilingualism “possesses two independent meaning systems. Acculturation and assimilation are discussed throughout the article. He considered remedial E.S.L programs to be assimilationists because they don’t include the home language in the school program or if they do, it is something the children should forget. The article concludes:
Bass, Willard P (1973, January). Academic Achievement of American Indian and Alaskan Native High School Students in Federal and Public Schools. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1, 7-15. (1973, 4) Comment: The Bass
longitudinal evaluation of Indian education was the last of four BIA
initiated evaluations with the first conducted by the University of
Chicago based on 1945-46 data. Much like the Progressive Education
concerns about the quality of a “School’s” program,
progressive vs traditional, the BIA remained concerned about the
respective qualities of the Federal BIA schools vs public schools. The
Bass study design is basically a model of how school quality may be
measured, regardless of the ethnicity of the students. His findings
reflect that there was little difference between BIA and public schools
when student characteristics are controlled. The full Bass report may be
accessed at: Berkson, Barry K. (1976, January) Federal Responsibility in the Field of Indian Education. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 4, 1, 7-15. (1976, 6) Comment: Berkson, an Interior Department Solicitor, provided legal advice to the BIA’s Indian Education Resources Center (IERC) which was located in Albuquerque. One of his notable contributions was to provide legal advice to the development of Student Rights and Responsibilities Regulations, which are still in the Code of Federal Regulations. He was not asked to research the legal status of the education of Indians and did this purely out of his own professional curiosity. The reader will find this succinct, well documented, legal treatise interesting and helpful, even in today’s Self Determination era. Billison, Samuel, (1974, January). Problem of Determining How Administration in Schools Serving American Indian Children Perceived Their Role and the Role of Their School in Educating These Children. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 2, 1, 33-34. (1974, 22) Comment: Dr. Sam Billison, Navajo, (deceased), was a leader in Navajo education. His dissertation at the University of Arizona was one of the first for a Navajo educator. Dr. Billison interviewed 52 administrators in eight states. His recommendations seem pertinent even today inasmuch as he emphasized the need for administrators to have a firm understanding and knowledge of the local Indian culture, including language and history. Basically, education administrators without this knowledge and understanding have a serious handicap and could not be expected to be effective. Blanchard, Joseph David (1973, September) Biobehavioral Correlates Of Perceptual Cognitive Motor Performance In A Sample Of Southwest Indian Junior High School Students. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1, 3, 21-23. (1973, 54) Comment: This is a tightly designed psychological oriented study involving multiple tribal members of mid-school age children attending the now-closed Albuquerque Indian school. Dr. Blanchard uses four scientifically developed instruments. It is interesting in that he used the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Ability that was done by Sam Kirk. In a discussion with me, Kirk said it was not a linguistic instrument but rather was developed for the hard of hearing. Blanchard maintained a strict relationship to the statistical results from the various instruments. Blue, Arthur W. (1977, January) A Study of Native Elders and Student Needs. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 5, 1, 15-24. (1977, 13) Comment: This is a report on counseling needs at Brandon University of Manitoba, Canada. It had been suggested that a Native Elder be added to the Counseling staff. In order to determine needs, a research project was conducted. Apparently the Faculty Senate Sub-Committee on Counseling had asked the Senate for an extra Counseling position to meet the needs of Native students attending the University. A research project was conducted to determine needs. As stated in the article:
There is an interesting definition of an “Elder”: an older person of native ancestry, who has a traditional point of view and is considered by the people of his group as wise. The article provides data on Natives attending Brandon, their problems, etc. and concluded in justifying a counselor for Native students. The research approach to consideration of the need is one that other institutions of higher education might consider. Since the Brandon study, the University of Alaska at Fairbanks did major research on Alaska Native Elders the findings of which have become Alaska Education Guides. Boudreaux, Ernest (`979, May) Indian Career Education, The Mississippi Choctaw Experience. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 7, 2, 7-10. (1979, 41) Comment: This article describes a complete Career Education Program that was implemented on the Mississippi Choctaw Reservation. Career Education has always been a basic need for Indian children and youth. This had several key components that contemporary educators would do well to take seriously. They included:
Based on my recent experience with Navajo education, Career Education remains a basic need for Navajo young people. Lack of jobs on Indian lands has always been a real problem for Indian, especially the young. However, within the past 20 years several tribes have established casinos on or near their reservations and these have provided jobs for tribal members. Often, there is a spin off of other jobs to compliment casino profits. Briscoe, Linda Sue (1978, May) Minimum Competencies in BIA Schools. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 6, 2, 1-4. (1978, 37) Comment: This is an excellent well documented discussion of minimum competencies and related criterion referenced tests for BIA high schools in the 1970’s. She found no high schools that had minimum competencies. She references Maslow’s human needs theory as a possible foundation for the minimum competencies. She also mentions the English as a second language existence among Indian high school students. The recognition of “Student Mobility” indicated that this one fact alone must be mastered before any program of minimum competencies could be instituted. Now, in 2007, several states have implemented minimum competences for high school diplomas the results have been disastrous for students of color. * Had the BIA implemented a high stakes minimum competency test the graduation rate would most assuredly have fallen rather sharply. Yet, policy makers would no doubt have welcomed them. Capps, Ethel (1977, September) Reading Levels for High School Graduates. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 5, 3, 26-32. (1977, 72) Comment: In these days of high stakes No Child Left Behind reading test scores, this article should be mandatory reading for policy makers and all school staff at all level of education. Capps researches a basic question, “Based on your own experience in the adult world, what is the lowest grade level of reading a person can “get by” on in this society?” She surveys reading specialists and Indian school board members and concludes with her own position. She asks them to respond on the “get by” question . “In summary, 2/3 of those responding indicated a level of 6.0 or higher.” This response was from the reading specialists and the school board members. She also asked the reading level for high school diplomas, and the responses were, “In summary, over fifty percent of the Reading Authorities believe eighth grade or higher is a minimum for High school diploma and 17 out of 18 School Board members believe that eighth grade or higher is a minimum. She makes the interesting definition of “Reading Level” as what eighth grade students read at, not test scores which are timed. She states that a person, in her opinion (14 years in working with high school age Indian students who function two or more years below grade level. . .) with fourth grade reading level can “get by”. She is one of the very few professionals who made note of the influence of “Timed” standardized test requirement. Remove the time and she says test scores increase, especially for Indian students. Her article is well documented and makes today’s emphasis on high stakes tests irrelevant. A true voice in the wilderness and way ahead of her time. Chiago, Robert K. (1978, January) A review of Indian Energy Resources From a Manpower and Education Perspective. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 6, 1, 24-41. (1978, 25) Comment: Chiago, who later became a columnist, conducted some excellent research to develop this article which emphasizes Indian Preference in energy activities on Indian Reservations. The article coincides with the Supreme Court decision which said the Indian Preference law was not racial and did not conflict with the Civil Rights law. His recommendations are logically connected to the factual condition of Indians working on energy contracts on Navajo. Any researcher in education and/or energy will find this article to be basic to their review of the literature. There were some minor problems with the references in that there was no #11 and #15 could not be located in the text. Cooley, Carl R., Vanosdol, Bob M., and Johnson, D.M. (1976, May) A Comparison of English as a Second Language Program andNormal Classroom Instruction With Indian Students in Reading. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 4, 2, 13-26. (1976, 31) Comment: The authors took a scientific research approach to the design of their study. They used standardized tests and teacher grades, gpa. They also developed correlation statistics. It is important that they defined their study as “Quasi research.” The study lasted five months during which they taught an English as a Second Language (ESL) program and then compared it to a control group that received no ESL teaching. This is an excellent example of local school officials using scientific methodology to determine effectiveness of their instructional program. Their “Discussion” section was excellent. They said:
I was especially interested in the inclusion of the gpa variable as my education evaluation work with several BIA funded Indian schools has over the years reflected the same low or negative correlation to standardized test scores. My interpretation of the phenomenon is that when it comes to issuing grades, teachers take into consideration many more important variables (i.e. cultural differences between the test and the students) that standardized tests cannot include. Consequently, I will give teacher grades a higher value in evaluation than standardized tests. Coombs, L. Madison (1978, January) Policy Making in a Crucible, The Federal Experience in Indian Education, 1950-1970. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 6, 1, 1-14. (1978, 1) Comment: There was no one better qualified than Madison Coombs to write about BIA Education Policy from 1950-1970. Coombs was at the top of BIA Education during these two decades and among many duties, master minded the BIA Education’s Education Research activities. Professional, he was Assistant Area Director for Education, Juneau Area when I worked at Mt. Edgecumbe High School, 1958 – 1963 and was Assistant to the Assistant Commissioner when I worked at the BIA Washington Office from 1964 – 1970. This article is probably Madison’s last writing on Indian Education. His eloquent style is reflected in the article as well as his keen intelligence. He doesn’t gloss over the criticisms of the BIA and includes them along with accomplishments. Those of us who have a professional interest in the history of educating Indians will find this article mandatory reading. Madison succinctly summarizes his perception of policy in the following paragraph:
The sub-topics of the article will give the reader an understanding of the scope of his experiences.
I worked with and under L. Madison Coombs for over ten years and though we did not agree on many issues regarding the education of Indians and Natives, I gained a profound respect for his integrity and professionalism. During many of his years at the BIA Education Central Office he was intellectually head and shoulders ahead of his colleagues. Such a situation was/is a handicap in the Federal bureaucracy. Conger, Louis (1973, January) Final 1970 Census Count of American Indians and Alaska Natives. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1, 23-24. (1973, 18) Comment: This Indian-Native count also contains totals for the 1960 Census. For those interested in the U.S. Census counts I did a brief review of the counts from 1930 – 1980 wherein the changing definition of “Indian” are provided. 1 ____________ (1973, May) Estimates of Resident Indian Population and Labor Force Status; by Area and State: March 1972. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1, 2, 18-24. (1973, 21-33) Comment: Dr. Conger found the Research Bulletin to be the only regular BIA publication in which he could share his statistical output. The data provide a benchmark of statistics on Indian work. Cox, Delton R. (1973, September) The Methodology Utilized To Show The Education Of The Mississippi Choctaws, 1834-1920. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1, 3, 24-27. (1973, 57) Comment: Cox, a Choctaw, details a method that he would, probably did, use to develop a Choctaw tribal history. He said he would use method(s) used by historians. It is interesting that in his first paragraph Cox explains that the different tribes will behave according to the tribe’s culture. This implies that there is no such culture as “American Indian.” Indians and non-Indians have always understood this and recently, it was again expressed by Bobby Ann Starnes (2006) when writing about Montana’s Indians.2 One often finds issues and items mentioned in the BIA Education Research Bulletin reappearing in contemporary literature– usually as new knowledge. Cuch, Forrest S. (1979, May) Ute Indian Tribe Teacher Training Program, Uintah and Ouray Reservation. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 7, 2, 11-15. (1979, 45) Comment: This article reports a Ute Teacher Education program that started in 1977. It is candid regarding achievements especially the missing of the number of Teacher Education candidates. It is important that the program was based in a Utah public school district. The program was between the Committees-Boards of the Uintah and Ourays and Brigham Young University. It is suggested that the reader go to the back of the article first and read the program objectives, then, read from the beginning of the article. Otherwise, one might get confused. Cummings, Tom (1977, May) Bilingual/Bicultural Law-Related Curriculum at Ramah Navajo High School, BIA Education Research Bulletin,5, 2, 1-6. (1977 24) Comment: Though not intended, this article is one of the best bicultural discussions of Navajo and Eurocentric cultures. I would recommend reading it for any contemporary teacher of Navajo children and youth. “Content Areas” of (A) Consumer Education (B) Law and the Family and (C) Law and the Community. These three Areas are followed by a section of “Curriculum Development.” DuPree, T. J. (1976, May) Brief History of Cherokee Schools 1804 — 1976. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 4, 2, 3-11. (1976, 24) Comment: The Cherokee Reservation, Qualla Boundary,is little known yet it is the only Cherokee Reservation in existence. Other Cherokees, notable those in Oklahoma, are far more numerous than those in North Carolina. This article does indeed provide a brief history of Qualla Boundary schools. This in itself is interesting and informative. The description of the Education Program in the mid 1970’s is also interesting. The concluding table which provides Statistics on testing might be interesting and helpful to contemporary researchers. On a personal note, the Agency Principal and the high school principal taught under me at Mt. Edgecumbe High School, 1958-63. I visited the Cherokee Reservation in 1965 and helped transfer an ineffective principal. Enochs, J. Romily (1978, January) The Relationship Between Indian and Non-Indian Teachers' Perceptions of Indian First-Graders Achievement in Reading. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 6, 1, 23-28. (1978, 20) Comment: This was an article based on Enochs’ doctoral dissertation at Mississippi State University. At that time, he was an elementary administrator at Mississippi Choctaw. This research was of particular interest to me because Enochs used my dissertation adjective check list as well as some of my concepts i.e. Likable, Unlikable, Scholastic Stereotype and Sensitivity Scale. Enochs also found similar results in that Choctaw teachers rated the children higher on the Scholastic Stereotype and Sensitivity Scale. In other words, Choctaw teachers perceive more scholastic strength in the children and also perceive them to be more sensitive than do non-Choctaw teachers. Otherwise, the teachers were the same on reading perceptions. Statistical procedures included the arithmetic mean and significance as well as multiple regression correlates. The study was based on 72 Choctaw children in the first-grade. There were two Choctaw and two non-Choctaw teachers. Fifield, Marvin and Farmer, Lonnie (1975, May) A Demonstration Project To Train Navajo Teacher Aides To Provide Direct Student Instruction In Specific Language and Reading Skills. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 3, 2, 10-17. (1975, 36) Comment: This article discusses an interesting approach to teaching language arts to the bottom quarter of a class. The project was organized so that there was an experimental and control group. A good research approach to evaluation was used. The findings while not statistically significant were considered to be “Educationally Significant.” There was large scale training of the staff and large scale technical assistance from Utah State University. It is doubtful that the approach could be replicated without a large budget. And over time, it was not replicated. Nonetheless, the program design was a serious professional effort to improve the education of some Navajo children. It was an effective and successful project. Fox, Sandra J. (1978, September) Back to the Basics In Language Arts In the Bureau of Indian Affairs Schools. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 6, 3, 9-11. (1978, 66) Comment: Dr. Fox does a succinct review of theory Language Arts instruction and lists five necessities from Gutknecht and Keenan’s The Reading Teacher. While written back in 1978, the article fits in well with the No Child Left Behind rhetoric. _________________b (1978, September) An Evaluation of Eight Reading Programs Implemented for Indian Students In North and South Dakota. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 6, 3, 23. (1978, 81) Comment: I have always wondered about the effectiveness of the Title I reading programs. My wonder was generated by the Title I personnel who worked down the hall from my office. They were prone to display standardized test scores along with claims of their superiority to the “Regular” classroom teachers’ programs. They injected competition when I saw only a single school system and single schools. Dr. Fox concluded:
Through a research approach, Dr. Fox generally reinforced what I had observed informally at the schools. Evans, G. Edward and Abbey, Karin (1977, September) A Brief Introduction to the Bibliography of Language Arts Materials for Native North Americans (1965- 1974), BIA Education Research Bulletin, 5, 3, 1-13. (1977, 52) Comment: This article is the Introduction to a 901 item bibliography developed at UCLA. It starts with a very succinct and accurate history of the education of American Indians and Alaska Natives. It references sources that clearly describe the different goals of educating Indians and concludes with the mid 1970’s bilingual education interest. There are few publications of this type that clearly describes some of the complex and technical issues regarding teaching in two languages, Indian-Native and English. These complexities range from writing system (orthographies) to diacritical marks related thereto. It also points out that their focus was on local use of the language rather than academic reproductions of it. Academics will include more complex and seldom used language items as compared to the common use of the language. They include a cultural comparison between the Dick and Jane readers and the cultures with which they were used. This comparison seemed accurate to me especially Salisburry’s comparison with Eskimo whom I taught in a one-teacher day school, 1954-56. There is probably no better historical reference for the Indian-Native bilingual activities of the 1960’s and 1970’ than this article. Gibson, Udall (1973, January), Official Design for the Research Bulletin. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1, 1,15. (1973, 11) Comment: Mr. Gibson was a student at Albuquerque’s Highland High School. Gipp, Gerald Ellis, (1976, September) Dissertation Abstract, The Relationship of Perceived Community Educational Viewpoints and Pupil Control Ideology Among Teachers. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 4, 3, 23-24. (1976, 60) Comment: Dr. Gipp has held several important education positions since his graduation from Penn State. His dissertation study on “Pupil Control” was highly structured and several statistical procedures were used. He administered his instruments to 334 classroom teachers who worked in the three different types of schools in South Dakota. He used Willower, Eidell and Hoy’s Pupil Control Ideology form. He found statistical differences among the teachers in the different types of schools. Gray, Clyde Thomas (1976, September) Dissertation Abstract, American Indian Education: Cultural Pluralism or Assimilation. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 4, 3, 25-26. (1976, 62) Comment: Dr. Gray has investigated an issue in Indian Education that remains a point of contention even today, 2007. He used scales based on interviews from The National Study of American Indian Education. He interviewed principals of 13 BIA schools as well as Indian leaders. While the principals and Indian leaders favored a curriculum reflecting cultural pluralism they also thought the purpose of schooling was assimilation. He thought that in those days of the beginning of Indian Self Determination the “participation of the local community in school affairs,” was the best direction for a school. Green, Rayna D. and Brown, W. (1977, January) Recommendations for the Improvement of Science and Mathematics Education for American Indians. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 5, 1, 1-14. (1977, 1) Comment: Drs. Green (Cherokee) and Brown did a comprehensive, thorough job of analysis and recommendations regarding science and math education. NCEP. This article is basically a report on Indians in math and science and the need for more of them. The authors make extensive Recommendations drawing from two basic documents: (1) The Barriers Obstructing the entry of American Indian Students Into the Natural Sciences sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and (2) An Inventory of Programs in Science for Minority Students, 1960-1975, which is another AAAS report. Recommendations are structured according to precollegiate, Collegiate, graduate and General. Examples of the various recommendations follow:
The structure of this article would provide a researcher with a baseline against which contemporary conditions could be compared. _______________ (1978, September) Math Avoidance: A Barrier to American Indian Science Education and Science Careers. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 6, 3, 1-8. (1978, 59) Comment: This is a follow up to the article Green and Brown published in the BIA Education Research Bulletin, in 1977. The style is anecdotal and offers many understandable findings that grew out of conversations with students in the “Barriers” study. Those interested in the math and science education of American Indians and Alaska Natives would do well to extract for use many of the findings Green reports in this article. Hall, Frank (1974 September). Career Education in Bureau of Indian Affairs Schools. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 2, 3, 14-19. (1974, 69) Comment: This article is descriptive of the activities of BIA Education on Career Education during 1974-74. It is not a research article but like others, utilized the BIA Education Research Bulletin because it was the only regular publication of BIA OIEP at this time, 1974. Hall, Robert E. (1974, May). A Comparison of Characteristics of Sioux and Non-Sioux Teachers: Teacher Perceptions Which Help Determine Educational Exceptionality in a Bisocial Setting. BIA Education Research Bulletin,, 2, 2, 48-50. (1974, 58) Comment: Bob Hall and I were fellow doctoral students at George Washington University. His is a replication of my dissertation but with teachers of Sioux children rather than mine which involved teachers of Navajo children. It was interesting that on the “Scholastic Stereotype”, like the Navajo teachers, Sioux teachers perceived the Sioux children to have stronger intellectual abilities than did the non-Sioux teachers. Dr. Hall’s field as Special Education and his research was directed to some extent toward exceptionality. Hanson, Mark L. (1974, September) We Can Do it: Academic Summer Program, BIA Education Research Bulletin, 2, 3, 29-33. (1974, 80) Comment: This is an interesting evaluation report on a summer program sponsored by the BIA Nome Agency in Alaska. I have often wondered why is seems summer programs for Indians and Natives proportionately achieve more the regular school year program. This was a highly structured program with a focus on reading and the Language Arts with some math included. It was about a three week program starting May 27 and ending June 14. Another interesting feature of the program was the evaluation component which produced all the statistics. Perhaps if the same intensity as exists in a summer program was transferred to the regular school year program, more learning would take place. Havighurst, Robert J. (1973, May) The Extent and Significance of Suicide Among American Indians Today. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1, 2, 4-11. (1973, 23 ) Comment: Dr. Havighurst provides a benchmark of data and discussion on suicide among American Indians. Young Indian males have a higher suicide rate than their non-Indian counterparts. He did not find any support for the contention that boarding school attendance increases suicides among Indians and Natives. It is interesting that this article provides more data on suicide than was published in the National Indian Study book.3 Hildebrand, Alice (1973, January), BIA’s School Population, FY 1972. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1, 1, 16-17. (1973, 12). Comment: In 1973 the BIA still published, annually, Statistics Concerning Indian Education. Ms Hildebrand was the staff person in gathering the data and producing the publication. Hopkins, Thomas R. (1973, January), Purposes of the Research Bulletin. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1, 1. (1973, 3). _____________ (1973a, January), Research and Evaluation Report Series. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1, 1, 20-22. (1973, 15). Comment: Along with the BIA Education Research Bulletin, it was my belief that the BIA, OIEP, should provide an organized, systematic availability of the numerous evaluation and research reports it produced and/or received on a regular basis. The first 16 of these were the content of this article. The reader can tell from this article the nature of the Series. _____________ (1973, May) Navajo and Non-Navajo Teachers, A Comparison of Characteristics, BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1, 2, 1-2. (1973, 20) Comment: The adjective check-list used in this study dates back to the Navajo Teacher Orientation Workshop held in the summer of 1964. A conclusion which I think remains appropriate is that both Indian-Native culture content needs to be included in the school instructional program. Likewise, the school faculty, administration and staff should include both Indian-Native and non-Indians-Natives. ______________ and Leitka, Eugene (1975, September) Education Research Programs, Bureau of Indian Affairs. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 3, 3, 11-18. (1975, 60) Comment: Dr. Leitka and I developed an Education Research Program for the BIA Office of Indian Education Programs. This was the first time the BIA had ever had a written program for Education Research. In fact, research was never considered important or necessary to the BIA Education Program. The reasons for this position were many and about all them based on unfounded opinion rather than facts. Even with an articulated Research Program, there was no line item budget for research the consequence of which was that the Program was never funded. ______________ (1975, September). Brief Review, Indian Education History. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 3, 3, 19-20. (1975, 67) Comment: This article was written shortly after Margaret Szasz published her book on the history of educating Indians. At that time, I thought Szasz did an excellent job with the Collier-Beatty era of BIA education. I remember being called by Madison Coombs and discussing my brief review. I told him to read Szasz’s book and we would talk again. He did read her book and in our follow-up discussion, Madison said he didn’t understand her approach. He said he had spent quite a bit of time with Szasz giving her documents and his discussing his experiences on educating Indians. He was disappointed that, according to Madison, she did not use very much, if any, of his contributions to her research. On the other hand, Szasz’s biographical sections on Willard Beatty and W. Carson Ryan are outstanding. She clearly establishes the relationship between BIA and Progressive Education that, in my view, continued through to the Self-Determination era, about 1970. This means Progressive Education was the foundation of the BIA’s professional education program from 1934 – 1970. Hopkins, Thomas R, Elton, Lyle G and Lowry, Carlee (January 1976). Curriculum Development in the Bureau of Indian Affairs - A General Discussion. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 4, 1, 17-24. (1976, 13) Comment: It was my perception in the 1970’s that a basic function of the BIA Central Office Education was to provide information to the field, the nation and the world. Such dissemination of information had always been a function of the BIA Education program, but there had never been a systematic accounting of dissemination efforts. I perceived dissemination under the general umbrella of “Curriculum Development.” The Indian Education Resources Center (IERC) located in Albuquerque created and disseminated all types of information. The IERC also conducted survey research on a continuous basis the results of which were made a number in the Research and Evaluation Report Series. I was able to save some of the copies of the Series but somehow kept none of the Curriculum Bulletins. Unfortunately, the reorganization of the BIA Office of Indian Education Programs in 1979 abolished the IERC and no effort was made to keep and maintain the documents. When the IERC offices were abandoned and I had retired and was working at the University of new Mexico, I went downtown in Albuquerque to the former IERC offices and took home some boxes of documents. Dr. Leitka kept the file copies of the BIA Education Research Bulletin. Otherwise, the IERC office files were trashed. To my knowledge, the BIA OIEP (now the Bureau of Indian Education) has not maintained a dissemination of documents since the days of the IERC, i.e. 1979. Hopkins, Thomas R and Reedy, Richard L. (1978, May) Schooling and the American Indian High School Student. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 6, 2, 5-11. (1978, 41) Comment: This article reviews then contemporary research and data regarding various key facts on Indians in high school. The general theme of Indians need as much schooling as they can get is an implied goal. The dropout data indicates Indians weren’t getting as much education as they needed for survival in the American society. The article provides some bench mark data on student mobility, which indicates Indians enroll in BIA residential schools from public schools. The reasons for changing schools was racism and student(s) didn’t like the public school. However, only 17 percent did not reenroll after leaving the BIA school. While student mobility was assumed to be high, no exact mobility percentage was given. Further, there was no research on the positive or negative effect of student mobility. One family stability research study was cited which reported that students from “unconventional homes had a higher average absence rate and made lower average grade-point records. Using data from one BIA residential school it was determined that 56 percent lived in unconventional homes. This fact alone would infuse the boarding school with a huge counseling need. Horton, James M. and Annalora, Donald J. (1974, May) Student Dropout Study of Ft. Wingate High School. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 2, 2, 17-25. (1974, 37) Comment: Horton and Annalora, both teachers at the Wingate High School, carried out one of the few dropout studies for 1974. They got a decent response from the dropouts, which I have found to be a difficult group from which to get responses. A serious study of the data reflects just how complex the attendance situation was at Wingate in 1974. In my opinion, a spin-off of the study is the description of the historical mobility of Navajo (Indian-Native) school attendance. Indians and Natives have had school choice for at least 60 years and no one to my knowledge has ever studied it. Table 1 lists 23 schools to which 51 students could and/or did re-enroll in and this was for one semester. I expect the attendance situation today (2007) is still as complex as in 1974. Jaeger, Jerry L. (1974, January). Student Assessment As A Means of Curriculum Adjustment At Intermountain Indian School, BIA Education Research Bulletin, 2, 1, 35. (1974, 25) Dr. Jaeger was Superintendent of Intermountian School for several years. His dissertation was based on testing the cultural compatibility of existing instruments (California Psychological Inventory, Tennessee Self-Concept, California Test of Mental Maturity, Metropolitan Achievement Test, and Gates-MacGinitie) and their use with Indian students, most of whom were Navajo. He found that the instruments were not culturally compatible with Indian students. This fact has been repeated many times since about 1928, yet, today the No Child Left Behind and its high stakes tests make no recognition of cultural incompatibility for Indians but they do for Mexican and Asian students. Dr. Jaeger’s research still has relevance in these days of NCLB Accommodations. Johnson, Clifton O. (1974, September) Teaching Oral Communication Skills to Indian Children, BIA Education Research Bulletin, 2, 3, 20-28. (1974, 74) Comment: Cliff Johnson, an experienced Education Specialists, took a research approach to learn about Communication Skills from teachers. An important finding was that teachers actually spent less time on important skills for English as a Second Language Navajo children and youth than they thought necessary. This finding appeared to reflect a pressure on the teachers to ignore the ESL needs of the children in preference of a Eurocentric stereotype curriculum. By this I mean the pressure was to teach a standard Eurocentric curriculum based on majority U.S. English speakers. This has alwlays been the situation in far too many Indian and Native schools. Jones, Robert W. (1976, September) A Classroom Study of Drills and Its Effect on Learning. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 4, 3, 11-15. (1976, 55) Comment: This article describes a month-long experiment on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The experiment is an excellent example of action research conducted by the professional staff at a school enrolling Sioux children in grade six. It involved a total of 25 children, 12 in the control group and 13 in the experimental group. “Those who had been having problems with multiplication and division, by averaging less than 70% on their daily work, were put in the experimental group; the others were placed in the control group.” The article describes the approach as well as the time spend on drill. “The study’s results show that drill, extended over a three week period of time, can be used successfully with Indian children from an educationally deprived area.” In these days of the No Child Left Behind Act this approach might prove helpful to raising test scores by drilling students in a structured manner. Additionally, I was struck by the attempt at the school to begin to use a quasi scientific approach to improving instruction. Klinekole, Ruth V. (1979, May) Indian Students’ Problems in Boarding Schools. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 7, 2, 16-25. (1979, 50) Comment: Ms Klinekole is a member of the Mescalero Apache Tribe and at the time of writing this article was a high school student. She showed remarkable maturity for a high school student. Her 30 footnotes and Selected Bibliography are excellent. This article is a companion to Sahmaunt’s article and Committee Report, which Klinekole used extensively. Her references, i.e. the psychiatrist Leon, provide the reader with some important references not often used. If for no other reason, the extensive sources all of which focus on boarding school students make this a timely and important article. She did not get involved in the politics of boarding schools, which is unusual. She worked hard at objectivity and achieved it to a remarkable degree. Leitka, Eugene, (1973, January,), Recent Publications On Indian Education. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1, 1, 18-19. (1973, 14). Comment: Dr. Leitka’s listing of 1973 recent research publications is interesting and important. _____________ (1973, May) Research Priorities, BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1, 2, 25. (1973, 38) Comment: As much as anything, this is a brief philosophic statement which Dr. Leitka used to fashion the Research Bulletin. I shared his philosophy in the hope that making research findings available to BIA Education employees would be educationally beneficial to Indians and Alaskan Natives. Leon-Portilla, Miguel (1975, May) Accelerated Process of Acculturation of Sub-Cultures. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 3, 2, 24-27. (1975, 47) Comment: While written for the 1975 American Anthropological Association Annual Conference in Mexico, its content is as pertinent now as then. The Editors Note said: “Dr. Leon-Portilla is the Director of the Institute of History of the National University of Mexico. The re-printing of the excerpts of his lecture at the Annual Conference of the American Anthropological Association in Mexico City in November 1975 were taken from the American Anthropological Association Newsletter, Vol. 16, No. 1, January, 1975. Observational comments by the Newsletter editor accompany the excerpts.” Dr. Leon-Portilla provides an analytical framework leading to acculturation. His basic four concepts are (1) cultural identity (2) acculturation (3) nepantla and (4) ecosis. Each concept is defined. He clearly states his belief that professional anthropologists should become involved in helping minorities and majority societies with cultural transition. Also, research by indigenous peoples was needed. There has been some progress regarding indigenous researchers but not much on professional anthropologists assisting Indian-Native people in cultural transition. While not a long article, the message is important and as timely in 2007 as it was in 1975 Letchworth, George (1973, September). Teacher Separation and Retention In Bureau Of Indian Affairs Schools. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1, 3, 2-20. (1973, 39) Comment: Anyone who wants to or is studying teacher recruitment and retention, especially BIA funded schools and their teachers, should do a serious read of Letchworth’s article. It is a primer on how to study teacher recruitment and retention. At the time of the study, 1969 – 1971, there was a 56 percent resignation of first-year BIA teachers. The study included BIA teachers of the Navajo, Sioux and Alaska Native. It should be realized that even though the BIA operated schools are much fewer than in 1971, there are still about 128 schools that are BIA funded. A replication of Letchworth’s study is needed because BIA funded contract and grant schools located on reservations still have a problem with recruitment and retention of teachers. The BIA operated schools with their Defense Department On-Base School high salaries have less of a problem. Letchworth’s study would be a point of departure and his data a benchmark against which any contemporary study could be related. The BIA Education Research Bulletin, was probably the only BIA publication in 1973 that could have published this excellent study. Little Soldier, Dale and Foerster, Leona M. (1977, May) Beyond Indian Education – Multicultural Education, BIA Education Research Bulletin, 5, 2, 7-14. (1977, 30) Comment: The substance of this article was also published in Educational Leadership, December 1975. The authors state what they believe to be the three basic problems of educating Indians: (1) lack of curriculum relevance (2) a high, school dropout rate and (3) low academic achievement. These three problems comprise curriculum “Strands”. Then, the propose a fourth strand, “Multiculturalism” which translates into cultural pluralism. The discussion of the substance of Multiculturalism is perhaps more pertinent today than when they wrote in 1975. Basically, they thought Indian children should be exposed directly to a curriculum strand which teaches tolerance, almost on the order of that proposed today by The Southern Poverty Law Center. The idealism of the article is worthy of repeating today. McDonald, Barbara, (1974, January). Child Welfare Demonstration, Rosebud Sioux Indian Tribe Word-Day Care Project. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 2, 1, 28-32. (1974, 18) Comment: This is an informative description of a day care program on the Rosebud Sioux reservation in South Dakota. Please don’t look for the attachments mentioned in the article. More than anything, the article points out how a tribe met a need that was educational and also related to the families of workers. All levels of education in the U.S. have close relationships to communities in which the programs (schools) operate. McFarlane, Jan (1979, January) Developing an Orientation Manual for Non-Indian Teachers of Indian Students: A Case Study on the Papago Reservation. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 7, 1, 29-35. (1979, 29) Comment: This is not a research type article but it is an important description of how the author spent six years developing a teacher orientation manual for public school teachers on the Papago Reservation. The author, over time developed over 400 pages of material that became the foundation for orienting teachers. Her general approach was excellent in that anthropological as well as participant-observation data gathering were used. Over the years, various BIA and public schools have developed teacher orientation manuals related to the specific cultural group attending the school. The BIA Navajo Area conducted teacher orientation workshops for the 100 or so new teachers arriving each year during the 1960’s. When I was teaching and administering schools in Alaska in the 1950’s a We Teach in Alaska was published. Others have also been developed. It would be an interesting task to collect these various documents that have been developed over time and do an analysis to see to what extent they have common elements. If such were done, certainly McFarlans’s work would be one of continued importance. Martin, James C. (1977, May). Self-Esteem and Locus of Control as Predictors of Indian Student Attitude Toward School. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 5, 2, 15-20. (1977, 36) Comment: Dr. Martin was the project Director for the Oklahoma Indian Education Needs Assessment for Indians which was conducted by Oklahoma State University where he received his doctorate. The article reports the results of a research project to study the psychological aspects of Indian students attending a BIA boarding school in Oklahoma. Three instruments were used in the research: (1) Locus of Control Scale for Children (2) Coppersmith Self-Esteem inventory and (3) Quality of School Life Scale. A total sample of 123 students was used. Martin describes the instruments in enough detail for the reader to understand how they were used. He developed his data so correlations could be run and provides three tables to show correlation results. This research would stand up well today with regard to the definition of “scientific education research.” The Discussion of the findings indicates that age plays a role in the results. That is, some program activities focused on one grade may not be effective at another grade. In this respect, the research is useful so long as attention is paid to the grade level at which the intervention is planned. It would certainly be worthwhile for someone to replicate the study today, even using the same instruments and correlations. ______________ (1978, May) Reactions to Frustration and Anxiety By Indian and White Adolescents. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 6, 2, 13-19. (1978, 49) Comment: Martin again uses excellent research style in exploring an important area of Indian education. His research involved 22 schools in Northeastern Oklahoma because this part of the state had the most Indians in high schools. He selected a sample of 197 white, 95 males and 102 females and 170 Indian students, 78 males and 92 females. He used the defense Mechanism Inventory (DMI) instrument to measure differences between Indian and white. The DMI has five categories: (1) Turning against object (2) Projection (3) Principalization (4) Turning against self and (5) Reversal. He computed a t-test on DMI scores and found significant differences at the .05 level for males on two DMI factors: Turning against object and Reversal. The definitions of these two factors were:
He found no significant differences between female Indian and white adolescents on the DMI. _______________(1979, January) Locus of Control and Self-Esteem in Indian and White Students. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 7, 1, 22-28. (1979, 22) Comment: The reader will recognize that this is the third article Martin wrote that used data from the Oklahoma Indian Education Needs Assessment, which was contracted to Oklahoma State University from the BIA. The research involved 22 public schools and compared Indian and White students in grades four, eight and twelve. The sample was random. Self-Esteem was measured by the short form of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and Locus of Control was measured by the Nowicky-Strickland Locus of Control Scale. Hypotheses involved measuring the difference in self-esteem between Indian and White students. As Martin stated:
A second hypothesis pertained to locus of control between Indian and White students. He found:
Martin wisely suggests that the results of the research apply only to Oklahoma Indian students in public schools and might not apply to other Indians. It appears that Martin was something of a pioneer in applying scientific psychological instruments to the researching of Indian students. He says that the instruments had not been used before with Indian individuals. Would that others before and after be sensitive to cultural differences between scientific instruments’ standardization statistics and Indians and Alaska Natives. Martin, Phillip; Peterson, John and Peterson, Jan (1975 May) Choctaw On-Campus Intensive Education Program At Mississippi State University. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 3, 2, 1 – 9.) (1975, 28) Comment: This is an excellent article providing education status data on Choctaw education. While it is primarily concerned with the Teacher Education Program it also provides important historical and tribal information. The candid approach to Choctaw education is unusual and helpful. If one is looking for the status of Choctaw education in 1975, they will find it in this article. Morgans, Otis J. (1973, May) Teachers Salaries in BIA Schools Compared to Salaries of Teachers in Public Schools Attended by Indian Children (School Year 1970-1971). BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1, 2, 14-16. (1973, 30) Comment: Dr. Morgans enjoyed researching the BIA for statistics on employees. This data is helpful but incomplete. As much as anything, it can serve as a general profile of the respective salaries. In 1973 BIA teachers worked twelve months, eight hours a day. Public school teachers worked nine or ten months with the work day varying. Murphy, D. M. (1976, January). Alaska’s Cross-Cultural Education Development Program. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 4, 1, 25-27. (1976, 20) Comment: There are no doubt other more detailed documents based on the Cross-Cultural Education Development/Alaska Rural Teacher Training Corps (X-CEED/ARTTC) exist. Nonetheless, this succinct description of the program, which was probably a first of its kind, is important to the education of Alaska Natives – and American Indians. It is very difficult to teach cultural content to teachers who are not of the same culture as the students. Educating Natives to become teachers is vital to making the school culture and the community culture more compatible. Others, notably the Navajo, have initiated Teacher Education Programs. It is interesting that the retention rates of such programs is very high, 67 percent for X-CED and 85 percent for Navajo. New, Lloyd (1974, May). Cultural Difference as a Basis for Creative Expression and Educational Development. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 2, 2, 26-31. (1974, 44) Comment: Lloyd New was Superintendent of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) when he wrote this article in 1974. I well remember 1962 when the IAIA was created. I was working at the Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Alaska when a visitor, Alvin Warren, made a pitch to the student body for artistically inclined students to transfer to IAIA. Lloyd was a very strong leader for the school and in this article he expresses his philosophy of art, Indian art and education. Lloyd’s approach to education has merit and with the artistically negative influence of contemporary The No Child left Behind his message (although now 33 years old) is sorely needed. His philosophy perceived IAIA education as not solely art based. In one of his closing paragraphs he said, “. . . the real value of the program lies in the personal growth of the student himself, and in his recognition of the fact that such growth has taken place.” Norris, Robert (1973, September) Assessing the Knowledge of Cultures. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 1, 3, 28-33. (1973,p. 60) Comment: Norris, a Navajo, conducted research on multi-tribal Indian students at the University of New Mexico. The purpose of the study was to determine understanding between tribal and college cultures, as related to being a college student. There was a comparison group of Caucasian college students who represented the non-Indian college culture. A main finding was that in certain circumstances Indian students would seek help from others rather than using Eurocentric individualism as a behavioral base. North American Indian Women’s Association (1974, September). A National Action for Special Needs of Indian Children program. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 2, 3, 9-13. (1974, 66) Comment: The Women’s Association was very active in the 1970’s. As I recall, they were also a very respected group who always put the needs of children first. They were almost all mothers of children many of whom attended boarding schools. Unlike other politically active organizations, they thought boarding schools were still needed. The 34 itemized needs contained in this article were taken seriously by those of us working in the BIA OIEP. O’Brien, Charles A. (1975 May) The Evolution of Haskell Indian Junior College, (1884-1974). BIA Education Research Bulletin. 3, 2, 18-23. (1975, 42) Comment: O’Brien provides a succinct history of a celebrated BIA school, Haskell. Haskell is now a University. This article was especially interesting to me as I have spent time at Haskell conducting special projects. The last few paragraphs about becoming a junior college are accurate as I was working in the Washington Office at the time. Dr. Rosenbluth contacted the Washington Office asking for the Haskell “Charter” which all accrediting institutions seek as a point of departure. There was no Charter and it was agreed that Mr. Zellers, Assistant Commissioner for Education, would write a memo to Haskell authorizing a change of name and function. For over a century, Haskell has produced hundreds of American Indian and Alaska Natives professionals and leaders in all walks of life. On a related anecdote, I worked at the University of New Mexico with Manuel Justiz who is now the Dean of the College of Education, University of Texas, Austin. Manuel wrote his dissertation at Southern Illinois on Haskell’s transition to a Junior College. I have not read Manuel’s dissertation. Paxton Gabe (1975, January). Perception of Power Influentials in a Federal Indian School. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 3, 1, 30-31. (1975 25) Comment: Dr. Gabe Paxton, a leader in Indian education, held several important positions in the BIA and the U.S. Office of Indian Education’s Office of Indian Education. His dissertation at Penn State Provides an analysis of the decision making process at one BIA school. Pray, Bruce S. Sr. (1975, September). The Use of Standardized Tests With High School Indian Students. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 3, 4-5. (1975, 53) Comment: Mr. Pray was School Psychologist at Flandreau Boarding School in 1975. This is a thoughtful article on the use of standardized tests of all types on American Indian students. He recognizes that abuses in the use of standardized tests with Indians occurs. He suggests that the Flandreau combination use of the tests and teacher judgments is a viable approach to the use of standardized tests. His suggestion is more important in 2007 with the No Child Left Behind than in 1975. Standardized tests of all types are producing results which place American Indian and Alaska Natives at the bottom on academic achievement. This ranking is without the balance of the teachers. I have often expressed the fact that approaches that provide balance to the use of standardized tests on Indians-Natives have been around for decades. Nonetheless, American education research simply does not recognize such suggestions and when they do, such recognition is discounted on the basis of bogus statistical reliability and validity rather than educational fairness and effectiveness.4 _____________ (September, 1976) Learning Principles. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 4, 3, 11-15. (1976, 56) Comment: Mr. Pray provided a basic discussion of the functions of the human brain. He defines three language related “Cases”. The first case of “language acquisition. He then identified the part of the brain where language acquisition takes place. The second case is the ability to learn to read. He states the obvious, “Before students can learn to read, they need a language base.” The third case he relates to math. This is a basic effort at relating scientific knowledge of the brain to the human learning process. A serious reading of the article would show teachers than Indian and Native students would have trouble learning to read if they didn’t know English. Such a basic principle seems obvious but in the history of teaching Indians and Alaska Natives language acquisition teaching strategies were never seriously implemented. ______________ (January, 1979) A Step Toward Fairness in Evaluating Handicapped Indian Children A Formula for Weighing Culture Items on the WISC-R & WAIS. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 7, 1, 16-20. (1979, 14) Comment: Anyone wishing to adjust or in modern terminology, accommodate, standardized instruments’ statistical bases should pay attention to Pray’s mathematical formula. While his formula may not be exact, it certainly provides first rate thinking about treating cultural differences between standardized instruments and Indian-Alaska Native cultures. While his formula is now almost 30 years old, I suggest it could provide a basic formula for the WAIS. It should be noted that Pray submitted a revised formula which was published in the May 1979 issue of The Bulletin as a “Correction.” The Correction follows the article in the 1979 file. Popp, James A (1975, January). An examination of Children’s Books on the American Indian. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 3,1,10-23. (1975, 9) Comment: James Popp, a teacher at Acomita Day School, started “Indian Day” with the thought of reading selections from books about American Indians (and Alaska Natives). While reading to the children from one of the books he eventually analyzed, he discovered derogatory terms and stereotypical attitudes toward Indians. This led him to collect 49 books and read each and then evaluate them according to his perception of them as: (1) Attitude Expressed (2) Derogatory Language (3) Stereotyping Terminology & Pictures (4) Knowledge Expressed (5) Usefulness and (6) In Depth or Superficial. Anyone interested in books about Indians and Natives would find this article interesting and helpful. In his day, and to some today, this is a classic example of Action Research conducted by a dedicated teacher. More teachers should approach their problems and interests in the manner utilized by Mr. Popp. Price, T. Brent, Baty, Max L. and Nutting, Paul A. (1977, September) An Intervention Process Designed to Recognize and Prevent School Dropouts in an American Indian Boarding School. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 5, 3, 15-23. (1977, 64) Comment: The setting for this article was the Intermountain Intertribal Boarding School located in Brigham City, Utah. Dormitories had been assigned to the Title I program and a special intervention program was designed and implemented. It did not cost the school extra moneys and used existing resources. The tightly structured program, including data gathering, and training was successful. It did reduce dropouts. Any boarding school dormitory program could benefit from following the general structure of this program, especially its tight structure and frequent staff training as well as feedback on the progress of the program. I know of very few dormitory programs that were this well designed and implemented. Ramey, Joseph H. and Sileo, Thomas W. (1975, January). A School for Me. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 3, 1, 5-9. (1975, 5) Comment: Ramey, the Title I Coordinator for the BIA Navajo Education Program, teamed with Sielo to describe a program designed for 15 severely handicapped children, ages 6 to 13. None of the children had ever been enrolled in any school. We have often heard about handicapped special Indian children but seldom about how an education program may be structured to help them. This article describes one that was very successful. The professional approach taken to meeting the needs of the children was impressive. ________________ (1975, January). Compensatory Education on the Navajo Reservation. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 3, 1, 24-29. (1975, 18) Comment: This article is a description of the TitleI Language Arts Program operated by the BIA on the Navajo Reservation in 1974. It is the second article for Ramey and Sileo for this issue of the BIA Education Research Bulletin. A questionnaire (opinionaire) is mentioned and the results of it are include at the end of the article. There are some statistics in the article, i.e., BIA schooling approximately 20,000 of which 11,740 (59%) are enrolled in Title I). There are English as a Second Language programs described. “Consultants in Total Education (CITE)” and the “Navajo Area Language Arts Program (NALP)”. The recommendation at the end of the article is that the total BIA Education Program should replicate what Title I was doing. Being an insider to the BIA Education Program at the time (1974), Congress which controlled policy, would only fund the regular program as if it were a general public school with an English speaking Eurocentric school population. The Office of Education at that time allocated 7.9 million dollars for Navajo Title I, so says the article. Since Navajo represented about 46 percent of the total BIA school population, Congress would have had to increase the BIA Education budget by about 20 million dollars to incorporate the Navajo Title I program into the general program. Basically, Congress wanted to get rid of BIA Education and such an increase was simply not possible. Those of us primarily involved in the BIA “Regular” program often envied what Title I could do as compared to what we could not do. Sahmaunt, Dan (January, 1979) Survey of Off-Reservation Residential Schools in the Bureau of Indian Affairs – A Committee Report. BIA Education Research Bulletin,7, 1, 1-15. (1979, 1) Comment: This article reports benchmark data on the characteristics of Indian and Native children attending BIA Off- Reservation Boarding Schools (ORBS) for the school year 1977-78. The survey involved 17 ORBS and 7,634 students. It was the first time, ever or since, that the BIA, using its own staff, surveyed any schools, especially ORBS. The article reports the statistical output of the report. Since I was appointed to design and conduct the survey, the computer print-outs of the survey are still in my possession. The article contains recommendations of a committee of BIA Area Office Education Administrators. Politically, Assistant Interior Secretary Forrest Gerard and his Deputy Lavis did not like the findings of the survey and, to my knowledge, did not forward the report to the Congress. Since their political positions were pre-determined to close ORBS, they dissolved the committee and appointed another the membership of which was selected on the basis of their desire to close ORBS. In time, starting in 1979, regardless of established educational need, several ORBS were closed. I have always found this an interesting political position for implementers of Indian Self-Determination. In other words, without local tribal input, Gerard and Lavis initiated closing ORBS. Though it cannot be said for sure, they quite possibly could have been implementing Congressional unstated policy as both individuals came to the BIA directly from the Senate where they were, respectively, staffers for Jackson of Washington and Fannin of Arizona. ORBS have always been political hot potatoes. Should the BIA ever wish to again survey its ORBS the baseline data from the school year 1977-78 is available. Sandoval, Lester (1979, May) A Dissertation Abstract: Analysis of Post-Secondary Education of the Jicarilla Apaches of New Mexico. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 7, 2, 26-27. (1979, 59) Comment: Sandoval, a member of the Jicarilla Apache Tribe, completed his doctorate at the University of Washington in Seattle. Though the data is comprehensive, a few findings stand out:
One of the five Recommendations also stood out:
The reader will find scattered throughout the articles the need for counseling especially at the secondary level of education. Scoon Rosenbluth, Annabelle (1975 January). The Feasibility of Test Translation English to Navajo. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 3, 1, 32-33. (1975, 26) Comment: Dr. Scoon Rosenbluth was about 30 years ahead of her time. Today, the No Child Left Behind Act and its emphasis on high stakes testing has created what it termed “Accommodations”. There has been a recent discovery among American education researchers that the culture and language of the norming group of a scientifically developed instrument influences the statistical base of the instrument. To my knowledge, this recent discovery is an expression of the imperial status of Eurocentric American education. One accommodation that researchers have been trying is to translate an English instrument into the language of the students, i.e. Spanish or Vietnamese.5 Scoon Rosenbluth translated the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts into Navajo and found:
It is too bad that the arrogance of contemporary education researchers does not allow them to include the research literature on education American Indians and Alaska Natives. The research community is the looser. Having been aware of the Scoon Rosenbluth research for the past 30 some years, I was startled to read about the innovations in evaluation NCLBA accommodations were generating. Shafer, Lary (1974, May). Group Differentiation of Teachers on the Papago Reservation: A comparison of BIA and County Teachers. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 2, 2, 1-16. (1974, 25) Comment: Before the enactment of Public Law 94-142 which started the process of withdrawing BIA teachers from the Civil Service ranks, there was a stereotype out there that public school teachers were better than BIA teachers. This article reports on an investigation of this stereotype. It is not a strict research article, yet, it is a serious attempt to describe differences between public school and BIA teachers on the Papago Reservation. The stereotype was not proven. In fact, BIA teachers were found to have more education and training and to stay with BIA longer than did the public school teachers. The only statistical output was counts and percentages. Mr. Shafer states that no computer was used, which was not uncommon for 1974. I entered a table of age percentages in an on-line chi square calculator and found significant differences between BIA and county teachers. I also found statistically significant differences on teaching experience and experience teaching Indian youth. The article might be helpful to a researcher wanting to describe differences between reservation and non reservation or Alaska villages compared to town-city teachers. Shaughnessy, Tom (1978, January) The Attitudes of White School Administrators and Teachers Towsrd American Indians. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 6, 1, 15-22. (1978, 13) Comment: Shaughnessy reviewed thirteen publications some of which contained reviews of the literature and some of which were research reports. It should be remembered that at the time of this review most of the administrators and teachers were non-Indian and White. It was not surprising that he found racism and stereotypical perceptions predominating. Perhaps one of these days such findings will be translated into an effective intervention to address such perceptions. However, in the late 1970’s descriptive research without suggested interventions was the rule of thumb in Indian education. This lack of intervention programs to change racism and stereotypical perceptions reminded me of an article in one of the early issues of Indian Education, the “Fortnightly Field Letter of the Education Division,” Which the BIA’s Education Director, Willard Beatty, initiated in 1936. Beatty gained permission to reprint Robert N. McMurry’s, article “The Evolution of Conscience.”6 In Part II McMurry said:
During my long tenure in educating American Indians and Alaska Natives I have found McMurry’s analysis to be quite accurate, even in 2007. Shenk, Barbara Ann (1978, May) A Reading Curriculum for K-6, Indian School Approaches, Materials and Rationale. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 6, 2, 20-23. (1978, 55) Comment: This is not a research article, rather, it is Shenk’s approach to teaching reading to Sioux children. She worked on the Rose Bud Reservation which shaped her approach. Based on my own experience in teaching reading to Eskimo children, her emphasis on experience charts is well taken. Also, her overall approach of relating teaching to the experiences of the children has always made good sense. Sockey, Clennon E. (1974, September). Developments in Indian Education. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 2, 3, 1-8. (1974, 60) Comment: Starting in 1965, Dr. Sockey was one of several Directors of the BIA Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP). None, including Dr. Sockey, stayed very long in the job. Nonetheless, this non-research article describes, summarizes in general terms the BIA Education Program in 1974. Often, the BIA Education Research Bulletin, was required to publish non-research articles primarily because the BIA, OIEP had no other regular publication. Smith, Frederick D. (1977, May) Factors Involved in Job Satisfaction Among Teachers in the Bureau of Indian Affairs School System on the Navajo Reservation. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 5, 2, 21-33. (1977, 41) Comment: Smith conducted research on the Navajo Reservation during the academic year 1975-76. His research involved six elementary schools five of which were boarding schools. He had a total sample of 70 teachers 27 percent of whom were Navajo and most of these did not have a baccalaureate degree. The is probably no better description of the teaching situation on Navajo for this time period. He covered the non-teaching situation and did not spend time in the classrooms. His research method involved interviews with all 70 of the teachers. Isolation seemed to be a large problem and other problems were related to isolation, i.e. health services for non-Navajos; high costs for auto repair, etc. Outside of isolation, problems with the inadequacy of the principal in four of the schools was mentioned. An interesting finding pertained to parental involvement which remains today. Mandatory home visits were recommended and these in those days needed to an interpreter. The education of Indians on reservations is and has been classified as “Rural Education.” Indeed, from about 1930 – 1950 the main professional place for the education of Indians was the National Education Association’s “Rural Education” group. The problems reported by Smith still exist but there has been one influential and unreported fact.. Somewhere around 1990 the BIA Federal school operations teachers were placed under the Defense Department, On-Base Schools, salary scale. As a result, these teachers are paid much more than surrounding public and/or BIA funded grant-contract schools. The results of this is a small turnover and improved education at the Federal schools as contrasted to public and/or grant-contract schools which continue the high turnover Smith reported. Would that someone like Smith would update the research on the Navajo Nation (and other reservations). Even if such research were conducted, there would need to be assurances that follow-up corrective measures would be taken by the Federal Government, i.e. raise the salary of all teachers on the Navajo Reservations, and all Indian reservations so they equal the Defense Department’s salary scale. Smith, Janet C. (1979, May) When is Disadvantagement of an Indian Student a Handicap? BIA Education Research Bulletin, 7, 2, 1-6. (1979, 35) Comment: This is a well documented discussion of Special Education and Bilingual Education of Indian children and youth. The overall perception of the education of the Indian has a good beginning and ends in a disaster. There are really no good positive recommendations on how to go about improving the disaster. On the other hand, she raises pertinent questions on how to classify Indian children as mentally handicapped. Nowadays, all too often educators are quick to classify Indian children as slow learners when in reality they are not too good in handling two cultures and often two languages. Understanding of the child is enhanced tremendously when Indian teachers handle the classroom. On the other hand, in this circumstance, the Western European Intellectual heritage may be short changed. In the end, it may be that a friendly ambiance between the teacher and the child is to be preferred to the understanding of the Western European Intellectual heritage. Getting the child through the socializing education of the schools may be a benefit and provide a better foundation for the postponement of the Intellectual Heritage. These last comments are editorial and are not in Smith’s article. Spencer, Barbara G. (1975, September) Study of Occupational Aspirations and Expectations of Choctaw High School Students. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 3, 3, 1-3. (1975, 50) Comment: Spencer, in 1975 was associated with the Anthropology Department of Mississippi State University. She had conducted various research type projects involving the Choctaw. This study was her Master’s thesis at the University. Perhaps, as much as anything, the survey involving 133 Choctaw high school students, revealed just how uncertain and ambivalent, even ignorant and uninformed, the students were on occupations. The summary states the 1975 Choctaw situation:
Spolsky, Bernard (1976, September) Linguistics in Practice: The Navajo Reading Study Program. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 4, 3, 1-10. (1976, 44) Comment: Bernard Spolsky in his typically scholarly style, describes a five year program to teach Navajo child reading using materials written in the Navajo language. He starts with theory, then develops needs data and from this develops the reading program. It was effective. His research on Navajo language is a bench mark for any educator or researcher involved in teaching Navajo. I had the pleasure of helping fund this program and getting Wayne and Agnes Holm involved. One cannot praise this program too highly as it was stellar in its design and implementation. Spolsky says that a thousand Navajo speaking teachers would be needed to expand the program. Ironically, the thousand teacher goal was not initiated until 1992 and since has produced about 800 Navajo teachers the first 600 of whom were fluent in Navajo and upon graduating of the Navajo Teacher Education Program, were also literate in Navajo. But, as Spolsky pointed out, the language shift to English was already in place and since then, only very few Navajo six year olds speak Navajo upon entering the first grade. Stann, Patsy H. (1975, September). A Status Report of the Coalition of Eastern Native Americans, Inc., July 1975. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 3, 3, 6-10. (1975, 55) Comment: This is one of the very few articles dealing with “Unrecognized” American Indian tribes. To be “Recognized” means the tribe and its members are eligible for services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Unrecognized means the tribe cannot receive services from the BIA. In 1972, 160 members organized the Coalition of Eastern Native Americans (CENA). The articles provides brief sketches of some of the Unrecognized tribes. The following paragraphs are such an example:
In 1975, 53 tribal groups were associated with CENA and some had received grants from the Federal Government and private foundations. Taylor , Leola Sechoya McGilbra (1973, September). An Investigation Of The Results Of Study Of Cross-Cultural Informal Educational Experiences Upon Self-Concept Of Native Americans, BIA Education Research Bulletin,1, 3, 34-37. (1973, p. 65) Comment: Taylor, a Creek Indian, was then principal of Oklahoma Eufaula Indian School, which still operates. The Eufaula students were all from the five civilized tribes, grades 3-9. There was a comparison group from Jones Academy in Hartshorne, Oklahoma. The Ira J. Gordon Self-concept instrument “How I See Myself” elementary form was used. The instrument was to measure differences after experiencing a culture education program. The Eufaula group participated in the culture education program while Jones Academy did not. There did not appear to be any gains after having participated in the program as measured by Gordon’s Self Concept instrument. Thompson, Morris (1975, January). Speech by Morris Thompson, Commissioner of Indian Affairs at National Indian Education Association Conference, November 1974. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 3, 1, 1-4. (1975, 1) Comment: Morris Thompson, a graduate and valedictorian of Mt. Edgecumbe High School, died in the Alaska Airways plane crash. He held several important positions in the Interior Department and Bureau of Indian Affairs. This speech is rooted in the time at which it was written, the early 1970’s. Thompson cites numerous statistics and initiatives on Indian education and the BIA’s Education program. Those interested in the history of Indian education will find this article interesting and helpful. The University of Alaska, Fairbanks is naming a new building after Thompson. Thomson, Norris Arden, (1976, May) Perceptions of the TRIA Definition of BIA Instructional Aide Competence Held by Instructional Aides and Their Supervisors. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 4, 2, 27-29. (1976, 42) Comment: This is another dissertation abstract (Arizona State University). There have been very few research activities which involve the job of BIA dormitory aides. Dormitory aides were the school personnel who had most contact with students when they were not in class. The BIA Muskogee Area Office had developed an instrument, The Role of the Instructional Aide (TRIA), to measure aide effectiveness. This research tested the appropriateness of the TRIA. It was found that the TRIA did indeed seem accurate regarding the role and function of dormitory aides. It is unfortunate that no action was taken by BIA to apply TRIA to dormitory operations in other Areas, i.e. Navajo where there still remain many boarding schools. In those days, the BIA Central Office Education Staff did not have line authority over the schools. Line authority was vested in Government Administrators (Area Directors) who were not educators. U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Indian Education Programs (1973, May) BIA School Enrollment: Total, 12th Grade & High School Graduates 1952-1972. 1, 2, 3. (1973, 22) Comment: This type of data is not often available to the public. The increase in enrollment reflects, in my opinion, an improvement in Congress helping to provide school facilities for Indians and Natives. _____________ (1973, May) Initial Placement Record of Haskell Institute Graduates, BIA, Haskell Institute. BIA Education Research Bulletin,, 1, 2, 17. (1973, 32) Comment: There is probably no other publication where one would find such data on the graduates of a BIA operated post-high school institution. _____________ (1974, January). Indian Unemployment and Underemployment. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 2, 1, 20-23. (1974, 13) Comment: The BIA gleaned this benchmark information from The Congressional Record. Researchers interested in demographic data will find this information important. Wade, Jon C. (1976, January) Indian Control of Schools. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 4, 1, 1-6. (1976, 1) Comment: Wade wrote this as the policy of Indian Self Determination in Education was gaining momentum. Wade, A Sioux Indian, was no doubt influenced by the State of South Dakota’s influence in educating Indians. Historically, South Dakota has insisted that Federal Schools located in South Dakota follow the state’s curriculum. There is a Federal statute in USC Title 25 requiring BIA schools to follow the state curriculum. Wade summarizes implementation of Indian Self Determination in Education with the following: 1) Increased Indian management of
schools. Wall, Charles E. (1976 September). Graduating Senior Options, Kotzebue High School. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 4, 2, 1-2. (1976, 22) Comment: Local efforts at developing and making available important information more often than not went unrecognized. The Research Bulletin was one instrument local schools could utilize to share their good efforts. It was not a common happening for a BIA school to track their graduates in an organized manner. The summary of their efforts follows:
Warren, Dave (1974, January). Cultural Studies in Indian Education. BIA Education Research Bulletin, 2, 1, 2-18. (1974, 1) Comment: The educational importance of Indian-Native culture remains a strong yet still unrecognized feature of the education of American Indians and Alaska Natives. While English has gradually replaced Indian and Native languages, their local cultures have remained strong behavioral facts. Dave Warren, the creator of the Cultural Studies section of the BIA’s Office of Indian Education Programs, now the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), wrote this comprehensive paper for this early issues of the BIA Education Research Bulletin. Dave wrote the following in 1974, 33 years ago, which is as pertinent now as then:
This is an exceptionally well documented and scholarly historical perspective on Indian and Native cultures, including references to Mexican and South American Indians. The importance of cultural on the tribal level is stated early in the article. This fact of American Indians and Alaska Natives education is still largely unrecognized in contemporary education. How can educators benefit from the research provided by Dave Warren? For one thing, they can take a serious look at the culture surrounding their schools and then seek to base the education program on it from the outset. Warren mentions several local efforts based on this premise and that was three decades ago. Somewhere at the tribal level there must surely exist, or should exist, some office or institution that has gathered over time all the cultural education products of a tribe. If such does not exist, then someone has a very positive challenge to create it. It is important that Warren emphasizes the Philosophy of tribal cultures as a good place to start comparisons of cultures, i.e. Western Europe and American Indians and Alaska Natives cultures. Winterton, Wayne Allen (1977, January) The Effect of Extended Wait-Time on Selected Verbal Response Characteristics of Some Pueblo Indian Children. BIA Education Research Bulletin. 5, 1, 25-26. (1977, 22) Comment: Dr. Winterton has researched a basic feature of non-Indian teachers in the Indian classroom. There is a rhythm to any classroom and when the teacher and students are of different cultures, this rhythm can be disharmonious. In fact, for some teachers it can be dysfunctional causing dissatisfaction with the teaching job. I had the assignment of evaluating three new teacher workshops on the Navajo Reservation and never did observe any discussion of wait-time. Dr. Winterton did find that observing the presence of wait-time did make a difference in the rhythm of the classroom and seemed to improve the ambiance of the classroom. Ironically, now that English seems to be the language of almost all Indian children, wait-time is less of a factor. But as Winterton observed, wait-time may be important to teaching English as a Second children, which nowadays has importance in the No Child Left Behind environment and in the international education environment. * Linda Darling Hammond
(August-September 2007), The Flat Earth and Education: How
America’s Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future.
Educational Researcher, 36, 6, 318-334. See pp. 321-322 for
high stakes testing and graduation rates.
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